Kravitz: Mercer Looks Like Another Disaster

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

      New Bedford Standard Times: 8/11/99 

 
      Mercer looks like another Denver disaster

       The Denver Nuggets just don't do feel-good moments. Maybe it's a lack of 
      practice over the past decade, and maybe it's just buzzard's luck, but on 
      a day when Ron Mercer was supposed to come in, pass his physical and then 
      blow a lot of smoke about fulfilling his lifelong dream to play for the 
      Nuggets -- and who doesn't have that dream? -- all we got was more talk of 
      contracts and impending free agency and a whole lot of posturing. 

       "So," Mercer was asked, "will you be buying or renting?" He smiled. "I'll 
      be renting," he said. "Definitely." 
       Yep, another warm and fuzzy feel-good moment for the Denver Nuggets. Does 
      the joy ever stop? 
       Let's put it this way: This is going to be an interesting marriage 
      between Mercer and the Nuggets. What I'm saying is, don't break the bank 
      looking for the perfect wedding gift. And make sure you keep the receipt. 
      On a day that should have been dedicated to peace, love, understanding and 
      the fast break, the talk was of contract extensions, misunderstandings and 
      salary-cap considerations. 
       In one corner, you had Mercer's agent, Tevester Scott, beating the drums 
      of war again about how his man wants a contract extension -- now, or 
      possibly sooner -- then bringing up the possibility of Denver trading 
      Mercer to a more accommodating team. 
       In the other corner, you had Dan Issel saying there is no thought of 
      dealing Mercer and there is absolutely, positively no way Mercer will be 
      offered an extension before the drop-dead date of Oct. 1. 
       Kum ba ya, my Lord, kum ba ya ... 
       "Our thinking is, he'll come here, have a great year and if that costs us 
      more in the end, that's fine," Issel said. "Once he's here a while, we 
      know he'll want to stay here, and we can give him more money than anybody 
      else. Plus, you look at the way the market will be next year, only two 
      teams (Chicago and the Clippers) have any real cap room (to sign free 
      agents). It may cost us more in the end, but it's something we're willing 
      and able to do." 
       And what about meeting in the middle, maybe talking about a new deal 
      midway through the season? Mercer, a third-year player, is grandfathered 
      under the old rules, which nobody understands, by the way, but it means if 
      the Nuggets don't extend him by Oct. 1, the two sides can't get anything 
      done again until Aug. 1, by which time Mercer will be a free agent. The 
      two sides could talk in the interim, so long as Linda Tripp isn't taping 
      the conversations and passing them to Rod Thorn. 
       So there is risk on both sides. 
       It's just that, if I'm reading this right -- and it involves the salary 
      cap, so there's a 67 percent chance I'm not -- there's a little more risk 
      on the Nuggets' side of the ledger. 
       If Mercer has a terrible year -- or if he has Nuggets' luck and gets 
      injured -- his new team can decide he's not worth Keith Van Horn money, 
      let him leave as a free agent or, the current rage, pull off a 
      sign-and-trade deal. But still, they will have lost Danny Fortson and a 
      future first-rounder. At the very most, a sign and trade would bring equal 
      value for a player coming off a bad or injury-riddled season. 
       If Mercer has the kind of huge year Issel believes he will have, he will 
      become a very attractive free agent with enormous leverage. 
       His choices? 
       First, of course, he will -- and should -- check the market. The 
      free-agent market will be limited next season, but if Mercer has a 
      breakthrough season, there is reason to believe the Nuggets, who, we 
      should add, he is not ruling out, won't be the only ones courting him. The 
      Nuggets' advantage is they can pay him more than anybody else. The 
      Nuggets' disadvantage is, Mercer might have a long memory and a chip on 
      his shoulder. "Why didn't you show faith in me when you had the chance?" 
      he can wonder. At which point, the Nuggets will wish they had signed him 
      for less money before Oct. 1. 
       The other option is to stay, in which case Mercer would be justified in 
      holding The Donald up for a third of his assets. Mercer and his agents 
      know the Nuggets, a franchise with little credibility, cannot go to their 
      fans, shrug and say, "Gosh, he just wanted too much money." 
       Then they can play the Nick Van Exel Card: "He had a lousy year and you 
      gave him the gross national product of Peru. What about my guy?" 
       Then there's the issue of Mercer's representation. His agents are a part 
      of rapper Master P's No Limit Sports. I don't want to paint with a broad 
      brush, but based on the contract they negotiated for Ricky Williams, and 
      based on some of Scott's early pronouncements, there is the sense these 
      guys are, at best, loose cannons. 
       So, to recap Mercer's get-acquainted news conference, he is: Happy to be 
      here. 
       Thrilled to be getting a fresh start. 
       Just renting. 
       Makes you all tingly, doesn't it? 
        Bob Kravitz writes for the Denver Rocky Mountain News.____________ 

      

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