Re: TSN: Fan's View: C's Will Regret Trading Mercer

[Bruce Allen <ballen007@yahoo.com>]

Where do they find these clowns?

--- Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>       The Sporting News -
> http://www.sportingnews.com
> 
>       Celtics' future is now in Denver
>       AUGUST 11, 1999      Print it! 
> 
>       Fans' View
> 
> 
>             ROBERT SEALE/TSN
>             The Celtics will regret trading Ron
> Mercer.
> 
>       You want to be heard? Well, now you can!
> Throughout the week, we let 
>       readers speak out as guest columnists. Want to
> get something off your 
>       chest? Put it in writing and send it to us. Be
> sure to put "Fans' View" in 
>       the subject heading. 
>       Today, sports fan Chad Bianchi takes a
> critical look at the Celtics and 
>       some of their questionable offseason moves. 
>       If you want to see a modern sports travesty,
> just check out the remnants 
>       of what could have been the new mighty
> Celtics. Of course, most of them 
>       can now be found in Denver, so you might as
> well check there first. Ron 
>       Mercer and Chauncey Billups were supposed to
> be the backcourt of the 
>       future for Boston. That is before the notably
> impatient and inexperienced 
>       GM known as "Trader Rick" took over. 
>       Trading Billups halfway through his rookie
> season was a major catastrophe 
>       for Boston. Although the die-hard, win-now
> fans were pleased to get an 
>       experienced point guard in Kenny Anderson, it
> was apparent he would never 
>       make it in the Pitino system. 
>       Anderson is not only too slow, too small, too
> fragile and too selfish, he 
>       has a gigantic contract considering his meager
> remaining skills. The only 
>       way he resembles the player who starred for
> the Nets is in the way the 
>       ball ceases to move when he is on the court.
> Boston was actually a much 
>       better team when Anderson was hurt because the
> Celtics learned that the 
>       Pitino system doesn't require a true point as
> long as the ball moves 
>       freely. 
>       But Boston is stuck with Anderson and his
> contract. This made it 
>       impossible to pay the money necessary to keep
> Mercer. So Mercer and 
>       Billups are in Denver, and Boston is
> faltering. Mercer was a 
>       heart-and-soul player who left it all on the
> court, a perfect complement 
>       to the newly added Paul Pierce and a good
> influence on the notoriously 
>       under-dedicated Antoine Walker. Now, the
> Celtics will again be lacking 
>       heart as well as skill. 
>       Mercer was the one player Boston fans could
> count on to play hard all the 
>       time. Pierce is good -- he played
> exceptionally for a rookie -- but he 
>       also dominated the game in stints rather than
> from tip to buzzer. Walker 
>       will dominate for very short stretches despite
> his mammoth talent. 
>       In fact, a common league opinion is that
> should Walker get serious about 
>       his game and his conditioning, he could
> dominate games in the vein of 
>       Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. Unfortunately,
> such a desire has yet to 
>       appear. 
>       Mercer, on the other hand, has shown a greater
> devotion to staying in 
>       shape and on top of his game. At the end of
> the lockout, he was the only 
>       Celtic to declare he was in incredible shape
> -- quite a risk given 
>       Pitino's rigorous practices and expectations.
> Even Pitino still believes 
>       Mercer will be a star. It just will not be in
> Boston because there 
>       supposedly was no money to sign him. 
>       If Pitino, who should give up his power to
> trade players because of his 
>       quick temper and gambler's mentality, merely
> had the patience to grow with 
>       his backcourt of the future, the Celtics would
> be in far better shape. 
>       At a time when Eastern Conference powers are
> redesigning themselves for 
>       the future (Atlanta, Orlando, Indiana), the
> Celtics should be ahead of the 
>       game with a strong nucleus of players.
> Instead, they are again behind the 
>       pack, behind the Knicks and even farther
> behind the 76ers. 
>       Finally, consider this: Pitino could have
> fielded a team this year that 
>       started Billups, Mercer, Walker, Pierce and
> whomever he could dig up at 
>       center. With the NBA changing its rules back
> to a more '80s oriented, no 
>       contact on the perimeter style, would you want
> to have to guard this team? 
> 
> 
> 
>        
>       Privacy Policy. © 1999 Times Mirror
> Interzines, a division of Times Mirror 
>       Magazines.
> 
>        
> 
> 

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