[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

OnHoops: Pitino Loser in Mercer Trade



      http://www.onhoops.com

      Load Fire Reload 
       
      August 6, 1999, MattnSteve.

      <snips> 
      Boston trade Ron Mercer, Popeye Jones and Dwayne Schintzius to Denver for 
      Danny Fortson, Eric Williams, Eric Washington and a number 1 pick.
      Why the Trade was Made
      Denver's and Boston's futures are respectively tied to Antonio McDyess and 
      Antoine Walker, and no matter how well Fortson and Mercer performed this 
      past season, their teams were unable to make them their franchise players. 
      Even if they wanted to, in Boston's case, yet Denver certainly didn't want 
      to go that far with an undersized, foul-prone, overweight Center/Forward. 
      With Raef LaFrentz's return from injury ahead of schedule, Fortson 
      suddenly became an expendable part of the Nuggets' young frontline. And 
      since Pitino had been toying for a while with the idea of moving Walker 
      full-time down to the 3 and playing Paul Pierce at 2-guard, Mercer's loss 
      not only frees the Celtics up a lot of backcourt space, it allows them to 
      add a rugged 24 year old power forward to the mix. The Celtics may well 
      have improved their defense, rebounding and offensive balance, but if you 
      asked him a year ago whether a swap of Ron Mercer for Danny Fortson would 
      be equitable, Pitino would have laughed at you, even if it allowed you to 
      throw in Popeye and Schitzius. Mercer is a future superstar, and the 
      Nuggets have suddenly become a league powerhouse along with the 
      Timberwolves, the Raptors and the Sacramento Kings.
      The Winner?
      Dan Issell (and Mike D'Antoni). When Issell took over as GM of the 
      Nuggets, they were the laughing stock of the entire North American 
      professional sports circuit, let alone the NBA. But now, in just 2 seasons 
      packed full of judicious trades and impressive free agent decisions, 
      Denver are suddenly popular again. Just like it was when he was last in 
      town.
      The Loser?
      Rick Pitino. He has suffered a fair deal of criticism as he incestuously 
      built up the Celtics over the past couple of years, but whenever a 
      sprotswriter tried to attack him over his UK connection, the one thing 
      they couldn't say was that Walker, Mercer and McCarty weren't talented. 
      Yes, the Celtics needed to get bigger and they needed to get tougher, but 
      Merce was, at worst, the 2nd best total player on the team, and in the top 
      half-dozen shooting guards in the game. This a trade which could haunt 
      Pitino for years to come, as even though he did get a fair bit in return 
      (Williams is a legit small forward, Washington could be starting come 
      opening night) it kinda looks as if he just gave Ron Mercer away.