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OnHoops: Pitino Loser in Mercer Trade
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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.