Jersey Red Column: One-Dimensional Mercer Likely To Go For Some Future All-Star

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

Or he could stay if his agent comes in with a realistic contract
demand...



      The Herald News - Sports

      Wed, Jul 28, 1999 
      RED'S WORLD: Expect a few changes with the Celtics next season 
      By KEN 'JERSEY RED' FORD 
      On August 1, the NBA teams can officially start making trades, signing 
      free agents and dropping players from their rosters.
      At midday Aug. 1, I will be boarding the plane out of JFK headed for Italy 
      where I will spend 13 days with the North Carolina State basketball team 
      as the guest of head coach and close friend Herb Sendek. 
      It will be a combo fun-and-run trip as we will play games and see the 
      sights. I made this same trip four years ago with Rick Pitino's Kentucky 
      Wildcats. 
      Now Pitino has changed zip codes and Italy is the furthest thing from his 
      mind. The "Exorcist" is coming off the worst season he has endured as a 
      coach and has promised that the Celtics will make the playoffs this year, 
      leaving himself open to a year of unbelievable scrutiny if that promise 
      doesn't come true.
      Translated, it's called pressure. I chuckle (as does he) at how the media 
      and fans are already in an attack mode. Many are saying he will succumb to 
      that pressure. 
      There's been talk of a possible nervous breakdown in the making. There 
      have been newspaper stories that he has been offered a $20 million buyout 
      of his $70 million contract. 
      They are saying he can't coach in the NBA. They are whispering that he 
      isn't good at making personal moves. Some have said he has too many 
      outside interests to completely focus on basketball. 
      I've been around this guy for close to 30 years and the one constant in 
      his life has always been, and will always be, basketball. And I can report 
      to you honestly that he is looking forward to this upcoming season with a 
      passion that I haven't seen since his second year at Providence College -- 
      and he is enjoying every second of it. At the same time, he's having fun 
      doing it. 
      While normal folks laugh at a stand-up comedian, Pitino gets his biggest 
      chuckles reading his basketball obituaries or getting reports about what 
      the fellowship of the miserable talk radio is saying.
      On our recent 10-day trip to California, we spent a lot of time together. 
      We sat in the stands and watched his Celtic summer squad go 8-0 against 
      the other NBA teams. 
      We saw Paul Pierce scoring 49 points, and with 30 seconds left in the 
      game, throwing his body onto the floor after a loose ball. 
      Tony Battie played hard and well at both ends of the court. Vitaly 
      Potopenko showed promise that in a couple of years he will be a fan 
      favorite.
      After the games I would sit with Pitino and his coaching staff and General 
      Manager Chris Wallace in a restaurant as they discussed player personnel. 
      And, yes trades.
      I stood with him as he spoke to players who would never make to the NBA. I 
      was in the locker room after the games when he would address the team by 
      giving them credit when was due and criticism when was needed. 
      As you read this, he is doing the very same thing as the Celtics are 
      hosting their own Summer League games at UMass Boston where he is 
      determining if any of the free agents can make them team.
      Kentucky point guard Wayne Turner is on the bubble. Adrian Griffin, the 
      leading scorer last year in the CBA, appears to be a "lock" and if that's 
      the case you will really like this kid. 
      Pitino is having fun. And what about those trades? 
      Don't be shocked by anything that happens. Ron Mercer is likely to go, and 
      if they can work out the numbers, the kid they bring in for him has future 
      all-star written all over him.
      If not, they will go to plans B and C. Don't even discount that if Mercier 
      and his agent make the numbers more palatable that he very well could stay 
      simply put because of the NBA salary cap. The Celtics cannot and will not 
      give him what he's asking.
      Also, you would be surprised at how many teams did not show an interest in 
      Mercer mainly because of the money and also because right now he is a 
      one-dimensional player who comes off the screen and hits the "j" as well 
      as anyone in the league, but refuses to go in the paint shoot the "3", get 
      the boards he should and play defense all the time. 
      Antoine Walker, whom I wrote a semi-negative column about several weeks 
      ago, is another matter. 
      The ball is in his court and to trade him would be much more difficult 
      than you would imagine. For openers, he has to be paid $71 million and 
      then there's the question of his attitude and desire to be "The Man."
      The majority of the GM's "are not" calling 1-800-Celtics for this kid, but 
      there have been a few intriguing scenarios.
      Personally I would have no problem if he stays. He can be a great one, but 
      he's on the bubble.
      Will he grow up? I fear that if he doesn't and plays like the last angry 
      man we could just see some Albert Belle-like outbursts and Pitino is the 
      wrong guy to pull that stuff with at this stage in his career. He will not 
      put up with it.
      In the new NBA of the 90's, more and more of the players are running the 
      asylum and the head coach is nothing more than a figurehead. Some good 
      coaches have lost their jobs, (Del Harris, John Calipari, Mike Fratello) 
      because of mutiny by a group of spoiled pampered cell-phone-in-hand (to 
      their agents) brats.
      Pitino will not coach under those circumstances. He's got some Lombardi 
      and Parcells in him when comes to that, and to his credit, so does Pat 
      Riley. But, sadly they are the exception and not the rule. 
      With Riley and Pitino it's about earning your money through hard work and 
      discipline. They do and they demand that their players do it.
      All to often, the media misconstrues that and uses the team control freaks 
      or egomaniacs when the reality is they are real men coaching in a real 
      man's game.
      Does the paint come off the walls of the lockerroom at half-time? You bet 
      does. Are there a few expletives thrown out during practices? Of course 
      there are. Do the players get upset once in a while? Sure they do! 
      Some media types have said that Pitino must alter his coaching style to 
      suit NBA players and that is not going to happen. Pitino is having not 
      going to sit in a rocking chair on the sidelines and merely watch the 
      action. It's simply not his style.
      He is a passionate Italian version of the Energizer Bunny prowling the 
      sidelines extolling his players to press and trap working the ref's living 
      and breathing the game he was born to coach.
      I have never seen him demean a player by signaling him out in front of his 
      teammates. That also is not his style. It's always a team thing.
      Pitino takes losing harder than anyone I have ever been around. He does 
      not sleep after a tough loss, usually staying up to watch the tape of the 
      game. In all honesty, he can be downright surly.
      But at the crack of dawn the following morning, it's over. He immediately 
      turns into Mr. Positive. 
     
              © 1999 ,The Herald News