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Re: Jersey Red Column: One-Dimensional Mercer Likely To Go For Some Future All-Star
This Jersey Red is such a coquette. Either he made up
the thing about the "future all star" or he has
somebody in mind. That somebody couldn't possibly be
Samaki Walker, could it? Who could say he "has future
all star written all over him" about such an
underachieving, injury-prone player as Walker? Who
then could it be? One of the lottery picks from this
year? Ugh! As the criminal in Dirty Harry said,
"I gots to know!"
--- Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> 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,
=== message truncated ===
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