Misc.

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Way Of The Ray wrote:

> I envision the Boston Celtics playing the World Champion Spurs next season with
> Miller smacking around Johnson; Pierce doing the same to San Antonio's shooting
> guard; Walker punishing Sean Elliot; Duncan having to shoot over a guy four
> inches taller, and Potapenko banging Robinson.  Not bad. And toss in Wayne
> Turner and Rodney Rogers for more mayhem...

Hi Ray:

I don't think the Celtics this year were that far outclassed by New York and
Indiana, and those teams are getting older and more brittle. I do wish we had
made the playoffs this past year, though, just for the experience it would have
given the team. This is one area (playoff experience) where the Knicks and
Indiana players are way more advanced than our guys.

Anyway, I love the positive outlook.

-------------
ML Carr told the Boston Globe's Will McDonough:
"If I brought (Tim Duncan) home there'd be a second statue in Faneuil Hall right
beside Red [Auerbach], and that guy would be waving a towel.''

Gimmeabreak, ML!

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Alex Wang wrote:
"There is no way that Mercer can be considered an efficient offensive player
using any standard other than an aesthetic one. I love the way he elevates on his
jump shot and the nice stroke, but...."

The line above really says it best, IMHO.

To use a baseball analogy, Ron Mercer played last year like a .250 hitting pure
singles hitter (maybe a Rod Carew), whereas Antoine Walker batted an even more
pathetic .230 (& struck out 200 times) but also hit 40 homers and drove in 100
runs.

The "homers" and "runs batted in" are analogies for such tangible contributions
as rebounds, assists and creating your own shots (rather than relying on screens
by your teammates). The inability to pass is what galls me.  In 41 appearances,
Ron had 17 games with 1 assist or fewer, and 11 more games with 2 assists (that's
despite a team leading 37.8 mpg).

Antoine Walker would love to have Ron Mercer's sheer athletic leaping ability,
but that hasn't stopped Antoine from hustling his way to a 13 assist game or a 21
rebound game. Ron Mercer's idea of "doesn't mind staying out of the limelight"
(Peter May's nice phrase) seemingly is to avoid contributing in other facets of
team basketball on his off-shooting nights.

Ron Mercer is a very nice young player, but there is no way that Mercer can be
considered a particularly unselfish player using any standard other than our own
wishful thinking and naive racial type-casting (since he acts quiet & minds his
own business, he MUST BE a more unselfish player than Antoine Walker).

In the amount of time it took Ron Mercer to record his first and only NBA
double-double (playing 54 minutes in the no-defense, season-ending 133-129 loss
against Charlotte), Antoine Walker has delivered those numbers a whopping 63
times. Antoine will continue to deliver those kind of numbers, just as sure as
he'll continue to be booed and made to feel uncomfortable in Boston.

IMHO, the Celtics need to sign Ron Mercer now so that he'll stop putting his
scoring stats above the team. If they can't sign him this Summer, then they
should 1) trade for more size up front, 2) trade him as bait to move Kenny
Anderson's fat contract, or 3) trade for one of the five future starting
pointguards in the 1999 draft who project as better prospects than Billups or
Antonio Daniels. Either way is okay. We're not that far from being good.

Joe

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