More bad news ....

[peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

... at least for those of us who had hoped to see Ron Mercer in green for a
long time:

(From Peter May) 
"You have to wonder what is going on with the Celtics and Ron Mercer. [W]ith
the Celtics entertaining trade offers and Pitino saying he can't get in touch
with Mercer's agent, well, you can see where this is all going. So can
Tevester Scott, who represents Mercer. ''It's propaganda,'' he said. ''I've
talked several times to [Boston general manager] Chris Wallace. You start
feeding the media like that and I wonder, what's your reason?'' Scott is well
aware ... of the rules that prevent negotiations before July 1. That includes
faxing contract proposals. ''I don't know what they expect me to do,'' Scott
said. ... Regarding Mercer, Scott said, ''Ron has no problem with the city of
Boston or the fans. [He never mentioned Pitino.] I have to go for the best
deal I can get. I can't base that on what the Celtics are saying. The only
thing Ron's worried about is if Boston is willing to step up to the table. He
wants the best situation for him.'' The real fear among the Celtics has to be
that Mercer will leave. As Kevin McHale noted, that should only be a fear if
there are three teams lined up to pay him what the Celtics won't. That doesn't
seem to be the case, although Chicago GM Jerry Krause likes him a lot and
could have a hefty stash to spend next summer. But this is not new; the
Celtics have been discussing a Mercer trade for a while. They can't move him
alone because his salary is artificially small (by NBA standards), which is
why he's being coupled with Kenny Anderson. It's really something. Two years
ago, Pitino stood at a podium at the FleetCenter and announced he had his
backcourt of the future. Chauncey Billups lasted five months. It doesn't seem
as though Mercer is going to stick around a whole lot longer."

For once, I agree with everything Paul's Uncle Peter has to say. Bring in
Rodney Rogers ... excuse me while I go barf.