Re[2]: Victory in Charlotte

[mberry@journalink.com (Mark Berry)]

I'm going to make my Mercer comparison and probably be ripped for it. I think 
he's a taller, more athletic Jeff Malone.

This isn't a criticism, because Malone was a valuable player. Malone was the 
former Jazz/Bullet (he was in the Hornacek trade) who was a great screen shooter 
but had little to offer elsewhere.

Mercer certainly offers more in transition, but he's not quite as reliable a 
shooter just yet. But, on the whole, I think it's a fair comparison.

Mark


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Subject: Re: Victory in Charlotte 


From:    Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu> at Internet


Date:    3/31/99  6:52 PM






> Joe, I disagree with your assesment of Ron Mercer.  The
> players you compare him to are utterly one-dimensional
> 3 point shooters whose entire job was to hang around
> and take uncontested long jump shots.  Ron at the very
> least is another Byron Scott, a dead eye shooter who
> can finish like nobody's business, and drive like the
> wind.  Ron has been abused on D, but he isn't a bad
> defender for his age and station.  

I wouldn't say that driving is one of Ron's assets right
now although he's working on adding it to his game. The best
part of his game is still using screens (which is a tougher
skill than it sounds) and finishing in transition. When he
drives in the half-court set, it seems like a lower percentage
shot than his 18 foot jumper. I mean he needs to be able to 
drive because the jumper isn't always there. But really, 
he doesn't go to the line much and he frequently ends up putting 
up a prayer to avoid the opponent's shotblocker. He seems to 
be making progress in that area, though. 

> And as for him
> taking shots away from Paul Pierce, I'm convinced that
> no such thing ever happened.  Guys who want the ball
> get the ball and take their shots, just as Ron is doing
> these days, and as Antoine has always done.  

Actually this is not the case when your teammates don't
pass. And you see the players go into their "I must get my
shot" mode when this happens. The ball goes to them, finally,
and they immediately take their opponent one-on-one even if
they don't have anything. 

> Now that
> Pierce is getting his head back into the game, you see
> him taking more shots.  (although he backed off in the
> second half in Charlotte -- I had hoped he would go for
> thirty or forty.)

Yeah, me too. I thought it could be a breakout game for him.
Was it Chuck Person that he was abusing? I found myself 
hoping that Pierce would get 32 on him and remind him about
his "bad 32" comment about Antoine. I'm still convinced he
made that comment because he was forced to play PF in that
game and got beat by Antoine repeatedly. 

Alex

> Josh
>