Ron vs. Isaiah and Spree.

[damekmo@teleport.com]

>Larry Brown has the 76er team on track and is a season or 2 ahead of us in
>development. Partly due to management and team talent. It's time for Celtic
>teams to start putting the money where their mouths are.

Yes Dan, the Sixers are, and next year, the Celtics must. Now, on to two of
my favorite players...Isaiah Rider and Latrell Sprewell. I hope Ron Mercer
is watching both these guys play, especially Rider. Yes, Isaiah is a
freak...yes he can be irresponsible...yes you can question his
maturity...but this guy can hit a shot from anywhere on the court; (Are you
listening Ron?) he's big enough to post up any shooting guard covering him;
(So's Ron.) he goes to the basket; (Ron?) and when he wants to, he can
defend anybody (Ron??). Did anybody see the fourth quarter of the last
Blazers/Jazz game? Isaiah was unstoppable. Mercer has all the tools. Maybe
Ron needs more of an "a-hole edge". Who knows? Now there's no doubt about
it, Isaiah could explode mentally at any point and the whole thing could go
bad. It's a chance you take with players like him and Sprewell. The problem
with trading Ron is that he shows flashes of becoming one of the best
shooting guards in the league. The problem with Ron is that if you watch
him play long enough, you come to the conclusion that he never will be. The
problem with Ron is that I'd trade the Saint for one of the two Satans
anytime.

Paul M.