Billups Disses Pitino

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

"Pitino is a cold individual, man... not much loyalty in that Boston 
organization..." 
                            Chauncy Billups


      If purchase price goes up, will Mercer buy into Nuggets? 
      By Dave Krieger
      Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer



      True to his word, Ron Mercer is renting, not buying.
      In what could be merely an extended audition for the rest of the NBA, the 
      Denver Nuggets have use of one of the NBA's more intriguing young scorers 
      this season.
      But if you want to see him, you'd better hurry. He offers no guarantees 
      he'll be around this time next year.
      You can hardly blame him. The easygoing native of Nashville, Tenn., has 
      had more head games played on him in his short career than an actor in a 
      David Lynch movie.
      At 23, he already has spent four seasons toiling for Rick Pitino, the 
      Machiavelli of basketball coaches. It's little wonder, then, that he's 
      disinclined to make promises.
      "When I left Boston, I thought Ron would be there for the majority of his 
      career," said Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups, Mercer's friend and former 
      teammate.
      "But as I thought more and more, Pitino is a cold individual, man. There 
      really is not that much loyalty in that Boston organization, I don't feel 
      like. I know there's a lot of other guys that feel the same way I do. So I 
      didn't think it was going to happen, but I really wasn't surprised that it 
      did."
      The trade that brought Mercer to Denver along with Popeye Jones and Dwayne 
      Schintzius on Aug. 3 was just the first upheaval for Mercer. Suggesting 
      the trade was for his benefit, the Celtics told him a big contract 
      extension was awaiting him in Denver. It was not the case.
      So now he has little choice but to play out the final year of his original 
      NBA contract, then test the market as a free agent next summer. And while 
      it might make good public relations in his new home to talk about staying, 
      Mercer is not about to engage in the same tactics he has been subjected 
to.
      "My main thing right now is to go out and play for Denver and whatever 
      happens, happens," Mercer said. "I prefer to go ahead and get a contract 
      out of the way, but if not, I have to take my options. I really can't tell 
      the future, so it's kind of hard to comment on it when you really don't 
      know what's going to happen. All you know is you're going to be a free 
      agent. That's it."
      Nuggets coach and president of basketball operations Dan Issel has 
      predicted that if Mercer and the Nuggets enjoy a productive season, Mercer 
      will sign a lucrative new contract with the club next summer. This faith 
      apparently rests on the fact that Denver will be in a position to offer 
      Mercer more money than any other team. But Mercer says pointedly this is 
      unlikely to be the determining factor.
      "Once I become a free agent, I have the option to go wherever I want to 
      go," he said. "A lot of people think it's all about money. It's not about 
      money. It's about where I'm going to be happy. So after this year, having 
      the chance to go where I want to go and be in a place where I think I'm 
      going to be happy, that's going to be a great situation. But I still have 
      this year to play."
      It's unfortunate that circumstances have put Mercer in the position of 
      sounding like a hard case because his friends describe him as funny and 
      easy to get along with -- a personality type the Nuggets locker room could 
      use.
      "He's a lot like (Antonio) McDyess in that he's really quiet, but he's not 
      as quiet as McDyess," Billups said. "Nobody's as quiet as McDyess. But 
      he's a good dude. He likes to have fun. If you just meet him, you'll be 
      like, 'Dang, he's quiet, he keeps to himself a lot.' But once you get to 
      know him, he's really a funny guy."
      He's also a graceful, fluid scorer on a basketball court who helped 
      Kentucky win an NCAA championship as a freshman and averaged 17 points a 
      game for Boston last season.
      "His athletic ability sticks out, the way he can run and jump," Jones 
      said. "And the heart that he has when he plays. He plays the game with a 
      passion."
      For one season, anyway, that passion will be on display in Denver. Catch 
      it while you can.
      
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