Re: Billups Disses Pitino

[Theresa Lee <tjoyce@mit.edu>]

This is a professional team that looks to make money by filling seats and
winning championships. Loyalty is not a part of pro sports anymore. This is
not high school or college, Chauncy. He'll have to learn that lesson. Rick
Pitino is not cold (or maybe he is, but who cares?), but he has to make
tough decisions that players don't always understand. Any of you out there
ever let anyone go and then had your co-workers question you or dis you
behind your back? I have and it's not fun. Most of the time, people don't
have all of the information (usually just one side of the story- the
disgruntled person's).

What's  Chauncy going to say when Mercer rejects the Nuggets offer after
the season? Call his pal disloyal? CB is just pissed because of what
happened to him. Although, he is criticizing one of his good friend's (RP's
kid) fathers (now that's not very WARM).

Theresa

>"Pitino is a cold individual, man... not much loyalty in that Boston
>organization..."
>                            Chauncy Billups
>
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>
>      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.
>
>            © Copyright, Denver Publishing Co.
>