Re: Mercer/Fortson

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

> Alex Wang wrote:
> 
> > On the Ron Mercer/Danny Fortson trade:  (.....)
> > Quite possibly, this trade will help both teams. Denver would have
> > had trouble finding minutes for Fortson with the return of LaFrentz
> > and with McDyess playing 40 minutes per game. Mercer may indeed be
> > a small forward that only scores but does not rebound, pass, or
> > defend; however last year Denver played with small forwards that
> > did not score OR rebound, pass, and defend, so he will certainly be
> > an improvement. (.....)
> 
> Ouch Alex, aren't you talking about Eric Williams and Eric Washington here?
> :-)

True, I am treating our newest Celtics pretty harshly. :-) Still, they
didn't do much for Denver last year, averaging about 2 rpg and 1 apg
each from the SF position to go along with sub 40% shooting. Anything
they contribute will be a bonus though I hope that Williams will have 
some success as a second unit scorer. Last year was hopefully an 
aberration for him, due to coming back from the injury.

> Denver was outrebounded by 1.66 per game last year despite herculean
> efforts by McDyess and Fortson, which illustrates how important it is to
> have all five NBA starters be capable rebounders (as with our Y2K Celtics,
> actually). Since Issel decided to subtract Fortson's 11.6 boards from the
> team equation and give big minutes to finesse forward Ron Mercer, he'll
> really need a tremendous comeback year from Olive Oil Jones to keep his
> club from getting blown out on the boards. That team has bad chemistry
> written all over it. To start with, Nick Van Exel makes Kenny Anderson look
> like a great floor leader and locker room presence by comparison.

Every starter on the Nuggets is the type of player that needs quite a few 
shots to be effective. Add to that a general lack of team defense and 
rebounding and you have the recipe for a pretty bad team. McDyess is really
the saving grace for their team; his dedicated efforts could lift them
into being a mediocre team. 

It seems that a lot of Denver's optimism came from a 2 game stretch last
season right before LaFrentz went down, when they beat the Lakers and Utah
to raise their record to 3-8. It's too bad that we have to wait two seasons
to cash in their lottery pick.

Alex