Pitino Says He's Very Comfortable With The Team

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

      Boston Herald

      Mercer fires right back
      Celtics Notebook/by Steve Bulpett 
      Sunday, October 17, 1999
      There are evidently no construction crews on the information superhighway, 
      so you knew it was just a matter of time before Ron Mercer got wind of 
      Kenny Anderson's comments and returned serve.
      It was during the first week of training camp when Anderson, while fully 
      taking the blame for last year's offense, noted that things became 
      difficult because other Celtics, Mercer, in particular, were complaining 
      about not getting the ball on every possession.
      The point guard was quoted in the Herald as saying, ``I know you're going 
      to write this, and I don't want to belittle Ron or anything, but he's one 
      of the guys that made my job a lot harder than it had to be. I've played 
      with some great 2-guards in my time, but he just complained about (not) 
      getting the ball every time.''
      Mercer, dealt to Denver with Popeye Jones and Dwayne Schintzius for Eric 
      Williams, Danny Fortson and Eric Washington, was obviously not amused.
      ``Like you need to know about Kenny Anderson,'' Mercer told a Denver 
      reporter. ``The only reason people interview him is because he says stupid 
      stuff. There's always something stupid that comes out of his mouth.
      ``I'm smart enough to know what Kenny is doing, but he's dumb enough not 
      to see it. Kenny is one of those guys with a lot of pressure on him in 
      Boston, so he has to say something negative about somebody to cover his 
      own butt.''
      Mercer had 31 points in the Nuggets exhibition opener against Chicago, a 
      team that has wanted him in the past (if they had made the Scottie Pippen 
      deal with Boston in draft day '97, the Bulls would have taken him with one 
      of the picks) and may try again in free agency next summer. After Mercer's 
      Nuggets debut, coach Dan Issel mentioned something about Mercer's 28 shots 
      (he hit 13). Mercer had 15 points against Reggie Miller in the next 
outing.
      Meanwhile, Celtics coach Rick Pitino has been offering unsolicited praise 
      for Anderson.
      ``I think Kenny Anderson's been a joy,'' he saud. ``He's gone to the floor 
      11 times in two games, beating his man to the floor diving for a ball. 
      He's been great. I never thought I'd see the day when he would concentrate 
      so much on defense, and that's wonderful.''
      Williams' role uncertain
      The Celts will abandon their mass substitution pattern in the next 
      preseason game (Tuesday at Charlotte) and will look to establish a 
      rotation.
      ``I think we're fairly close,'' said Pitino. ``The big question is do we 
      start (Williams) or bring him off the bench and help the second unit 
      because he's instant offense? Or do we make that first unit really 
      powerful? That's the big decision we have to make.''
      Pitino likes his cards
      The roster is stable, according to Pitino. At least for now.
      ``I don't want to say this because something will come up and it will make 
      me look foolish, but I feel very comfortable that this is our team,'' he 
      said. ``It's going to be our team. We're intact. We're not looking to do 
      anything. We're looking to create offenses and defenses. We're not even on 
      the phone with a general manager for the first time.''