Re: why did the C's misread the market?

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

No, the C's did misread the market for Mercer. They had him pegged
accurately, but they also believed someone would give him what he wanted, or
at least close to it. They were dead wrong. They claimed they had to trade
him because they couldn't pay him what he wanted and someone else would when
Mercer's contract was up. (I'm still not so sure economics played as much a
role as Pitino would have you believe.)

Assuming Pitino really wanted to re-sign Mercer, if he had read the market
correctly, he would have known that no one would/could surpass Boston's
offer (reportedly 4-yr, $28 mill, I think). He (supposedly) traded Mercer to
avoid a bidding war that never happened. The truth is, had he held onto
Mercer (I was in favor of trading him, by the way), he would have held the
upper hand, just like he did with Fortson and other teams did with their own
free agents (Denver and Abdul-Wahad, for example). The choice would have
been Boston for Pitino's price, or someone's exception.

The whole Mercer deal was botched. If Pitino really wanted to keep Ron, he
could have. That was Mistake No. 1. The trade itself was Mistake No. 2. The
only way he salvages it is to turn these draft picks into something.
 
Mark