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

["Jim Meninno" <Jim_Meninno@hotmail.com>]

----- Original Message ----- From: Berry, Mark S

> 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.
>he only way he salvages it is to turn these draft picks into something.

Boston would have been bidding against Chicago, wouldn't they?  Whatever
Chicago paid (and I thought I had heard it was higher than the numbers
above, but I'm not sure) would have been higher if they were bidding against
Mercer's own team, wouldn't it?  Boston would have been in a situation of
either giving him more than he's worth or losing him for nothing.  They
certainly wouldn't have gotten two first round picks for him.  And I don't
see how you can call using those picks "salvaging" the situation.  You sound
as if the draft pick was unimportant in the original trade.  I think we've
been saying all along that could be the best part of the deal.

In the end, Mercer was the target of one of the only teams spending money
this offseason.  That's exactly the situation the Celtics were trying to
avoid.  Sure, Pitino could have kept Mercer "if he really wanted to".  If he
really wanted to find out how much Chicago were willing to pay, that is.

Jim