Ron Mercer - no Mercy on him

At age 30 he is nowhere to be seen. He was part of the Rick Pitino Kentucky team that ruled the NCAA for some years. With Antoine Walker, Walter MacCarthy, Tony Delk, Scott Padgett, Derek Anderson and Mark Pope a team was built that made it to the Final Four more than once and won one championship.

I never did like the Wildcats or Pitino. MccArthy is a 6'11'' useless 3 point shooter, Antoine Walker is one of the biggest ballhogs the NBA has seen, I wonder why he is so booed by the Celtics fans despite having been an All-Star. Scott Padgett should never have been in the NBA. Same goes for Mark Pope, a stiff who is scared to death of playing inside, so relying on a weak jumper. Derek Anderson is a marginal player who never played to potential. Delk is the sole i like, having scored 53pts for the Suns once, and easily fitting to several teams. The Pistons picked him up late in the season for some reason, and he has fitted in nicely as a 6th man.

The coach, Pitino, is one the biggest failures ever in the NBA. After leaving the Knicks in the late 80s he was exiled in the NCAA until the Celtics made him a very well paid coach in the late 90s. He immediatly surrounded himself with Toine, Mercer and MacCarthy. Isn't that precious? Ball hogging, bad shooting, bad chemistry, no defense, fan irritation and piles of losses became day life at the Fleetcenter while Rick was there with his buddies. Eventually he got shipped back to the NCAA (damn, even Tim Floyd got a second job in the NBA)

I never could stand the arrogant look Mercer always had. I hated him just like 'Toine when he driblled trought the lane like if he was wearing concrete goggles and shot horrendous fall away jumpers with 2 or 3 teammates open.

Ron was such a ball hog. When he played in Orlando he was always staring at whoever had the ball with with hands open claiming for the rock, which he'd shoot as soon as he got it. By then he was also quite fat, very far from the good athlete he'd been with the Celts. In a game I saw he could barely dunk.

Even at Kentucky, he had the look as if the game was something boring and he was playing with mere mortals. Looked so cold and so superior.

If he got arrested a couple of times, he'd be JR Rider II.

After a season spent in chicago where he hogged as much as a fat pig in "Hannibal" he became a journey man with the Spurs and Nets (not sure if he was with the Pacers and Denver). He got the "amnesty clause" buy out last summer and is MIA.

The difference from Mercer and the rest of the Wildcats gang is that he could play. Mercer is the pure example of the built "star" who never understood what the basketball game is all about, and that real stardom comes with adapation and comitting to wining no with hoisting 25 shots a game. It disgusts me that Ron always despized the game and the fans. He didn't even try to fit in the Spurs. Instead he shot the rock whenever if felt it on his hands no matter if a good shot or not. I think this is good example of why the NCAA has lost credibility as a training league. Its 4 years more of "star" training added to the high school. Mercer was a child underneath, but won money like a man.