He was versatile and explosive during his playing days at Kentucky. Only thing that stopped him from becoming an nba all star was injuries.
Ron Mercer was the best pure small forward to play at kentucky
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He also played small forward at UK. Givens and Mash were better than Mercer.
Mashburn was not considered a small forward by any means. He was the typical power forward at 6'8 and 235. Feldhaus and Plephrey were small forwards as was mercer. Not Mashburn. He could play any position but he was not considered a small forward.
How about Kenny Walker? Bennett was the PF on that team.
Mashburn was a small forward back in the day if he played today he would be a 4.
Why do you think it's called "small" forward? Goose played small forward. He always had two guards out there with him, and 15-17 feet was the perimeter as far as his game was concerned.
And the best small forward in UK history is Kevin Grevey. Mashburn was a small forward in the NBA but you'd be hard pressed to call him one at UK. If you want to go by "pure" small forward, it's a small list but the players are great. Johnny Cox, Cotton Nash, Kevin Grevey, Goose Givens, Ron Mercer, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Grevey was the most dominant of that list, imo, with Cox and Nash right behind him. MKG was the best defensive/rebounding/fast break small forward we've ever had.
https://future150.com/hs/basketball-profiles/jamal-mashburn-jr.-pg-miami-fl-2020
Didn't know mashburn had a kid playing ball neither.
Didn't know mashburn had a kid playing ball neither.
Goose and Mercer both made MAJOR contributions in bringing home banners.....we all know about "The Goose was Golden" with 41 points when he was a Senior
Mercer otoh, doesn't get enough credit because he scored 20 in the title game as a FRESHMAN! And not to mention he almost single-handedly put the team on his back after DA went down and got us to ANOTHER title game...second year in a row!
Mercer otoh, doesn't get enough credit because he scored 20 in the title game as a FRESHMAN! And not to mention he almost single-handedly put the team on his back after DA went down and got us to ANOTHER title game...second year in a row!
No love for MKG? If he stays two years as Mercer did or three years as Mashburn......
I think calling Mercer the best small forward in UK's history is not an outrageous statement. Mash and Sky were both power forwards. Mash, of course, had three-man skills. But I'd still call him a college stretch four. Goose would be my pick. And I was a young'n when Grevey was playing so I can't fairly judge. But an argument could be made for Mercer.
People forget how good Mercer was because he was overshadowed on that '96 team and the '97 team lost the title game and Pitino went to Boston. He was one of my favorites. Was the 2nd highest scorer in the title game in 96 and played only 24 minutes.
Shame Anderson got hurt, that team was tearing it up.... Thunder and Lightning
Mashburn played Pf that is one of the reasons he was so deadly not many fours could guard him. He didn't have the lateral quickness to guard every three we played against. Mash is the best forward we had here tho. I am counting Kat and Davis as fives because that is what they played here
I can remember back to Kevin Grevey so I would have to go with him or Jack Givens. Mike Pratt was good also.
In my days of watching the Cats here are my take on greatest SF to play here.
1. Mashburn
2. Mercer
3. MKG (kid played with heart and was a winner)
1. Mashburn
2. Mercer
3. MKG (kid played with heart and was a winner)
Id take Mercer in 97' over MKG in '12 and thats saying something.
The 15 foot curl jumper couldnt be stopped.
The 15 foot curl jumper couldnt be stopped.
Givens is my pick. Yes he was 6'4 but that wasn't considered small for that position at that time. He didn't make it in the NBA because they wanted him to play SG and he couldn't handle the ball well enough and he didn't have deep enough range on his shot, but he had the prettiest mid-range game I've ever seen at UK.
The best potential SF Kentucky could have ever had was Derrick Hord. He was a spectacular player coming out of high school but could not find his comfort zone at UK. Hall screwed him up by trying to play him at SG his sophmore year when he led the team in scoring.
Mercer is up there though and a case could definitely be made that he was the best.
The best potential SF Kentucky could have ever had was Derrick Hord. He was a spectacular player coming out of high school but could not find his comfort zone at UK. Hall screwed him up by trying to play him at SG his sophmore year when he led the team in scoring.
Mercer is up there though and a case could definitely be made that he was the best.
And Briscoe played SF but that doesn't make him one. A label doesn't make you something. It was just the best lineup they had at the time.
just b/c I haven't seen him mentioned and I think he should be I will say that Pat Riley belongs in the conversation.positions were pretty much interchangeable on the Runts but I would think Riley would have to have been considered their "small forward".
Givens was not better than Mercer. Yeah, he had 41 against Duke but he was not better.
