http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatNBA?event_id=17328</p> <font>FLCeltsFan (Panama City,FL): Thanks for chatting with us! I am very excited about this upcoming season. How is the elbow? It has bothered you for two seasons now, even after surgery. Is it fully healed or is it an ongoing problem that you will have to play around?</font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> The elbow is fully healed. I expect no problems with it for the upcoming season. Although, I really think it might have helped my shot the past few seasons! (Laughing)</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>Chris (Hull): Hey paul, excited to see that you guys are in for workouts already... how are they going so far? How many of the guys are there? </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">I've seen the entire team. We're all real excited about the upcoming season. It's an exciting time for us and we're looking forward to a big year.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> b<font>oston: How will your role change this year with the aquisitions of KG and Ray Allen? </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">I don't think I'll be asked to score as much as in the past, which will allow me to do other things, like rebounding. Also, my assists should go up, with better players around me.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>Andi (Graz - AUSTRIA): Besides you, Allen and KG, who else on the roster a fan should watch out for? </font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">I'll say James Posey, Tony Allen, Kendrick Perkins, Rajan Rondo, Brian Scalabrine, Leon Powe, our entire roster. Including Scot Pollard (Laughing). We're all in good shape and ready to go.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>Kenny Boston: Hey Paul in Practice when you see Tony Allen How far do you think he's come from his knee injury and how well will he come along with the all stars that we have now on the team </font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font><font color="#008000">I think Tony is going to have a great year. I've been working out with yim every day, and he should be ready to go at the start of the season. This is as hungry as I've seen Tony since he's been a Celtic.</font> </font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>david Tallahassee: Has Boston responded to the personnel changes? Is the anticipation buzz for this upcoming season the greatest you've seen since you've been with the Celtics? </font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">It definitely is. You can feel it in the air, going around the city. Boston is excited about basketball and their Celtics again.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>Justin (Boston): Tell us something about Scot Pollard that us fans may not know about, based on your Kansas Jayhawk days together. </font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">Hmmm. Wow. I been around him since college, but Scot does not bite his tongue, he really speaks his mind. He has a great personality. The only thing weird about him, is he likes to paint his toenails and fingernails. By the way, I love his hairstyles</font><font color="#008000">.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>Omar (Minneapolis): With the addition of All-Star Kevin Garnett do you think it will make a huge difference playing against teams like Spurs, Suns etc.. where they have lots of bodies inside the paint</font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">Well, KG is a tremendous rebounder and defender and athlete, something I haven't really had on my team in my NBA career, so I think our whole team's level of play will go up. KG can match up with basically anybody and that can really, really change our whole team.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>Mike (Brookline): Please give us a prediction of your videogame ranking after this season. Back in '02 and '03 you were in the high 90s, but you've slipped a little bit since... think you can regain some videogame stature?</font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">I don't know. I haven't kept up with the video games. But this year, with us winning more, maybe that will go up. I think your video rating goes up if your team is winning and we hope to do more winning this year.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>Diego (Argentina): Paul: Hi! from Argentina. I'm a really really fan of you and of course, I'm a fan of the Celtics. I wanna ask you if you think the celts needs a veteran PG to be a Championship contender or with the roster we have, we can win the champ???</font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">I think with the roster we have we can make a run. But we need to get out there and see what our strengths and weaknesses are and go from there, adjust is necessary.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>carter grant harlem ny: If you have worked out with KG and Ray ALLen is there anything that surprised you about there game</font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">Probably how hard they work in the offseason. You know they're great and put in the work, but to see how consistently they bring it, day in and day out, during the offseason, and this being like their 12th or 13th year. You expect that from a young guy, trying to make his way, make his mark on the league. Those two guys, at the gym every morning at 8'o-clock, is very impressive.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>Justin (Boston): 10 seconds left, down by 1, who's taking the last shot?</font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">With this team, whoever is hot at the time!</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font>Antonio(Brooklyn, NY): You guys almost made it to the finals a couple times a couple years back making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. How would you compare this team to that team when you had Antoine Walker by your side?</font><font> </font></p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">The team this year has higher expectations. Those other teams, snuck up on people, but this team will have more of a target on it's back than the one that reached the Eastern Conference Finals.</font></p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <font color="#008000">Paul Pierce:</font><font color="#008000"> </font><font color="#008000">I want to thank all my fans for supporting me, through the good and the bad, and hopefully I'll be able to help us bring you an NBA Championship. Thanks again for all support.</font></p> </p> Hey, I know FLCeltsFan (the lady who asked the first question). I'm sure some of you do as well. If you are a part of any Celtics fan site, you know who she is and you know she does a great job posting daily links and writing for Loy's Place.</p> Oh, and that Scot Pollard anecdote is just disturbing. He's one interesting dude. </p>
