I just wanted to start a thread to congratulate Boston Celtics fans and Paul Pierce (an Oakland native) on their championship. I remember we Warriors fans had a thread that discussed trading Jrich for for Paul Pierce (back when he was injured on one of the worst teams in the Eastern conference). I can't believe there was even a discussion why we wouldn't want Pierce over Jrich. I mean I love Jrich, but I like Pierce even more because he scores, plays D, passes, rebounds, and he's clutch. He's a little shaky at dribbling, but he's the consummate power guard, probably the best one in the league. I just love how Pierce can deliver in the clutch (and at the foul line) and play D, something the Warriors need badly because Baron is kind of a crappy shooter yet he's our best player who wants the ball in crunch time. Anyway, I just wanted to bring this up since I thought it was interesting how our huge love for Jason Richardson actually made between him and Pierce a debate.
Yeah its no contest at this point who the better player is. The only reason that rumor was brought up was because Pierce was injured on a crappy team and hes been pretty underrated his whole career. Like you said CR2, hes got the whole package that you look for from a swingman. Speaking of Oakland natives, the one good thing about Boston winning is that you have Pierce (born in Oakland), Powe (born and raised in Oakland) and Eddie House (Hayward native) getting a ring.
I am not sure if people were saying that JRich was better than Paul Pierce. I recall people having some caution with adding Pierce because of his HUGE contract. Take a look at it. http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm Perhaps people thought that Jason Richardson had more upside as well, I can't recall too many details from those conversations that you are recalling. Just think of the Warriors paying this guy 19 million dollars and being near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. I think that scared some people which made them not want to do such a deal. Saying this, I am very happy for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce for winning a championship. Congrats to them.
Oh yeah, Run, I totally forgot Powe and House were bay area natives too. Sweet! Next think you know I bet Boston asks for Drew Gooden for KG's backup. I guess back in the day Jrich was supposed to be the next Vince Carter/Michael Finley, except VC had better handles and free throw shooting and same with Finley. Pierce seemed to have less flair, but he was definitely clutch, he was basketball smart, and he was a top defender compared to most swingmen like VC, T-mac, Michael Redd, and others who just score and don't play D. In fact if I wanted a swingman that did it all I'd have to vote for Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Brandon Roy, Josh Howard, Sjax, Danny Granger, Corey Maggette, or something in that order. Guys that play D. (I'm a huge Brandon Roy fan). Oh and Michael Finley used to be on of my faves.
i love paul pierce and was pimping him for the warriors if vince carter was gone*. instead we took antawn jamison and was thinking wtf, but we ended up convincing ourselves jamison was a good pick. we could've had an all-star and superstar with the truth plus he could play point forward on nellie's team. * carter was in fact gone because toronto would've drafted him if not for the trade
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jason voorhees @ Jun 22 2008, 02:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>i love paul pierce and was pimping him for the warriors if vince carter was gone*. instead we took antawn jamison and was thinking wtf, but we ended up convincing ourselves jamison was a good pick. we could've had an all-star and superstar with the truth plus he could play point forward on nellie's team. * carter was in fact gone because toronto would've drafted him if not for the trade</div> We could've had KG too. And Leon Powe - I think. I forget who we chose in the second round instead of Powe.
Wasn't the "we could've had KG" thing started by Kawakami? I thought that was debunked on the account that the deal was already in place and that Minnesota wanted a big man in return.
