Magic: Pierce Is Close, But Bryant Still Best

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/55522/20081118/magic_pierce_is_close_but_bryant_still_best/

 

Hard to disagree with anything there.

 

I disagree with the comment that he's on the same level as Kobe and Lebron. Paul Pierce was on the worst team in the Eastern conference, not too mention the league, just 2 years ago. Lebron and Kobe would never be caught dead on the worst team in the league. Especially if they were playing in a horrible conference that the east was that year. Paul Pierce gets two potential Hall of Fame'rs on his team and now he thinks he's better than Kobe. Ha!

 

I'd put him one notch below Kobe and LeBron.

Have you seen Pierce play over the past year? He's a hell of a player and def. Top 5 in the league. He can do it all pretty much. As much I hate the douche, I gotta give him some credit.

 

Pierce is a hell of a player, and during those down years he just never got the publicity and media coverage.

 

To his credit...during the down years, the team was completely rebuilding. They were looking towards Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins as the future of that team and were close to shipping out Pierce. It was hardly his fault that those teams were bad.

As for Pierce being a top five player...it might be debatable. He's a hell of a player, I'll give him that much...but top five...might be debatable.

However, I will say that I probably view him as a top five. I can, at the moment, think of Kobe, Duncan and LeBron that I'd take over him, which would tentatively put him at 4th.

 

Exactly man, there was a year (I think about 3 years ago) that they only had a game or two for the whole season on national tv, that was it. lol


But no doubt that Kobe is #1, then LeBron, but I'd include Pierce in the top 10. (maybe top 15)

 

I don't think Pierce is in the top 5, definably top 10 though. His championship heroics placed him there because before I think he was still top 15.

 

You guys aren't giving Pierce enough credit.

His best sidekick before last year was Antoine Walker, or maybe Ricky Davis. Kobe has always had multiple scoring options on his team, so has Lebron. Whoever it was that said Kobe and Lebron would never be caught dead on the worst team in the league, that is the reason why.

As for media coverage, there is a reason why Kobe gets more, he plays in Hollywood. Lebron signed a ridiculously large shoe contract before ever playing an NBA game and was the most talked about draft pick of all time. Paul Pierce is stuck in Boston without any good players before last year.

PP is definitely a top 5 player and Magic is lying when he says that he isn't biased. If I'm in the Lakers organization I'm making damn sure that if someone asks me who the best player in the L is I'm saying Kobe.

 

+1

Repped

 

"Kobe has always had multiple scoring options on his team, so has Lebron."

No.

"Whoever it was that said Kobe and Lebron would never be caught dead on the worst team in the league, that is the reason why."

The reason why is because they are the best players in the league.

 

Well first of all PP was never actually on one of the worst teams in the league, he was simply on a non playoff team. Also, KG was a top player a few years back and he was on some horrible squads in Minny.

Kobe had Caron Butler and Lamar Odom, still couldn't do much. In fact there was a streak where Caron was playing amazing, I think he was averaging around 25ppg. Before that Kobe had Shaq and Fisher.

Lebron has always had Z, had Boozer at one point, he has Larry Hughes, and now a solid pg.

 

Just like you see Wade struggling without any real help down in Miami. When he had Shaq, they won a championship.

I know he has Marion know but, that's not enough at this point.

 

First of all, Antoine Walker, in his prime, was a not a scrub. He was a legit 20 point scorer, and three time allstar.

Don't know what you're trying to say here. I never said Pierce wasn't a top player in the league, in fact, if you look at my older posts, I've always stated that he was severely underrated as a player. He is definitely a top 10 player in this league, probably top 5 (out of Kobe-Lebron-Dwight-CP3-Duncan-Garnett-Pierce).

"Kobe had Caron Butler and Lamar Odom, still couldn't do much."

Laughable. If you actually paid attention to the season, you'd know the Lakers were in firm contention for a playoff spot before injuries set in for Kobe, Lamar, etc. That's what killed them that year, not to mention the lack of chemistry on that squad.

Then for two years Kobe had to deal with Smush Parker (out of the league), Lamar Odom (career underachiever), Luke Walton (scrub), and Kwame Brown (bust) as starters.

Larry Hughes is a scrub.

Big Z is decent, but no star. He made the Finals with Big Z as pretty much his second option. That's alone is a huge accomplishment.

 

How many shots did 'toine have to take to get those 20 pts though?

You said that Lebron and Kobe would never be caught dead on a bad team because they are top players. My point is that Paul Pierce was on a bad team, but that he didn't have nearly as much help on that team as Kobe and Lebron have had their whole careers.

Why do Laker fans hate Smush now, if it wasn't for him you wouldn't have gone up 3-1 on the Suns a that year, even though that lead was blown. He's not in the league, but he was a legit scorer and IMO he's better than a lot of guys who are in the league.

Z is not a star but Antoine Walker is? I bet that if Pierce had Z instead of Walker all those years his team would have been much better.

 

Media bias? Pierce plays in freaking Boston. It works both ways dude, if you play with Shaq your numbers will look shittier.

Fact is the dude never put up individual numbers like Kobe, the "he plays with Shaq" flourish might have made Kobe and Pierce quite comparable before, but when Kobe had to stop subjugating himself for Shaq it was obvious Bryant was every bit as good as advertised. LA's team defense in the Finals was also not comparable to Boston either.

 

Wade can't stay healthy, that's his biggest problem and that's on him.

 

It doesn't matter. Fact is, he's a 20 point scorer, he was an allstar in his prime, and he was a legitimate weapon in his prime. I hate it when people just allude to Walker as a career scrub, because he wasn't. A scrub wouldn't have made the cover of NBA Live, and wouldn't have played in the allstar game three times.

Kobe was on a bad team as well, the Lakers still made the playoffs both those years. Lebron took an inferior supporting cast to the Finals.

"he didn't have nearly as much help on that team as Kobe and Lebron have had their whole careers"

And I agree. I never knocked him for it, like I said, I always felt he was an underrated player, and have no problem calling him a top 10, or even top 5 player in the league today.

Laker fans hate him because for one, he doesn't play defense. Two, he has a horrible attitude. Three, his basketball IQ is non-existent. Four, he was a black hole offensively and never did anything to improve his game.

Yes, he is a pretty talented player. He's more talented than some point guards in this league, but Kwame Brown has all the talent in the world. Look at him now. There's a reason why Miami bought him out of his two year contract less than half way through his first season. There's a reason why the Clippers signed him for one year, and looked elsewhere. There's a reason why he isn't in the league anymore, and to think he was our starting point guard for two seasons just sickens me. Great way to waste Kobe's prime.

If we replaced Smush with a legit point guard, we could've very well still taken the Suns to 7 games.

Well yeah, four or five years ago. Too bad the Ilgauskas Lebron had to play with during his Finals run had declined. As evident by his numbers. He only averaged 12 ppg, and 8 rebounds that season, which is good for a center, but not star level by any means.