Link IMO, All Celtics fans should read this. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Here?s some food for thought. With Tony Allen playing so well (30 points combined in his last two outings) and Ricky Davis appearing to have his head on straight, could the Patrick Ewing Theory (courtesy of ESPN?s Bill Simmons) apply to the Celtics without Pierce? Could Pierce?s supporting cast step up and fill the void? Ewing Theory aside, wouldn?t Pierce bring in a heck of a player via trade? From what I?ve heard and read, most NBA general managers see Pierce as a victim of bad management, which isn?t far from the truth. Back when he and ?Toine were like Batman and Robin, Pierce had a co-star, someone who supported him and made him a better player. Walker, the media?s scapegoat, took the pressure off Pierce. It was never Pierce?s fault when the Celtics lost. It was Cyber-Toine jacking up too many threes. It was the Antoine-shimmy. Yeah, that?s why they lost. Back then Pierce could only be the hero. It was a win-win situation. When the Celtics won, Pierce had carried them. When they lost, he just didn?t have the right supporting cast. Maybe both Pierce and the Celtics would be better off without each other. The Celtics could start afresh with someone who didn?t feel the pressure of being the franchise?s savior, who would not feel it was his divine right to be on the court for the entire fourth quarter regardless of how well his teammates were playing. </div> Very interesting article. I can't say that I totally disagree with it. There are little things that I'm starting to notice that bother me, but no way will I compare Pierce to Nomar.
I saw only the 4th quarter of the Miami game, so I'm not sure I have the correct frame of reference, as it wasn't something I was looking for. I don't know if PP was pissed off about other happens, earlier in the game. Pissed he wasn't in the game. Frankly, he could have just been plain tired. I don't really know. The articles author isn 't the first to bring up this lull in PP's behavior. However, last game against the Magic, he didn't seem to be sulking, so I'm not sure what to think. I think he's in a funk. I think he's got too much on his shoulders and I think he needs to relax and let things come and enjoy playinhg the game (assuming he may not be right now). The crutical difference between this and the Nomar situation is the supposed linkage to injuries. Nomar supposedly was "nursing" his injuries while the Sox looked for a deal, supposedly because Nomar was put off by off-season trade issues (AROD). Pierce is still out that trying to win every night and I think it's as much a matter of too much on his plate and some level of frustration at the recent losing streak.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> The crutical difference between this and the Nomar situation is the supposed linkage to injuries. Nomar supposedly was "nursing" his injuries while the Sox looked for a deal, supposedly because Nomar was put off by off-season trade issues (AROD).</div> Plus, the author makes a great point that without Nomar, the Sox still were Championship caliber, and without Pierce the Celtics are lottery bound.
I think the best point of the article is that when Antoine was here, he was more than willing to wear the black hat and take all the critism for whatever happened. With Antoine gone, whatever happens now happens to <u>Pierce's</u> team. I think he's still adjusting to going from being the guy who could do no wrong, to the guy who's the main target for how the entire team does. I've noticed that there appears to be something 'off' with him this year. Maybe its the constant stream of guys that were coming and going last year, maybe it was his name being brought up in trade rumors last year, maybe he's just tired of mediocrity. I don't know what it is, but I think that he just needs to start trusting his teammates more and realising that he doesn't have to do it all.
I've always been a Paul Pierce fan and he's one of the few players I'd build a franchise around. It's an interesting article, but I don't see any complacency in the way Pierce is playing. He had a rough season adjusting to being the sole option on offense last year, but this season Pierce has gotten back to his aggressive style of play. His FTAs are up from 7.4 to 9.5 a game from last year and his FG% and 3pt FG% numbers are up. I think Pierce is still adjusting to all the changes the Celtics have gone through the last couple of seasons. He's also probably recovering mentally from some of the trade rumors he was involved with in the offseason. I don't think it is in Pierce's nature to be the vocal leader of the team. He doesn't show much emotion, and prefers to lead with his actions. He's one of the rare players who wants the ball at the end of games and doesn't mind taking the game winners. He's vital to the Celtics and I cannot imagine them trading him unless they got a top 5 player in return.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">I've always been a Paul Pierce fan and he's one of the few players I'd build a franchise around. It's an interesting article, but I don't see any complacency in the way Pierce is playing. He had a rough season adjusting to being the sole option on offense last year, but this season Pierce has gotten back to his aggressive style of play. His FTAs are up from 7.4 to 9.5 a game from last year and his FG% and 3pt FG% numbers are up. I think Pierce is still adjusting to all the changes the Celtics have gone through the last couple of seasons. He's also probably recovering mentally from some of the trade rumors he was involved with in the offseason. </div> I don't think anyone is questioning Pierce's play on the court. The thing is, he just doesn't look happy out there, which is new. This is where I think the trade for Gary Payton is going to pay huge dividends for the C's. As the season goes along and Gary gets more comfortable in Boston and with his teammates I'm willing to bet he become much more vocal and takes some of that burden of of PP. I think that Paul is much happier being the man on the court as long as someone else deals with all the media off of it.
Like shapecity, im always been a big Paul Pierce fan and i have always repected the way he has handled himself both on and off the court. Paul has never been one to shoot his mouth off or pass stupid remarks, and i respected that. as for the issue at hand, i call keep Paul Pierce. true he did not look very happy last year as the C's team leader, and was looking quite beat in the last half of the season. Yet, i noticed this year he was been slowly but surely stepping up his performance, and i have this gut feeling that somehow he is satisfied with the current team. if GP stays and ends his career in Boston , i can picture some great teamplay going on here. looking at the celts this season, i say they are definately a better-run team on both ends of the floor. So my verdict : keep paul pierce and the current sqaud, tinkering sometimes causes improvement, but for 2 seasons? regarding the antoine walker issue, honestly, i think it was because paul pierce was playing the best ball of his career those days. Toine was good but many people felt he should pass the ball to paul, yet paul allowed walker to have equal share of the ball coz he respected walker. so as walker didn't have as good a production as paul, made him a magnet for critism.
