I certainly understand the hype and excitement about the Jet being a Celtic, as I'm excited as anyone about it myself, but I think it gets a bit beyond the realistic at times, especially when he has yet to solidify himself a place on this team, or a clearly defined role and chemistry with the rest of the members. Let's wait at least until mid-season befopre giving him chances at a clutch scoring spot that Pierce took years to appreciate and earn.
I'm not sure it goes "beyond the realistic." Since 2007-2008, the first year that 82Games.com started tracking these numbers, Terry has ranked 16th, 12th, 25th, 14th, and 13th in the league in "close and late" scoring output. He is an elite end-of-game scorer.
Take a look at this list:
http://www.82games.com/1112/CSORT11.HTM
His scoring average is roughly 35 per 48 minutes in those situations - very similar to Pierce. Not too different from other elite end-of-game guys like Anthony, Durant etc. He's "taken years" to establish this as much as Pierce has.
What is even more exceptional is Terry's efficiency in these situations. Last year he shot 45/39/93 in the "clutch," and the year before 51/44/94.
Now having said that, I think Pierce is still the primary option. But what I think we will see is a lot more flexibility in the sets.
Yeah, the key thing to look at in that table you linked to is stroll your eyes up a few rows above Terry to Pierce. Then slide to the right and notice the 6.5 assists per 48 that he deals out. Terry only dealt out 2 per 48. Also, note that of Terry's points in clutch, a HUGE percentage of them are on 3PT shots, which he made at a nice 39.1% clip. Very good for a 3PT shot. But when you only need two points, that's not a good option. You would like a higher percentage shot if you only need 2. Pierce is so much more versatile because he can get you one or two points in a variety of ways.
Notice in those rankings that Pierce scored more total points per 48 than Terry, yet took only 19.6 shots per 48, while Terry took 25. Pierce took fewer shots, but made them at a higher percentage. AND he also scored points by drawing fouls - taking 16.7 FTA per 48, compared to just 7.8 FTA for Terry.
Look at the top 15 scorers in that list. The only guy other than Pierce posting that volume of points scored, while taking less than 20 shots is Stuckey (15th). Everyone else is a big volume shooter.
Pierce is parsimonious - he may have the ball in what a lot of fans think is an 'iso' - but he only takes his shot if its a good one. He's one of only 3 guys in that top 15 to shoot over 50% last year during clutch time. He also dished out a lot of assists in those situations, creating an additional ~14.5 points on top of his own shooting.
The net net of all this is that Pierce continued to be an amazing, elite point-creator during clutch time last year. Until that is no longer true, I want the ball to go through his hands in clutch time.