"If Doc goes I'll retire"

[nickagneta]

How much am I truly reading into it?

Look at it this way. If I was in Aruba on a two week vacation and on the first day said "If it gets  cool and rainy for a couple days, I'm going home". Do I mean it? Yes. But what is the likelihood of it being cool and rainy in Aruba? It's next to nothing.

It's very similar here. Pierce means what he says. He's paying a compliment Doc's way. To believe him is to believe in Pierce's compliment. To not believe him by drumming up extremely unlikely scenarioes, IMO, says that the person interpretting what Pierce said doesn't have a lot of confidence in Doc because that person has a hard time finding it credible that Pierce would put his loyalty and respect for Doc above all else. 

Of course Pierce was playing Doc a compliment, and that's how it should be taken.

However, I think that if Doc left before Pierce was ready to retire, Pierce would make the exact same decision that Shaquille O'Neal made.  Pierce is too competitive to allow somebody else to dictate his fate.

I don't think people not 100% buying Pierce's sentiment are bashing Doc at all, or don't have faith in him.  Rather, those people understand the reality that very few professional athletes are going to retire until they're good and ready.  They're unlikely to leave money, fame, and prestige on the table because another man wants to retire.

Okay, I understand that. I guess we'll just have to wait until the end of this contract and see what Doc and Pierce does.

TP for the debate, always fun with you Roy.

[thirstyboots18]

People say things all the time...every week I say I will never play bridge again,  .  So shoot me.  So shoot Paul.  Why does everything anyone says have to be taken so literally?  Paul likes playing for Doc...enough to make a statement. He may have really felt like that at the time.   It is not Holy Vows...or even Marriage Vows. Michael Jordon said the same thing about Phil Jackson.