Would be interesting to see them try it. It's the typical mismatch deal though, Pierce will kill any 4 who attempts to cover him, but almost every 4 will kill Pierce on the block. The thing is who hurts who more, and which team needs to adjust. If it works in the Celtics favor and the opposing team needs to adjust then it may just work, but with a team like the Cavs, I believe they play LeBron at the 4 on occasion, while with Orlando, I'd rather make Rashard Lewis or Hedo try to guard Big Baby and Powe.
But what 4's are going to kill him, and why the Cavs?
Are we worried about Ben Wallace eating up Paul Pierce on the block? Rashard Lewis, Ty Thomas? The reason that I make the point is that none of these players really scare me, and I think it allows us to put another good shooter on the court and create an advantage.
As far as Pierce's minutes go, he's going to get them. Doesn't matter if it's at the 3 or the 4 he's going to get plenty. The suggestion doesn't mean I'm saying play Bill Walker at the 3, I'm more suggesting that we have a lot of talented guards and we should find a way to get them on the floor.
Against a team with either an undersized 4 or a non-scoring 4 like the Bulls, this isn't a bad idea. Put Perkins on Thomas and let Pierce guard Noah. If the Bulls want to pound it down to Noah on the block, good for them: it'll disrupt their offense. Only problem is that the C's don't need to play games to beat the Bulls.
With the Magic and Cavs, I don't hate the idea of PP playing the 4 against their 4. I think he matches well with Rashard Lewis and Anderson Varejo isn't much of a scoring threat. In either case, he certainly isn't anymore undersized than Powe or Baby. However, the problem is when you put Pierce at the 4, he's no longer available to guard the 3. Thus, who do you put on LeBron or Hedo? Ray? Then we're doubly undersized. To compound that problem, we'd probably be playing House or Marbury at the 2, which would leave us undersized at 3 positions. It'd be one thing if Bill Walker was actually ready and we had his size to put at the 3. However, we don't.
In summation, I wouldn't mind seeing Paul at the 4 for limited time. But at this point, I don't know if we really need to. While I'd like to find more ways to get Marbury and House minutes if KG is out, I don't know if getting them a few more minutes by moving PP to the 4 is really helping the team more than just letting Powe/Baby get those minutes.
Topic: Pierce at the 4? (Read 2864 times)