Pierce is Back!

[Bahku]

Paul is going to run circles around Artest.

He always does ... and Artest's only weapon is to resort to classless moves like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD796H08J7w

[EJPLAYA]

The thing I have noticed the most about PP's improvement in conditioning this year so far has been his lift on the rebounds. He is really getting up in the air and taking balls down vs letting them come to him or getting out rebounded. I think his legs in the 4th quarter will improve his consistency shooting, however he should see less minutes on the floor which will help as well. Love PP's improvement this past offseason.

[BudweiserCeltic]

In all areas of his game Pierce has looked better than previous seasons so far.

He's pretty much above career numbers in pretty much all categories, and where he's not, he's close to it. All of this while playing only 33 minutes per game. He's been a real monster so far.

He looks very quick, he has some springs on his feet that he's been missing in recent years. Even early last season doesn't compare to his current form, which is accentuated by even better performance.

[Fafnir]

The thing I have noticed the most about PP's improvement in conditioning this year so far has been his lift on the rebounds. He is really getting up in the air and taking balls down vs letting them come to him or getting out rebounded. I think his legs in the 4th quarter will improve his consistency shooting, however he should see less minutes on the floor which will help as well. Love PP's improvement this past offseason.

Its only the first week of the season though. I'd hold back my excitement, the hardest part of being an old NBA players is keeping your play consistently at a high level.

You can't reach back for more every night like you could in your twenties.

[fairweatherfan]

I agree that Paul never left, but he clearly seems more athletic and fit than I remember him being the last two years.  The last two seasons when Paul dunked, it was always kind of a joke, like "haha, Paul confirms he can still dunk it."  This year he's exploding into it and throwing it down with a lot of power.  You can see it with his rebounding too.

Perk is another one that's really impressed with his explosiveness this year, but that's another story.

[EJPLAYA]

The thing I have noticed the most about PP's improvement in conditioning this year so far has been his lift on the rebounds. He is really getting up in the air and taking balls down vs letting them come to him or getting out rebounded. I think his legs in the 4th quarter will improve his consistency shooting, however he should see less minutes on the floor which will help as well. Love PP's improvement this past offseason.

Its only the first week of the season though. I'd hold back my excitement, the hardest part of being an old NBA players is keeping your play consistently at a high level.

You can't reach back for more every night like you could in your twenties.

Agreed. I hit 38 this year and can speak from experience on that one! I don't recall him having that lift the past 3-4 years though even in the beginning of the season.