A Talking Point - Pierce Retires RIGHT NOW, who replaces?

[moylana25]

Who replaces and maintains the current groove of the Celtics? This is just a question born from a discussion between my father and I last night. We were discussing the future landscape of the NBA, who's entering their primes, who will be gone soon, and who the next faces of the NBA will be. With that came a thought about two players that I would've loved to see possibly in Green and White were Pierce to retire out of thin air and barring salary cap issues/contracts.

Therefore, two "interesting" players I thought of were Carmelo and Iguadala. Hear me out with my short explanation.

Pierce has been credited with being a professional scorer. In clutch situations, (Bulls @ Knicks regular season game) Carmelo comes in ridiculously clutch when needed by the team. He's a plain scorer, that's it. He's never been surrounded with the teammates he needs to go deep into the playoffs. All of a sudden, if thrown into the mix with the current Celtics I think we'd have an even bigger title chance than we already do. However idk whether he can be happy with less shots in an offense not solely featuring him.

And with AI, I just felt he has a good overall game. In general I think in my fantasy world if Pierce was gone today we would move up with Carmelo and stay right about where we are with AI. Or it could be reverse, it just depends on your opinions of each. I'm not saying AI is the starter that Pierce has been for his career but he's a particular "glue" guy with a rounded out game.

Thoughts? Please remember this was just a purely speculative "if contracts and numbers didn't matter" idea.

[AB_Celtic]

Who replaces and maintains the current groove of the Celtics? This is just a question born from a discussion between my father and I last night. We were discussing the future landscape of the NBA, who's entering their primes, who will be gone soon, and who the next faces of the NBA will be. With that came a thought about two players that I would've loved to see possibly in Green and White were Pierce to retire out of thin air and barring salary cap issues/contracts.

Therefore, two "interesting" players I thought of were Carmelo and Iguadala. Hear me out with my short explanation.

Pierce has been credited with being a professional scorer. In clutch situations, (Bulls @ Knicks regular season game) Carmelo comes in ridiculously clutch when needed by the team. He's a plain scorer, that's it. He's never been surrounded with the teammates he needs to go deep into the playoffs. All of a sudden, if thrown into the mix with the current Celtics I think we'd have an even bigger title chance than we already do. However idk whether he can be happy with less shots in an offense not solely featuring him.

And with AI, I just felt he has a good overall game. In general I think in my fantasy world if Pierce was gone today we would move up with Carmelo and stay right about where we are with AI. Or it could be reverse, it just depends on your opinions of each. I'm not saying AI is the starter that Pierce has been for his career but he's a particular "glue" guy with a rounded out game.

Thoughts? Please remember this was just a purely speculative "if contracts and numbers didn't matter" idea.

I mean, if contracts and numbers don't matter, I want LeBron James or Kevin Durant. But that's unfortunately not how the NBA works. We could spend all our time discussing Carmelo, Iggy, LBJ, and the Durantula, but what's the point?

If Jeff Green is healthy when Pierce retires, then he takes over. If at that time JG is still only above average (and not a top 10 SF in the league) and we don't have much talent at other positions, then yes, we look elsewhere in a big trade, but nothing we have is big enough to land those guys (with the exception of Iguodala, maybe).

[Jeff]

I'm a fan of AI.  I'd love to have him in Boston.  Kind of a shorter Garnett or rich-man's Jeff Green.

(must resist urge to point out impossibility of it happening per your instructions)

[Greenbean]

If you could combine Carmelo's offensive game with 75 percent of iguadala's defensive game then you would get Frankenstein Paul Pierce.

That being said, I'd take Carmelo because he still has the body and athleticism to become a good defender and a team player.

In my opinion, Melo is Paul Pierce pre Doc RIvers.

I think Doc could turn Melo into a winner.

Cool thread.

[moylana25]

Yeah what I mean about contracts is more in regards to players who are as close to Pierce as humanly possible. I don't argue I'd love LBJ or Durant to magically be on the Cs but I guess I was looking for players that have the same game, and with that, limitations as Pierce.

It's a cooky topic, I know!

[Mazingerz]

If you're talking about who will be the face of the franchise and who will be the epitome of the Celtic character and tradition then I believe we already have him: RONDO.

Carmelo Anthony is a selfish ballhog who only cares about himself. Would we like to have the Celtics be infected with the Agency currently running the knicks?

if ever Carmelo Anthony lands in Boston it will be the day that our tradition will die.

i hope rondo stays until he retires, because i believe that him with Sullinger, lee and Bradley will carry the Boston tradtion of grits and balls (reference: Rondo playing with one arm, Bradley fighting thru the pain of dislocated shoulders).

Now think about it, if Carmelo only had one good arm, or had dislocations during the game or series, would he still play?

[Chris]

I am a fan of Carmelo, and think he is capable of being a second tier star, who can lift his team when they need him most.  I am at a loss to understand how the C's would acquire him.  Are we trading Rondo?

I know people love to hate him, but Carmelo is still a star in this league, and the Knicks aren't giving him away.

[moylana25]

I am a fan of Carmelo, and think he is capable of being a second tier star, who can lift his team when they need him most.  I am at a loss to understand how the C's would acquire him.  Are we trading Rondo?

No, definitely not. I just meant if this were some dream scenario in which Pierce retired and we had our choice of replacing him immediately with no salary ramifications with either Carmelo or AI. My purpose is to see which of the two members would prefer given their NBA history, or who they would suggest outside the realm of obvious superstars (Wade, LBJ, Durant).

And I agree with another previous poster, Rondo is clearly the face of this franchise now. I too hope he remains a Celtic for life and I see no reason why he wouldn't unless DA mysteriously and magically digs out the perfect pass first PG whose game is always developing like Rondo's is. I would never trade Rondo away in any transaction that would involve a Pierce replacement, as per the thread's topic.

[saltlover]

You can't replace Paul Pierce.