Nice article on Paul Pierce

[Roy H.]

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/09/07/paul-pierce-celtics-hall-of-fame-daily-cover

[gift]

My favorite part is "I’d rather take a bad shot than pass it to Jiří Welsch"

[Roy H.]

Did they hide it behind a paywall?  If so, that's a shame.  It's got some good anecdotes and background in there.

[Moranis]

Did they hide it behind a paywall?  If so, that's a shame.  It's got some good anecdotes and background in there.

Yeah.  Need to be a subscriber to SI or the digital only.

[bdm860]

Did they hide it behind a paywall?  If so, that's a shame.  It's got some good anecdotes and background in there.

Yeah.  Need to be a subscriber to SI or the digital only.

I'm able to read it no problem, not a subscriber and not using any hack extensions, try clearing cookies or a different browser maybe?

[wdleehi]

The Crossover podcast from today has clips from the interviews he did for the article.   

[Jiri Welsch]

My favorite part is "I’d rather take a bad shot than pass it to Jiří Welsch"

I laughed out loud considering my username... Thanks for the post Roy!

[gouki88]

Pierce, talking about ESPN:

“It wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron all the time.”

Brilliant!

[BudweiserCeltic]

Did they hide it behind a paywall?  If so, that's a shame.  It's got some good anecdotes and background in there.

Yeah.  Need to be a subscriber to SI or the digital only.

I'm able to read it no problem, not a subscriber and not using any hack extensions, try clearing cookies or a different browser maybe?

I'm able to read it as well, unless an adblocker is working behind the scenes without my knowledge and somehow giving me access...

[Rosco917]

Pierce, talking about ESPN:

“It wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron all the time.”

Brilliant!

I'd rather be waterboarded than have to talk about LeCarpetbagger all the time.

[radiohead]

That was a good read. ESPN apparently allows one free article per month. I tried reading other articles and got prompted to subscribe.

I didn’t know Paul is divorced from his wife?

[Kiorrik]

Nice article, but the end is kinda ... weird.

It's like they just suddenly accidentally ran outta article.

Fun read tho

[timpiker]

I don't watch any sports talk shows anymore and haven't for years.  One of the main reasons is because of what PP brought up.  I'm sick of all the LeBUM Kardashian bullcrap.  That last word was edited to satisfy the babies that don't care for everyday language.

[Moranis]

ESPN is ratings driven.  They allow dissenting views if the views drive numbers up.  Pierce just doesn't drive numbers up because he is pretty terrible as analyst and commentator and just isn't funny.  He just can't pull that off like Barkley and Shaq, which is a large reason why TNT lets those 2 go off on tangents all of the time, and why ESPN reigned Pierce in. 

I do wonder if Ainge wouldn't have been able to pull off the Allen trade (which led to KG), if he might have explored a trade with Dallas for Pierce.  I assume Josh Howard would have been the main target along with some draft picks and probably Devin Harris.  In 06-07 (so the year before), Howard just finished his 4th season and made the all star game for the first time at age 26.  So theoretically he would have been a young all star just entering his prime.  Injuries derailed his career soon after.  Harris just finished year 3 and was 23 at the time and looking like he could be an excellent starting PG.  He would end up making the 09 all star team scoring over 20 a game. 

So Howard, Harris, salary filler (Dampier or Stackhouse would make the most sense), and a future 1st or 2 for Pierce and maybe a young guy like Allen or West

Boston obviously looks much different historically and certainly would have gone all in on rebuilding through the draft and around Jefferson.  Who knows how that might have worked out long term.

[Roy H.]

ESPN is ratings driven.  They allow dissenting views if the views drive numbers up.  Pierce just doesn't drive numbers up because he is pretty terrible as analyst and commentator and just isn't funny.  He just can't pull that off like Barkley and Shaq, which is a large reason why TNT lets those 2 go off on tangents all of the time, and why ESPN reigned Pierce in. 

I do wonder if Ainge wouldn't have been able to pull off the Allen trade (which led to KG), if he might have explored a trade with Dallas for Pierce.  I assume Josh Howard would have been the main target along with some draft picks and probably Devin Harris.  In 06-07 (so the year before), Howard just finished his 4th season and made the all star game for the first time at age 26.  So theoretically he would have been a young all star just entering his prime.  Injuries derailed his career soon after.  Harris just finished year 3 and was 23 at the time and looking like he could be an excellent starting PG.  He would end up making the 09 all star team scoring over 20 a game. 

So Howard, Harris, salary filler (Dampier or Stackhouse would make the most sense), and a future 1st or 2 for Pierce and maybe a young guy like Allen or West

Boston obviously looks much different historically and certainly would have gone all in on rebuilding through the draft and around Jefferson.  Who knows how that might have worked out long term.

If I'm remembering correctly, two of the names that always seemed to come up in Pierce rumors (or, media-driven trade ideas) were Shaun Livingston and Kirk Hinrich.  It's interesting that both of those guys saw their careers take a serious downturn starting in 2008.  Livingston obviously had the devastating injury.  I can't recall what happened with Hinrich, but he went from looking like a future two-way star in 2007 to little more than a role player in 2008 and beyond.