Paul Pierce best small forward in the NBA?
Paul Pierce has arrived. It may have taken him ten years longer than more heralded players like Lebron, or even his own teammate Kevin Garnett. But nevertheless, and sometimes despite even himself, Paul Pierce is now suddenly considered to be an NBA player of the highest caliber. In fact if you take Lebron out of the equation(does he really have a position?) Paul Pierce just might be the best small forward in the entire NBA. That statement on the surface and considering the timing of such an assertion, might seem a bit reactionary. Because, lets face it, no one outside of a boston sports bar was saying anything remotely close to that about Pierce even just one year ago. But, here we are just one year later; a prolific playoffs and finals later, and Pierce has not so subtlely inserted himself into the debate. What intrigued me most by this idea was not necessarily Pierce but everyone else. If Pierce isn’t the best small forward in the game, AND we agree that Lebron is a player who defies classification in the traditional sense(all one has to do is watch one of the seven games the Cavliers played against the Celtics, and you will see just how little he resembles a small forward, and how much he resembles some sort of Jason Kidd–Charles Barkley hybrid, but I digress), Who is? The contenders in no particular order:
Carmelo Anthony—Needs to grow up a bit(on and off the court). Defense and Leadership sorely lacking.
T-Mac—One of the best scorers in the league—Can’t get out of the first round(Pierce did it on two occasions with teams a lot worse than what T-Mac has been running with) Leadership and Defense lacking also.
Ron Artest—Do I need to even bring him up?
Richard Jefferson—Has been to the finals twice…has lost in the finals twice…incomplete player on several levels. Toughness a big question here.
Tayshaun Prince—2007 conference finals anyone---enough said.
Andre Iguodala—Maybe someday. But needs to show up in the playoffs a lot more than he did this year.
Shawn Marion—Probably a power forward, but even so anyone who wants off a playoff team so he can be the “man” is never going to be the best at anything.
Luol Deng—Great Defender, suspect everywhere else—also seemingly took giant step backward this season.
Gerald Wallace—Good player, but certainly not great.
Kevin Durant—Probably a very tall shooting guard, but still needs lots of seasoning, and a few pounds.
Caron Butler—A solid contender down the road. As of now he is almost a mirror image of the Paul Pierce of a few years ago. Needs to improve defense, shooting, and rebounding. But he does continue to improve every year and should be making deep runs into the playoffs for years to come.
There isn’t a complete player in the whole bunch. Paul Pierce on the other hand has established, in his tenth season no less, that he is a complete player. Here’s a guy who covers your best player, rebounds, drives the lane with abandon, and is a pretty good passer. He can also shoot mid-range, from three, and shot 85% from the line on the season. He can face you up, or back you down. He can finish strong in traffic, or smoothly navigate said traffic with effortless spins for lay-ups. He is tough as nails, exemplified by his 11 stab wounds that didn’t even make him miss a preseason game, and the fact he has only one season in which he played in less than seventy games(and to be honest that one season did come last year when the Celtics weren’t exactly trying to win). What stands out most about Pierce is his ability to not only embrace the pressure moments, but to grab them and make those moments his. There is no other player who can say that they stared down the two best players in the league, and then beat them at their own game. Pierce is obviously not without fault. He can get jump shot happy, and even now still has the occasional immature flare-up(see Hawks series this year). But the difference between Pierce and the players listed above is that they might possess one or two or three of his myriad attributes, but not one of them can lay claim to them all. The more you think about it the more sense it makes. It is not really a question of whether Paul Pierce is the best small forward in the NBA? The question is, how can he not be?
Topic: Paul Pierce Best Small Forward in NBA? (Read 18040 times)