Paul Pierce Best Small Forward in NBA?

[2short]

Paul has a championship ring, Lebron doesn't.  Isn't that all that really matters.
Actually watching Cleveland in the finals previously I did say Pierce would have been better in the finals with them since he has more range.
But in the end Lebron (imo) is the mvp in the league.

[albas89]

Its just impossible to say.  There is no scenario that could accurately say who the best small forward in the league is. 

Realistically Pierce made Antoine a much better player when he was in Boston.

Jordan Made Pippen a much better player than he was too. 

I mean those two comparison's really have to bridge to connect them.  So many factors are different between

How Jordan made Pippen better

and How Pierce made Walker better.

When you look at it on a whole, none of us here really knew Paul Pierce could be the player we saw this year.

He's always been the streaky shooter, or the best 4th quarter scorer.

He's never been the glue that held a team together, because aside from maybe 2001 and 2002.  There was no real team to be held together.  It was just a bunch of guys doing their best to overachieve while Pierce tried to carry them the rest of the way.

Now Pierce didn't have to carry the team constantly, he had a great team around him.  So what happens?   

Pierce plays the defense we only saw flashes of through his career nearly every possession.

he abuses defenders forced to gaurd him 1 on 1.

His Identity as a consistent contributer gets known.  This is because his teammates begin to knock down the shots he creates.  In the past lets face it, Pierce has done everything and then guys miss the easy shot.

most of all, scoring becomes a secondary goal to Pierce, he scores when he has to now and when his team is up he deters to his teammates.

Pierce is a different player with KG and Ray and the rest of the guys.

but you still have to question

What would Melo do in this situation? what would Lebron do in this situation?

You really can't say because its never happened.

TP for that,I was going to say the exact same things!!

[bbc3341]

I just think LeBron is on the cusp of being the best player in the game. if you switched Pierce and LeBron next year (while I agree we can't really know this) my guess is the Celtics would have the best record in the league and the Cavs would just make the playoffs.

In my mind, Pierce's greatness needs others around him to allow him to use his talents while James is simply a dominant player capable of greatness no matter who is around him.

It doesn't diminish Pierce to say he's one of the top 2 small forwards in the league. I'd say he's one of the top 10 players in the game:

in no particular order: Kobe, LeBron, KG, Duncan, Howard, Pierce, Nash, Paul, Dirk, Williams

[Brendan]

If the super aliens were coming to destroy the planet, and the only way we survive is if our planet's best team beats their hoops playing super robots, is PP in your starting 5?

Mine would probably be: Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Chris Paul
and I'd bring Tim Duncan, Paul Pierce, and Chauncey Billups off the bench.

The one thing that worries me is Lebron, Kobe, and CPaul all are used to having a lot of possessions run through them. But if you take a look at the good SG in the NBA (since I'd replace Kobe cause he's **** and most likely to get mad at everyone and tank the game just to spite everyone else) they all get a lot of possessions run through them.

-- So my point is: PP is great, but Lebron is greater.