re:Pierce

[mustang@gis.net (Michael A.DiZio)]

>Hi:
>
>A lot of you good folks talk about P-squared as if he's the next John
>Havlicek, and I hope you are right!  For the moment, I personally see at
>best a silky-smooth Shawn Elliot (a 2-time All Star, after all) and at
>worst a Darren Daye or Johnnie Newman. Maybe the most optimistic analogy
>is Marques Johnson, the old Milwaukee Buck.
>
>In any case, I think the Celts will win a lot of style points but very
>few rebounding wars with two under-sized guys (Pierce and Anderson) in
>the starting lineup, not to mention those fluffy q-tips we call our
>centers. I'd prefer the luxury of having Antoine Walker get the majority
>of his minutes at the three, so we can sail a hulked-up Popeye Jones or
>another double-double guy into the mix.
>
>Plus, I'm curious how Inglewood-raised Paul Pierce is going to react the
>first time we wail "Beat LA" during a key moment in the 2000 finals? I
>can't help regarding this kid as a closet Faker-fan, Girlie-man,
>imposter, until he proves himself otherwise to us die-hards. Maybe he's
>too young to know better.  (I snobbishly pride myself on my "tolerance"
>but I still can't respect any educated basketball fan who rooted for
>James Un-Worthy and those other Faker fruit-boys during the 1980's.)  If
>only Pierce were drinking age, I'll bet all of us would  love to
>sit-him-down-and-set-him-straight-over-a-pint-of-Sam-Adams-beer about
>the 16 banners fluttering over our Gahden (uh, Gaston's Fleet Center).
>
>Still, I think that the next week or so should be devoted to positive
>thinking about our guys. In that light, I wish to say the following
>friendly things in welcoming this new Boston Celtic forward.
>
>1) Among the Celtics' "Big Four" (Anderson, Walker, Mercer, Pierce),
>this rook has by far IMO the most mature sense of shot-selection. This
>is a guy who thinks it's shameful for a gifted athlete to shoot less
>than 48% from the field (tell that to Billups or Larry Hughes!). If this
>rubs off on our Kentucky boys, I guess it means 15-18 more wins.
>2) The 6-7 Paul Pierce apparently averaged 11+ rebounds during the last
>6 games of the Big 12 and NCAA tournament, not to mention carrying his
>game in terms of scoring. He also showed hey-baby-no-problem-style
>mature leadership the minute LaFrentz got hurt in the regular season.
>(In PP, I think -or at least hope- we're seeing the NBA's Nomar
>Garciaparra)
>3) I have to agree with whomever of you voiced the un-majority-opinion
>that Pierce is basically an unspectacular, steady player (was that you,
>arch-villain Dan Forant?). Nevertheless, that is exactly what the
>Celtics need at the moment. IMO, Pitino has up to now assembled a group
>of fast-twitch-muscle nincompoops (Keon Clark would have fit the
>pattern). Among our three barely-drinking-age-Celtics'-All-Stars-To-Be
>('Toine, Ron and Paul), I would suggest that Paul Pierce easily has the
>best head on his shoulders.
>
>I'm just glad Antoine Walker is (still) around to risk taking the
>last-second shot  (however ungraceful it is as it goes swish!), while
>Pierce and Mercer settle for looking innocent-and-pretty in a
>disappointing and unexpected loss, just as do Grant Hill, Shareef,
>Penny, Mr Robinson and the other fruit-boys most of you would gladly
>trade for Antoine, just because he wiggles too much for all of your
>wonder-bread-sandwich-eating tastes (smiley)!
>
>
>Joe Hironaka
>Paris
>
       I love hearing from my fellow hard-core green blooded fanatics. In
between the right-on basketball sermonizing was a large portion of yuks!
Maybe it's the Parisian water or something. Any way, thanks for the best
post in quite a while.
                      Vive Celtics!       Michael D.