Pierce on TNT

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

Interesting to see Pierce on TNT with Barkley et.al.; seemed like a
thoughtful - if a tad shy and deferential - young man. Hopefully this is the
start of a trend of higher visibility for Pierce and the Celts. Pierce
played it close to the vest both Sat and Sun but he did pick the Charlotte
upset and loosened up when he told Jordan to just keep watching the
highlights. Barkley paid him a nice complement when he said Pierce was a BMW
who could be a Mercedes (like him and Jordan).

One more interesting insight into Pierce: when asked what he thought of
Rasheed Wallace and his techs Pierce simply said something to the effect
that "he is who he is - he's and intense player and you have to take what he
gives you". This seems like a pretty mature view and would help explain why
he gets on with Twon so well: you accept people for what they are - good AND
bad - and don't get upset over things you can't change/control.

That being said, it got me to thinking of whether the opportunity to swap
Walker for Rasheed might present itself this offseason given the implosion
in Portland. Before you fire off the "not THAT headcase" salvos, consider
the following stats:

Wallace: 77 games, 38.2 MPG, 50% FG% (WOW!!), 19.2 PPG, 90 steals, 135
blocks 7.8 RPG

All that with only 15.3 shot attempts per game - say what you want about
Wallace and the refs, he is fairly unselfish when it comes to his teammates
and effective at what a PF should do. Aside from the techs the only weakness
seems to be in total rebounds, but he averages 9.8 over 48min to Twon's 10.2
per 48 so this is basically a wash given Portland has better rebounders
around Rasheed.

Add to that the fact that Wallace is an active and effective defender on the
post (and hence from my perspective a more complete player) and such a swap
sounds quite tempting. Of course the Cs would have to employ a PG if they
swapped Walker for Rasheed, but  . . . is that such a bad thing?

Cheers - Tom Murphy