Sporting news article on Pierce

["Ravi Singh" <kelticsfan@home.com>]

http://www.sportingnews.com/voices/sean_deveney/20010802.html

WHAT ABOUT PAUL?

Shout it from the top of the CN Tower! Bounce it through the shops on Bloor
Street! Let it echo over Eaton Centre! Rattle it through all those leafy
heads in Cabbagetown! Vince Carter is staying in Toronto!

Vince Carter? No, Vince Cartre!

It was a big day in Toronto sports yesterday, with the Raptors signing Vince
Carter, keeping their up-and-coming team intact for the next five years, and
securing the future of a franchise that has endured six years of turmoil
among its owners, front office, coaches and players.

But while the volume on the Carter signing has been turned up "to
eee-lev-en," (as Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel would say), there was a signing
of equal importance going on about 500 miles east of Toronto. In Boston, the
Celtics signed Paul Pierce to a six-year extension similar to Carter's. If
you had not noticed, you're forgiven. After all, Vince Carter signed! Who
would pay attention to other transactions on a day of such magnitude?

Pierce is one of the few players in the NBA -- in all of sports, for that
Matter -- who can legitimately claim he does not get enough respect. He is
not the player Carter is, but he is not far behind. Take a look at the
numbers from last season, the third in the NBA for both Carter and Pierce:

Comparison  Pierce  Carter
Points:  	25.3  27.6
Rebounds:  	6.4  5.5
Assists:  	3.1  3.9
Field goal %:  	45.5  46.0
3-point %:  	38.3  40.8
Steals:  		1.7  1.5
Blocks:  	0.8  1.1



As important as the signing of Carter was to the future of the Raptors,
keeping Pierce is equally important to the future of the Celtics. His
presence gives the Celtics a clutch player and star to build around, a role
that never quite suited Boston's other star, Antoine Walker. As talented as
Walker has been during the early part of his career, he has not been very
likable, on the floor or off. He has matured, but still, he's better off
playing a secondary role behind the more affable Pierce.

The Celtics' plan, then, is to bind Pierce and Walker, and wait two years.
They are paying some hefty contracts this year and next (thanks, Rick),
which means they are out of the free agent market until those contracts run
out. Unless they are able to move some payroll through trades, the Celtics
will wait until the summer of 2003 to be rid of Kenny Anderson, Randy Brown
and Walter McCarty, which will free up almost $15 million. That will give
the Celtics the ability to add a third piece to the Pierce-Walker tandem.

Until then, the Celtics will work with what they have, and attempt to add
pieces through the draft. I've gotten several emails wondering why the
Celtics let Bryant Stith go and why they would draft three wing players --
Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown and Joseph Forte -- when they lack a center and a
point guard. The answer is that the team is looking for that third piece to
fit with Pierce and Walker. Once it finds it, it will worry about filling in
the gaps at the point and at center. Stith had a decent season last year,
but he is not the kind of athletic scorer the team is looking for in its No.
3 guy. Why not take three guys like Johnson, Brown and Forte and see if one
of them pans out?

After Jim O'Brien took over for deposed monarch Rick Pitino, the Celtics did
some winning and backed into the playoff picture before losing out to the
Pacers. They should be in the playoff picture again this year, but they will
be one of the marginal teams shooting for the seventh or eighth slot.
Missing the playoffs next season would not be a terrible blow. This is a
team that is biding its time, waiting for the future, and, judging by the
attention given to Carter and not to Pierce, keeping a very low profile.

WHAT ABOUT PAUL, SIDE THOUGHT

In January 1999, there was a four-team trade afoot that would have sent
Latrell Sprewell from Golden State to Miami, Brent Barry to Golden State,
Jamal Mashburn from the Heat to the Celtics and Pierce to the Cavaliers.
Yikes. Don't you just love checking out old, four-team trades that never
happened?