With US team, Pierce basically has no shot

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

With US team, Pierce basically has no shot


By Shira Springer, Globe Staff, 5/4/2003

ALTHAM - Paul Pierce is looking forward to a summer spent working out and
playing pickup games in Los Angeles on his own schedule.



With Richard Jefferson, Elton Brand , and Nick Collison expected to be
officially named to the national team, the roster for the Olympic qualifying
tournament this summer in Puerto Rico will be complete without Pierce.

No surprise there. Pierce was part of the US debacle at the World
Championships in Indianapolis last summer. He was criticized for playing
selfishly. In return, he criticized national team coach George Karl.

''You kind of expected it after a while, if you saw how the choosing process
went,'' said Pierce. ''A lot of the guys who didn't play last summer just
called them and said they wanted to play and were chosen. That wasn't the case
for me.

''I probably would have had a better chance if I didn't play for the [US team
last summer]. I sacrificed my summer to have a chance to play on the
[national] team. In the long run, it's probably better for me anyway to get
some rest this summer.

''I voiced my opinion and wanted to be on the team. But you know, being in the
position I was in, playing on the team, the criticism I got from the team, I
wasn't in a good position at all to be on [this year's national] team. I know
it. But you still have to try and see.''

Pierce said the selection of Jefferson did not give him extra motivation for
the Nets-Celtics series. He sounded diplomatic when he said the players
selected were ''well deserving.'' But Pierce added he believed the selections
were based more on politics than ability.

'' Everybody knows that [the selection process] is something I can't
control,'' said Pierce. ''Everybody knows the selection is political. It
wasn't like I didn't get chosen because of my ability.

''They had to put certain personalities together that they felt they could
mesh. They felt like [Jefferson] is a guy that's not going to have the ego,
not going to say anything if he's not going to play ...

''I did my part. I can only do so much. After voicing how I felt about it,
that's all I can do.''

Pierce added that playing in the World Championships caused him to ''run into
a wall'' midway through the season ''when my mind was there, but my body just
wasn't.''

An enemy now

The Nets hope the Celtics bring the best out of Rodney Rogers, who was lost to
free agency because Boston was unwilling to pay a reasonable rate for the
power forward's services. Rogers signed with New Jersey for $3 million per
year for two years (with a player option for a third) even though he received
better offers from other teams.

''He had three good games for us and then he had three OK games against
Milwaukee,'' said New Jersey coach Byron Scott. ''He's still a little up and
down, but in the games that we needed him the most, Game 2, he came up big,
Game 6 he came up big, that's what we talked about, that's what we signed him
for, to lend that expertise as far as experience and being in the playoffs
before.

''I hope he comes out with big-time intensity to get out there and show them
what they're missing.''

Rogers averaged 8.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 19.7 minutes in the first
round.

Although Celtics coach Jim O'Brien visited Rogers in Phoenix to try and bring
him back for another season, he will treat him like any other player in the
series.

''Rodney may not have had the type of year that he anticipated, but that can
all change around in the playoffs,'' said O'Brien. ''Rodney is a talented guy,
a strong inside-outside guy. He could hurt you very badly in this series.

''Rodney knows that we wanted him very badly to continue to be a part of the
Boston Celtics. It did not work out. As much as I love Rodney Rogers, he's
just the enemy now.''

In a bit of a jam

Tony Delk's left index and middle fingers were taped together during practice.
The starting point guard said he jammed the fingers during the regular-season
finale against Detroit in a collision with Tony Battie. He said the injury
would not affect his game. Obviously, from his performance against the Pacers
(15.5 points per game), the fingers have not been a problem ... If the Nets
series stretches to a sixth or seventh game, Walter McCarty may have to deal
with a tough conflict. His wife, Erin, is due May 16 with the couple's first
child, a daughter

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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