Re: Pierce's role: Co-star to leading man

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

>>>+++ Wow, St. Paul is not so saintly after all... The biggest thing that
Baker
and Kedrick lack is confidence, and Pierce wasn't exactly helping the
situation. Also, the last bit might partially explain why Delk is gone. <<<<

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Well, we aren't born with the ability to understand what pushes people's
buttons.  That comes with experience.  The first thing we all tend to fall
back on
is what worked for us.
To that end here is an excerpt from an NBA.com article on Paul by Scoop
Jackson:


As Paul got older and his rep got bigger, he became known outside of the
University of Kansas, where he was playing college ball. He d venture out of
the b
hood, away from Rogers Park to Westwood and UCLA to ball. There he found the
one man whose every step he followed, the man who gave his neighborhood an
identity by bringing NBA Championships to the place Inglewood looked at as its
sacred temple: the Great Western Forum.
It was during these summer sessions that Magic taught Paul Pierce everything
he needed to know about the game and about life. His life. See, Magic knew
Paul
bs story, he had seen many like him from Inglewood never get out.
bHe would [yell at] me every single day,b Pierce says of the sessions.
b
Calling me a little punk, telling me to grow up. And Ibm just hearing this
and Ib
m like, bThis is the guy I idolized and hebs giving it to me like this?
What
am I supposed to do? Hebs Magic.bb
So he just took it. Swallowed it. Allowed himself to be called-out by one of
the greatest there ever was.
bI didnbt have a choice,b Paul ruminates. bAll I could do is go back
at him
on the other end. You know, try to earn some respect so that he wouldnbt dog
me anymore. To this day, I believe Magic knew what he was doing to me. He knew
he was putting that fire in me. He knew exactly what he was doing with me.b
That fire is what a lot of ballers from Cali donbt have. That type of fire
that
only burns in the special ones, the chosen ones. Itbs a fire that will be a
part of Magic Johnsonbs legacy because it now exists inside of Paul
Piercebs
soul, and can never be extinguished.
http://www.nba.com/features/pierce_031108.html
Seems to me Paul was using his own experience in trying to bring out the best
in his teammates.  I don't think it's necessarily wrong, in fact, I think
some people, Paul included, respond to it quite well.
Maybe Kedrick doesn't respond to being pushed like this, but what has worked
with Kedrick so far?
And perhaps, like Ryan pointed out, being called out was exactly what Baker
needed.
The kid glove treatment didn't work in Seattle.  The 'he's my boy' attitude
that Gary Payton used seemed to enable him rather than help him.
I think with experience and maturity comes the ability to better understand
different personalities and what may work, what may not.
TAM