Re: Share and share alike: Minus 'Toine, Pierce & Co. spread duties

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

  >> And Pierce is prepared to be a visual leader, as well. One team official
noted with pleasure that Pierce was in early for the first practice after the
trade Monday, hitting the weights and putting in extra work. It's part of the
package.

     ``That's the tradition,'' said Williams. ``The tradition of the great
champions is like that. Michael Jordan worked hard and played sick. Larry Bird
played hurt and worked extra on his own. When your leaders are doing that,
then there's no excuses for the rest of the players. That's always going to
set the tone.

     ``Paul's taking the initiative. He's taking that next step to how a
champion is supposed to do things, and it's great to see him develop like
that.''

     Said Pierce: ``I think when you lead by example it shows more than
leading by words. Once other guys can say, `Our best player's in here doing
that,' it makes them think that they should be in here, too. I don't want to
just tell people to do things. I want to show them that I'm working hard.''

     That's not to say this hard work thing is a recent addition to his
routine.

     ``It's so important,'' said Jim O'Brien. ``It's easy to follow a leader
like that. But this isn't new.

     ``Last year I remember one of our first days off in the regular season.
We'd just had a grind of about 12 days and we gave them a day off. I was in
the office and I looked out of my window and Paul was on the treadmill. I
knocked on the window and said, `What the hell are you doing? This is your day
off.' He said, `There are no days off.' And I think that's wonderful. I think
not only our team but everybody else that observes Paul can use him as a role
model.>>



 Stephen, thank you for posting that.
I've been telling people for years that Paul works harder on his game than 
anyone on the team, and the vast majority of those in the league.
He has to.
He wasn't blessed with great speed or great athleticism.
Heck, he wasn't even blessed with a great basketball body.  He had to work 
extremely hard to get where he is today.  That is what made me a fan and has 
kept me a fan.  His hard work and his determination to always work to better 
himself.  To never be satisfied.

Anyway, I don't think people believed me.  Maybe after reading stories like 
this and listening to Danny talk about it during the broadcast Wednesday night, 
they will.
This is exactly the kind of stuff that you want to stress to the new kids 
coming into this league every year.  No matter how good you think you are, or how 
good other people think you are, there is always room for improvement.
I can't help but wonder why the Celtics haven't stressed this before?   Could 
it be they thought it might not reflect well on Antoine?
Just a thought.


TAM