Re: Peter May on Paul Pierce

[Kim <kimmalo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Not being sarcastic, but honestly - what unfair jab? Particularly at Mihm, who only gets mentioned in an asterisk identifying that the Dec stats are after the deal (which in the context of the article has more to do with the loss of Williams' leadership than Mihm or Davis being acquired - May specifically states as much). And there really isn't anything unfair in what he says of Ricky. He WAS known as a primarily offensive player (still is) and there are plenty of reports about how badly he and Silas got along.

Anyway, back to that stat table, what might be more relevant to the point he's making is to offer pre-deal stats to compare, rather than just say the stats went down precipitously after the deal. Especially since the impression I had is that Pierce wasn't exactly having a stellar season from the start. So, ignoring the 12/15 game, as May himself did, cumulative prior to the deal Pierce was

MPG FG%      3p%  Reb.  Ast.  PPG
38    42.7%   34%   7.5   5.5    24

Which isn't exactly the drop off May implies, at least not at first. In fact some of his stats went up after the deal in Dec. More recent stats back his point, of course. And yes, I agree with you that the article is pretty much dead on in describing Pierce, except I think he's asking of Pierce what he can't give. As I've said from the beginning of the year, long before it became such as issue, he's just not a leader.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Berry, Mark  S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Feb 25, 2004 8:39 AM
To: celtics@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Peter May on Paul Pierce

I think May is spot-on with this, other than the unfair jab at Ricky
Davis and Chris Mihm. I think you could make a pretty strong case that
those two guys have played harder than any other Celtic since the trade.
- Mark



http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2004/02/25/time
_for_this_captain_to_earn_his_stripes/



"Paul Pierce is the face of the Boston Celtics. You see this team as a
team dominated by Paul Pierce."-- Chucky Atkins

There's only one captain. It's time Paul Pierce started playing like one
and acting like one if the Celtics are to have any chance of making the
playoffs. It may be too late. It may be asking too much. It may even run
counter to Danny Ainge's Nixonian secret "plan," which, right now, is
working so well that the Celtics would be in line for the sixth pick in
the draft if the season ended yesterday.

Those of us who have watched the Celtics in the last month -- and the
numbers have to be getting smaller by the game -- have seen an
unmistakable drop in Pierce's game and in his presence. If he wasn't
taking six shots against the Bulls, he was heaving over-the-shoulder
shots from halfcourt with the mascot of the Cleveland Cavaliers during a
timeout.

When Ainge pulled the trigger on the Ricky Davis deal in December, the
coaches and players were upset not so much for what was coming --
although that hasn't been too hot -- but for what was leaving. We all
wrote at the time that Eric Williams's importance in the locker room was
critical to keep Pierce -- and the Celtics -- in line. We wrote that
Pierce answering only to Pierce was a potential problem.

Now look what's happened. The Cavs had six wins when the trade went down
-- half as many as Boston -- and they've moved ahead of the Celtics in
the standings. Sure, Williams is only a part of that resurgence; Carlos
Boozer is playing like an All-Star, and Jeff McInnis has been a major
plus at point guard. But just ask Cavs coach Paul Silas what it means to
have Williams around the locker room for the rest of his young team.

And, by contrast, look what has happened to the Celtics. Six weeks after
the deal, exasperated by what he had, Jim O'Brien resigned. The Celtics
no longer were his kind of team. The team was at .500 when the deal with
Cleveland was made. It's now 12 games under .500, in fifth place in the
Atlantic Division, and trails Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Miami in the
race for No. 8.

But the deal has also been brutal for Pierce. Again, it was no trade
secret that the flamboyant Davis might not be the best mix for Pierce
and the Celtics. He was an offensive-minded player coming to (at the
time, anyway) a defensive-minded team. He had the reputation of being a
selfish player. Silas couldn't stand him.

Simply, Pierce's game has dropped in virtually every statistical
category since the deal, and whatever leadership the team hoped to get
from him has not surfaced.

Let's look at Pierce's numbers since The Day The Music Died, Dec. 15.
We'll leave out the game that night against Minnesota because none of
the newcomers participated. But, since then, the Pierce numbers look
like those of Enron without the shady bookkeeping. FG% 3p% Reb. Ast. PPG
Dec.* 38.2 34.9 6.3 6.9 22.0
Jan. 37.6 31.9 6.0 4.4 21.7
Feb. 39.5 23.9 4.4 3.2 23.4
* includes games with Davis and Chris MihmBut the numbers tell only some
of the story. Shortly before making his latest deal, Ainge said, "My
biggest concern is Paul Pierce." We all thought he was talking about the
losing taking its toll on the team's best player.

Sure, the losing hurts. But what was that "Brother From Another Planet"
fiasco in Chicago all about? Six shots in 32 minutes? And that game was
immediately after Pierce's Cirque du Soleil job in Cleveland, which,
needless to say, did not go over well with his teammates.

After Saturday's humiliating loss in Portland, Pierce described the
Celtics as 12 guys going in 12 different directions. As the captain and
de facto leader, isn't there some degree of responsibility on his end?
He speaks after every game. He seems to be saying the right things
publicly.

Ainge said chemistry was overrated when he made the Davis deal. Maybe
he's right. In this instance, however, it's hard to miss the fact that
the Celtics are an internal mess and an external disaster.

The positive side to this -- yes, there is one -- is that the Celtics
are still in the Atlantic Division and they're only two games out of the
eighth playoff spot with 24 games to play. But none of that will mean a
thing if things don't change. And the agent for change has to be No. 34
playing and acting like a captain.

He's the only captain. He has produced in the past. It might be too late
to pick this team up and will it to the postseason. But it's not too
late for Pierce to do everything in his power, on and off the court, to
try to make it happen.