Pierce

[Noah Evans]

I have to take issue here. Antoine might have been a divisive presence
*on* the court, but off the court Antoine is an extremely classy guy.
Comparing him with Szerbiak or Davis is offensive.

Noah

On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 1:08 AM, asterix ninetynine
<asterix_9_9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> <<While although I don't pretend to Egg's inside sources, the
> word was that of complaints there were aplenty. Just not a lot of
> public ones, beyond the faces and other childish behavior on the
> bench and court around Doc and the occasional slip during an interview.>>
>
> The thing is, Kim, what you're describing here is called hearsay.  He may have been pissed at Doc and someone else may have "word" that Doc was at fault.  Who really knows other than the principals?
>
>  And if Pierce was a malcontent, screaming diva in private it sure wasn't apparent in public.  And given the antics of take your pick - Antoine Walker, Wally Szerbiak, Ricky Davis - one would have to wonder how Pierce's alleged poor locker room behavior escaped the light of day.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Kim Malo <kmalo17 at verizon.net>
> To: The Boston Celtics Mailing List <celtics at igtc.com>; celtics at igtc.com
> Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 7:02:02 PM
> Subject: Re: Pierce
>
> At 06:43 AM 3/12/2008, asterix ninetynine wrote:
> >Nice to see Paul Pierce get the love from the Globe this year.  For
> >many years he had to bear the brunt of dissatisfied fans who
> >magnified every little mistake.  He never complained and never acted
> >like a primadonna.  He deserves respect and admiration.
>
> Well he does, but let's not go overboard into revisionist history.
> It's worth noting that he'd already turned his attitude around last
> year, well before the changes occurred which gave him a real reason
> to be playing with the visible joy you see now, but that attitude
> needed adjustment.
>
> He was about as unco-operative and frequently openly disrespectful
> towards his new coach as he could be when Doc first came here (and in
> fact IMO Doc deserves some credit for Pierce's attitudinal turnaround
> last year because he didn't hold a grudge and so helped created an
> atmosphere where that turnaround was possible - never could have
> happened with someone like Obie, even with Pierce willing), with
> behavior that you can call childish if you want to get into a
> semantics thing over whether it was actual prima donnaism. No, he
> never was a notorious jerk, because a) he's not a natural jerk and b)
> he didn't go out of his way to run to the press with his displeasure,
> but he wasn't a saint nor particularly admirable some of that time
> either. While although I don't pretend to Egg's inside sources, the
> word was that of complaints there were aplenty. Just not a lot of
> public ones, beyond the faces and other childish behavior on the
> bench and court around Doc and the occasional slip during an interview.
>
> I'd rather praise him for the way he's wholeheartedly embraced the
> new changes to not just accept a bit less scoring, etc - i.e. the
> obvious adjustment - in return for winning, but to go a huge step
> beyond that into actively improving his own game to become a much
> better all around player. A lot of star players wouldn't think they
> should have to at this stage in their career. All while visibly
> throwing himself into it with that joy I cite above, which is
> infectious, rather than retaining the slightest sign of vestigial
> resentment over the ugly past few years. A lot of people and players
> wouldn't have been able to let go of that resentment and it's to his
> credit that he did, so let's not pretend it wasn't there..
>
> Kim
>
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