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http://espn.go.com/nba/features/01120192.html?POLL14=200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000Title: ESPN.com: Celtics thrilled with Pierce
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Tuesday, Feb. 23 3:57am ET Celtics thrilled with Pierce  By David Nielsen Scripps Howard News Service WASHINGTON -- Boston Celtics coach Rick Pitino admits he was duped by some false advertising last summer. But instead of being raving mad, Pitino is just raving -- about Paul Pierce. Pitino thought he was getting an athletic jump shooter when he selected Pierce with the No. 10 selection in the 1998 NBA draft. He had no idea he was also getting a fierce rebounder, a tenacious defender and the early favorite for Rookie of the Year honors.
"I thought of him in terms of a scorer, a finesse player, somebody who ran and obviously jumped very well," said Pitino after the Celtics lost to the Washington Wizards on Sunday. "I didn't realize, and he worked on it in the offseason, how physical he is with his upper body strength. He can be punishing. ... He blocks shots, he's a good anticipator defensively. He plays hard all the time. He does it all." Indeed, eight games into his pro career, Pierce has done it all for the Celtics. Splitting time between shooting guard and small forward, he's averaging 20.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, a league-leading 2.75 steals, and 1.63 blocks. And as expected, he's hitting his outside shots, nailing 44.0 percent of his three-pointers. Those are hardly the numbers one expects from the 10th player in the draft. In fact, only one player drafted lower than No. 5 has won Rookie of the Year the past 20 years (Mark Jackson, picked 18th by New York in 1988). Of course, going into the draft most observers felt Pierce would be selected much higher. Pierce did, too. "I felt like I should have been a higher pick than I was," he said. "I felt like those teams were making a mistake by passing on me and that I could come in and be a good player. I use that to drive me to be a better player." Unlike some rookies who are still adjusting to the physical demands of the NBA, Pierce stepped right in like he's been playing with the pros for years. Actually, he has. Even before he left his home in Inglewood, Calif. to go to Kansas, Pierce was playing pickup games with NBA players. During the lockout, he joined Shaquille O'Neal, Eddie Jones and several others stars in regular games at UCLA's gym.
"It helped my confidence playing against a lot of the pro players," he said. "I learned I could play with these guys any day of the week. I come out here in the NBA and I think it's easy for me to adjust." Among the players Pierce matched up against was Magic Johnson, whom Pierce had cheered for as a young Lakers fan. "It was a lot of fun, playing against somebody you've admired your whole life," Pierce said. "You go in there with bright eyes; you're kind of star-struck at first. Then you're out on the court with him. I guarded him every day. He really helped me a lot." Boosted by Magic's tutelage, Pierce has rocketed to the top among NBA rookies. He leads first-year players in scoring, blocks and steals, and is third in rebounds and three-point shooting. "That's one of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the season is to be one of the top rookies," he said. "But I set high goals for myself. I not only want to be one of the top rookies, but I want to be one of the top players in the game as well." Wizards perennial All-Star guard Mitch Richmond said Pierce is well on his way. "He's a player," Richmond said. "He can put it on the floor. He can shoot the three. He rebounds, he's a pretty good defender, (has) quick hands, and runs the floor very well, so you really have to pick up. He can do it all." Now he just has to find a way to help Boston win. But even with the Celtics struggling at 3-5, Pierce figures he has it better than his former Kansas teammate, Rookie of the Year candidate Raef LaFrentz with the woeful Denver Nuggets. "I haven't talked to him since before opening night, and I told him they'd be lucky to win five games this year," Pierce said, laughing. "I said it jokingly, I didn't really mean it." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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