There are many reasons why Paul Pierce chose to end his illustrious playing career as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers. He grew up in nearby Inglewood, wants a legitimate chance to hoist his second Larry O’Brien Trophy, and surely saw the team’s porous opening on the wing as an opportunity to shore up the biggest weakness of a perennial contender.
But the impact of Doc Rivers can’t be discounted in Pierce’s homecoming. The two forged a notorious bond with the Boston Celtics from 2004-2005 and 2012-2013, and no doubt hope to recreate some of the Ubuntu magic with Los Angeles that helped propel the Celtics to a championship in 2008.
Given Rivers’ recent comments concerning the 37-year-old’s role with the Clippers, though, it seems like Pierce might be more of a bystander for Los Angeles’ prospective title run than even his age suggests. Here’s Doc on The Truth courtesy of ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg:
Doc Rivers on what he expects from Paul Pierce with Clippers: “Well, hopefully make some shots when we are up 20 in the fourth quarter."
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) September 2, 2015
Calm down, folks. Rivers’ quip isn’t nearly as big an indicator of Pierce’s potential impact on the Clippers as it seems at face value.
Despite his status as a future Hall-of-Famer and ongoing penchant for delivering in the clutch, Pierce isn’t anything close to the player he was during his final years in Boston. Age has almost entirely sapped him of the sneaky quick first step that made him one of the best scorers in basketball for the better part of a decade, a deterioration that rears its head even uglier on the other side of the ball.
Pierce, basically, is ideally suited as a bit player at this point in his career, and Los Angeles has the top-tier talent, all-around firepower, and re-built bench to ensure that’s the role he’ll occupy – during the regular season, at least. Once the playoffs finally arrive come spring, expect his minutes to be increased as needed.
Either way, though, Pierce won’t be nearly the focal point with the Clippers that he was during his lone campaign as a Washington Wizard. Rivers will certainly look his way in crunch-time if the defense affords a mismatch, and his greatest influence for Los Angeles could still be allowing the team to play small-ball for short bursts of must-win games.
But Pierce’s days as a central piece of the puzzle are over. He knows it, and for the sake of his potential effectiveness in the postseason, it’s actually a good thing that Rivers does, too.
(Via Chris Forsberg)
