The Boston Celtics are one of the two-best organizations in the history of professional basketball, and might be sitting comfortably at No. 1 depending on your thoughts on the Los Angeles Lakers. It has also had some of the best players in basketball history wear their uniform, as the Celtics have a laundry list of players who have played for the franchise and qualify as legends.
One such player on that list is Robert Parish, who suited up for the organization from 1980-94 and won three rings with the team. He is the kind of player whose thoughts on Celtics history carry a lot of weight.
That happened on Saturday night, when he deemed Paul Pierce the best offensive player to ever wear the green and white at a dinner before the team retires his jersey on Sunday afternoon.
Robert Parish called Paul Pierce the “greatest offensive Celtic ever.”
The Chief: “I just think that Paul was more creative. He was a better scorer than Larry [Bird] and John Havlicek.”
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) February 11, 2018
To his credit, Pierce is second in organization history in total points (behind only John Havlicek) and third in Celtics history in points per game (behind Isaiah Thomas and Larry Bird, with one of those obviously having a much larger sample size). Pierce was also a player who benefitted by playing in an era where shooting threes was more prominent, as he’s first in Celtics history in made threes (1,823) by a whole lot (Antoine Walker is in second with 937).
There is certainly a case to be made that Pierce’s offensive ability is among the best in franchise history — he was such a crafty scorer who was able to carry the team at his best — and even if Parish’s stance is debatable, Pierce is absolutely in the conversation.
