I am now down to the No. 2 former Jayhawk with the best NBA career. There is simply no doubt about the pick here. Paul Pierce put up monster numbers and plenty of wins during his career, while ranking as one of the all-time NBA greats and No. 15 top scorer in history.
No. 2 Paul Pierce
Paul Pierce’s NBA career all began on a gloomy, rainy late afternoon in Vancouver at General Motors Place on June 24, 1998 during the NBA Draft. While it was rainy outside, hope, anticipation and a buzz filled the arena for Pierce and the roughly 20 other future NBA players in attendance.
The Grizzlies’ mascot entertained fans with his antics on the court while a highlight film shined on the video board. A friend and I proudly held up a white and crimson and blue banner supporting Pierce and fellow Jayhawk and coveted NBA prospect Raef LaFrentz: “Rock Chalk, Pick a Jayhawk.”
And then the draft commenced when Commissioner David Stern stepped up to the podium. Pierce, for one, didn’t expect to wait in the Green Room long. After all, after three stellar years at Kansas, where he was named an All-American after his junior season, most observers believed he would be picked in the top three or five spots, and just maybe as high as No. 2.
Jerry West, Los Angeles Lakers Executive VP of Basketball Operations, believed Pierce would make an immediate impact in the NBA.
“He has played kind of an NBA-like game already,” West said. “He looks like he will be able to come in and compete right away without a lot of special coaching to get him ready to play. He plays a thinking man’s game and he is going to be a very, very attractive player for a lot of teams.”
And then the wait and drama started. First, the Los Angeles Clippers selected Michael Olowokandi. Then Mike Bibby went to Vancouver. Every five minutes, Stern called a name with no mention of Pierce. Raef LaFrentz. Antawn Jamison. Vince Carter. Robert Traylor. Jason Williams. Larry Hughes. And then Dirk Nowitzki was selected with the the ninth pick.
Finally, after so much wait and anticipation for Pierce on the biggest day of his life, the Boston Celtics selected him with the 10th overall pick. Stunned, shocked and dazed, Pierce stood up, hugged his family members, put on a green Celtics’ hat, and walked to the podium and shook hands with Stern while taking a picture with the commissioner. He soon spoke to the media about looking forward to his new start in Boston.
“I am a little disappointed, but it is a situation I had no control over,” Pierce said. “I guess teams figured they couldn’t use me, or that someone else fit their needs better. We (agent) never had a chance to talk with, or mentioned the Celtics. It’s a big surprise to me to be wearing this hat. If you would have told me a week ago, I would have not believed a word of it, but I am here, this is my situation and I will make the most of it.
“I am going to use this as motivation and show these teams that they passed on a quality player. I just want to go out there next year to let them know that they should have picked me but I am happy that (Rick, Celtics coach) Pitino felt confident in my ability and gave me a chance.”
Nineteen years later in 2017, Pierce ended his superlative and legendary NBA career proving his doubters wrong, becoming one of the all-time Celtics and NBA greats. His achievements were simply remarkable, especially considering this was once a teenager who was cut from his varsity high school team in Inglewood, California, as a bright-eyed freshman.
With such a fabled franchise in Boston, where legends like Larry Bird, John Havlicek, Bob Cousy and Bill Russell donned the Celtics green, Pierce made an indelible mark for 15 seasons. He averaged 21.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.44 steals and 36.6 minutes in 1,102 career games (1,099 starts). No. 34 ranks No. 1 in franchise history in three-point field goals (1,823), free throws (6,434) and steals (1,583), while placing second as the Celtics’ second all-time leading scorer (24,021 points).
In addition, “The Truth” placed in the the top-10 list in games played (3rd-1,102), minutes played (3rd – 40,360), field goals (3rd – 7,882), field goal attempts (2nd – 17,630), three-point field goal attempts (1st – 4,928), free throw attempts (1st – 7,979), offensive rebounds (8th – 1,008), rebounds (7th – 6,651), assists (5th – 4,305) and blocked shots (4th – 668). With 15 years in Boston, Pierce trails only Havlicek for the most ever spent in a Celtics uniform.
After finishing his career with the Los Angeles Clippers last season, Pierce got his just due by signing a one-day contract with Boston on July 17.
“We’re honored that Paul has chosen to retire as a Celtic. He is among the very best Celtics – a champion on and off the court,” said Celtics governor and managing partner Wyc Grousbeck. “We congratulate Paul on a Hall of Fame career, and look forward to seeing his number raised to the rafters of TD Garden.”
Pierce was overwhelmed with emotion.
“It's an honor to have this opportunity to once again call myself a Boston Celtic," Pierce said. "The organization and city took me in and made me one of their own, and I couldn’t imagine ending my career any other way. I’m a Celtic for life.”
A month later on Aug. 18, the Celtics announced that they will retire Pierce’s No. 34 in a game against Cleveland this season on Feb. 11.
“We teamed up with Paul from the beginning of our ownership and grew to be champions together,” Grousbeck said. “He’s a great person and a great Celtic.”
“I will always be grateful for the sacrifices Paul made to help the Celtics be great,” said Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge. “His love for the game was contagious and his talents and hard work were legendary. He was one of the greatest players of his era.”
Pierce was extremely proud to know his jersey will hang from the hallowed rafters of TD Garden for all time. Pierce’s No. 34 will represent the 22nd retired number in Celtics franchise history. He becomes the first Celtic to have his number retired since Cedric Maxwell’s No. 31 was retired on Dec. 15, 2003.
“The moment I was drafted by the Celtics, I knew I was joining one of the most historic organizations in the NBA,” said Pierce of Boston, which has won 17 NBA titles. “For 15 years, I played at the Garden, looking up at the jerseys of some of the most iconic players in the game – Russell, Bird, and Cousy. To now be recognized alongside those names is such an honor. I have always said I would be a Celtic for life, and now it is really coming true.”
Like many others, Celtics Co-Owner Steve Pagliuca believes Pierce is quite deserving to have his jersey retired.
“Paul was a transcendent player, a great leader, and wonderful teammate; simply one of the great Celtics in every way,” Pagliuca said. “His number in the rafters will forever remind us of the joy he brought to the game of basketball and his love for the fans and the city of Boston.”
Pierce had the makings of greatness from the beginning. In his NBA debut against Toronto on Feb. 5, 1999, all Pierce did was collect 19 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and four blocks.
He would only get better. Much better.
Pierce was a 10-time All-Star, won a championship and Finals MVP trophy with the Celtics in 2008, a member of the All-NBA Second Team in 2009 and a three-time All-NBA third-team selection (2002, 2003 and 2008). Pierce was also named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1999 and was the league’s three-point contest winner at the 2010 All-Star game.
In addition, he was the NBA regular-season leader in total points in 2002 (2,144) and the regular-season leader in free throws made in 2003 (604).
This superstar has been named Player of the Week 17 times during his career, Player of the Month four times, and Rookie of the Month once. He averaged over 20 points per game in seven straight years from 2000-2007 with his career-high 26.8 points per contest coming in the 2005-06 season.
He averaged 16.5 points per game his rookie season, then 19.3 ppg his second year, before his breakout third season in 2000-01 when he averaged 25.9 points per game.
That was the year he became known as “The Truth.” It all began after the Celtics lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in a 2001 game. Despite the setback, Pierce mesmerized fans and players alike by dropping 42 points on the eventual NBA champs.
After the game, Lakers star center Shaquille O’Neal spotted a Beantown reporter and leaned toward the scribe’s notebook.
“Take this down,” O’Neal said. “My name is Shaquille O’Neal, and Paul Pierce is the (very long expletive) truth. Quote me on that, and don’t take nothing out. I knew he could play, but I didn’t know he could play like this. Paul Pierce is the truth.”
Pierce’s superlative year in 2000-01 came after he nearly lost his life in a stabbing incident at a Boston nightclub in September before the season.
He was stabbed 11 times in his face, neck and back, and had to undergo surgery to repair a damaged lung. His life was saved by wearing a thick leather jacket, which prevented the knife wounds from reaching his heart and other important internal organs. Pierce was also helped by the fact that the club was just five minutes from New England Medical Center, where he was given treatment before he had the chance to lose dangerous amounts of blood.
"A couple ladies were in there, I stopped to say hi, and next thing you know, I was in a mix with somebody," he told his Web site.
"Everything happened so fast, I can't even tell you how long it lasted."
Pierce survived and gained a new perspective after “the night that changed my life forever.”
"It's not something you're going to forget," he told Sports Illustrated in 2008. "I'm fortunate to be here. I feel a lot older from the simple fact I had a brush with death and saw my life flash before my eyes. You grow up 10 times as fast."
At age 35, Pierce became the oldest player in Celtics history to score 40 points in a regulation game when he did so against Cleveland on Dec. 19, 2012 at TD Garden in Boston’s victory. He scored 25 points in the second half and made all seven of his field goals in the final quarter. Pierce shot 13 of 16 from the field, 6 of 8 from beyond the arc, and 10 of 11 at the free throw line.
''When I first came into the league I always asked myself, 'Do I want to be good or do I want to be great?'” Pierce told the Associated Press afterwards. ''Every time I stepped out and worked on my game, that's what I asked myself. I always got here early and worked on my craft as hard as I could because I wanted to be one of the great players.”
He cemented himself as one of the legendary Celtics when Pierce became MVP of the 2008 Finals when Boston won the championship against the Lakers, the team he idolized growing up in Inglewood. Pierce, who scored 38 points in Game Five, produced 21.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.08 steals and 38.8 minutes in that six-game series, helping the Celtics raise their NBA-record 17th championship banner and first since 1986.
Boston delivered the biggest turnaround in franchise history in winning 66 games and improving its regular-season wins by a whopping 42 games from the past year with the arrival of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. While they were called “The Big Three,” the C’s couldn’t have won the title without Pierce, who had endured some trying seasons to finally come out on top in Boston’s title clinching Game 6 victory.
In Bill Simmons’ 2009 “The Book of Basketball,” the author and lifelong Celtics fan wrote that he penned a “postgame passage” about Pierce:
“We watched that guy grow up. We watched him become a man. We believed in him, we gave up on him, and we believed in him again. ... Part of me wanted to walk onto the court Tuesday night and just tell Pierce, ‘It’s hard for me to say this without sounding condescending, but I’m proud of you.’ We spend so much time complaining about sports and being disappointed that our favorite players never end up being who we wanted them to be, but in Pierce’s case, he became everything we wanted him to be. When he held up the Finals MVP trophy after the game and screamed to the crowd in delight, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier for a Boston athlete. How many guys stick with a crummy franchise for 10 solid years, then get a chance to lead that same team to a championship? Does that ever happen in sports anymore?”
Simmons wrote in his book that Pierce ranked as the No. 54 best player in NBA history.
Bob Ryan, the Hall of Famer and former longtime writer for the Boston Globe, also gave ultimate respect to Pierce in his 2014 book, “Scribe: My Life in Sports.”
“Old-timers are pained to hear me say this, but I believe it absolutely--Paul Pierce was the greatest pure scorer in Celtics history,” Ryan wrote. “I don’t mean he was a better player than either Larry Bird or John Havlicek. But in terms of having the most ways to get the ball in the basket, he’s the best Celtic ever. His game has been a strange combination of the 1950s and the twenty-first century, in that he blends the artistry and chicanery of his elders with the three-point shot they often could only have dreamed of. Unlike both Bird and Havlicek, in his extended prime he could always do it on his own--he did not need a pick, he just needed everyone else to get out of the way.”
Boston Hall of Fame player and coach Tommy Heinsohn once said of Pierce: “This guy has the most total offensive game I’ve ever seen a Celtic have.”
The late Red Auerbach, who led led the Celtics to nine NBA championships as head coach and was a team executive for seven other titles, told ESPN The Magazine in 2002 that Pierce was a renaissance player.
“He would absolutely fit in with the Celtics teams I coached,” Auerbach said. “He’s the whole package, offensively and defensively. He’s respectful and he doesn’t bitch. Old-fashioned. I really like him.”
Pierce improved his overall skills and become a complete player during his NBA career while always playing with a high level of confidence. He came up big in crunch time and developed a reputation as a fourth-quarter assassin.
“I want the ball in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line,” he said in 2002. “I feel like I can go help this team win. My teammates have confidence in going to me down the stretch and I try to deliver. I’m a different player in the fourth quarter. That’s when I rise to the top.”
One of the best scoring games of his career came against New Jersey on Dec. 1, 2001 when Pierce scored a jaw-dropping 46 of his then-career-high 48 points in the second half and overtime during Boston’s comeback victory.
“You feel like heads and shoulders above everybody,” Pierce told the Associated Press afterwards. “You feel like everybody else is moving in slow motion and you’re the fastest guy out there. No matter what you do, you feel it’s going to work."
Pierce added: “To tell you the truth, I feel like I’m in the zone every game, no matter if I’m making shots or missing shots. I feel like every shot I take is going to go in.”
Despite being a prolific scorer, points were never that big a deal to Pierce. He was all about winning games.
"It doesn't matter to me, scoring big," Pierce told the Associated Press in 2001. "I'm just trying to play as hard as I can and win. If I am going, I am capable of putting up huge numbers. But I just want to win."
In 19 seasons with Boston, Brooklyn, Washington, and the Los Angeles Clippers, Pierce averaged 19.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 34.2 minutes in 1,343 games (1,285 starts). He shot 44.5 percent from the field, 36.8 percent from three-point range and 80.6 percent at the charity stripe. He ended the 2016-17 season as the only active player with at least 25,000 career points, 7,000 rebounds and 4,500 assists.
In 14 playoffs, Pierce averaged 18.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.2 steals in 36.6 minutes per game, while shooting 42.3 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 83.0 percent at the free throw line.
Pierce ranks No. 15 all time in scoring (26,397), No. 15 in games (1,343), No. 15 in minutes (45,880), No. 19 in field goal attempts (19,465), No. 24 in field goals (8,668), No. 4 in three-point field goals (2,143), No. 5 in three-point field goal attempts (5,816), No. 8 in free throws (6,918), No. 12 in free throws attempted (8,578), No. 32 in defensive rebounds (6,435), No. 79 in total rebounds (7,527), No. 69 in assists (4,708), No. 19 in steals (1,752) and No. 60 in points per game (19.7).
According to basketballreference.com, Pierce earned a whopping $197,024,552 during his spectacular career.
After all his greatness, after all his resounding success, after all his hardwood magic, Pierce remains grateful he unexpectedly slipped to the No. 10 pick to Boston on draft night on June 24, 1998, where he made all of his professional dreams come true.
“Certain things happen for a reason,” Pierce told Basketball News in 2002. “My initial thought was that I was disappointed that I slid. Then I thought, 'It happened for a reason.’ Somebody wanted me to be here, and this is the place I want to be.”
***
Basketball was Paul Anthony Pierce’s first love and he grew up watching his hometown Los Angeles Lakers on television while sometimes sneaking into the Forum to watch a game.
“That's the beginning for me, just watching the Lakers and Celtics battling it out in the Finals,'' Pierce once told the LA Daily News. "That was just like the birth of basketball for me. I was a little kid — 6, 7 years old — just being at my uncle's house, trying to get a seat on the floor to see it. The TV was so small, you just wanted to get a glimpse of it.''
He had two basketball heroes as a youth.
“I admired Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan,” Pierce answered in an an email question on NBA.com in 2001. “Magic I had the chance to watch a lot, when I grew up in Inglewood because the only games we got were the Laker games. So I had the chance to pattern my game a little bit after him. I'm not a point guard, but I tried to be versatile in my game and not limit myself because I was taller than the other kids so I tried to be able to do the other things that the guards and forwards could do.”
And someday in the near future, Pierce will join Magic and Jordan in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the legends live in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.
Before he achieved superstardom in the NBA, Pierce made his name at Kansas after becoming a McDonald’s All-American in high school and scoring 28 points in that all-star game, two points shy of tying Jordan’s record.
A consensus first-team All-American at KU after his junior year in 1997-98, Pierce was also the Big Eight Freshman of the Year in 1995-96. The No. 9- leading scorer in KU history with 1,768 points, Pierce is one of just seven Jayhawks to score more than 700 points in a season.
His jersey was retired in Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 25, 2003.
Pierce averaged 11.9 points as a freshman and 16.3 points during his sophomore year before averaging 20.4 points as a junior while blossoming into an All-American. He became the first Jayhawk to average over 20 points since Danny Manning in 1988.
“My first year, I couldn’t do the things that I do today,” Pierce told The Sporting News in 1998. “We had other great players and there was no need. But I developed because there was a process of learning — learning the system and learning the things I could do.”
And opposing coaches and players couldn’t stop him.
“Paul Pierce is like a silent assassin out there,” then-Texas A&M coach Tony Barone said. “He hangs around, gets an offensive rebound. All of a sudden, he steals the ball and gets a dunk. Then he hits a three-pointer.”
Former KU coach Roy Williams loved Pierce’s fiery competitive spirit.
"The bigger the game, the bigger he played," Williams said in an interview for Beyond the Glory.
Ryan Robertson, Pierce’s teammate for three years, was also a true believer.
“Best player I ever played with,” Robertson said in a 2007 interview. “My freshman roommate. Just an absolute hunger for basketball.”
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