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Posted: **Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:23 am**

PPAW4Life wrote:The Truth has always been an extremely capable defender....yet his offensive game has always been ahead of his defense simply because he carried so much of the offensive burden with AW in their early part of their careers.

I remember as early as his rookie season PP would come out of no where and block Centers down low trying to put back a missed shot off of an offensive rebound....or PP flying back down court racing to catch a breakaway layup and smacking it off the backboard.

PP has always been solid when it comes to steals and stripping the ball from players trying to post him up....his hands were so good they reminded me a lot of Rick Fox when he used to be a Celtic.

Frankly though...the C's have been so bad no body even cared just how good PP or any of the C's were.....it didn't matter who it was....we were irrelevant.

I mean it's just now that other people around the league are starting to realize that Big Al is a rare breed.....a potential AS type player who plays down low with uncanny post moves not seen since the early to mid 80s.....all because he was the center piece of the KG trade that was going back to the Twolves.....and yea they're pretty bad record wise but thats because they're way way way too young and that will fix itself over in time.

ya, what he said

Posted: **Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:36 am**

Ponder this. At the 3, does Pierce actually have any weaknesses? Im not tlaking about things that he's decent at. Im talking about true weaknesses. I can't think of a single one.

Posted: **Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:56 am**

He fouls three point shooters to lose games because he sucks. That's his weakness.

Posted: **Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:01 am**

I'm happy with Pierce's D this year. It is the one thing I didn't like about his game these past few years which was stopping him from being a superstar. I think he now is a superstar. I think we have an excellent chance for another banner this year.

Posted: **Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:32 pm**

Maybe my interpretation of it is wrong, but I don't think a superstar is determined by defense. LeBron, Kobe, McGrady, and Wade are all examples of superstars who hardly try on the defense end, with the exception of sometimes playing the passing lanes. A superstar, at least to me, is more like a popularity thing. LeBron and other obvious players are household names to casual fans. They are the ones that get the sales on the basketball products, they are the ones who people mark their calendars to see play against their hometeam. If you mentioned Pierce to a casual fan outside of New England, more than not you will get the response of "Who the hell is that?"

That being said, Pierce has always been a superstar to my green eyes

Posted: **Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:12 pm**

humblebum wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

He might not be Bruce Bowen defensively but the list of wing defenders better than Pierce is real, real short. I'd say Artest, maybe Lebron when he's motivated and using his athleticism to block shots. I can't really think of too many other guys I'd take over him. Maybe someone else can chime in?

I can think of a LOT of wings I'd take over Pierce if I needed a defensive stop. Most of them aren't stars because in the NBA you attain star status by scoring, not defending. here's a list off the top of my head: Prince, G. Wallace, Josh Smith, Deng, J Howard, Kobe, Marion, Bowen, Artest.

guys who are comparable: Battier, SJax, R Jefferson, Igoudala, Roy, Kirilenko, Bron, Szcerbiak (ok just seeing if you were paying attention lol).

So I'd say Pierce is top-25% defensively but not top-10%. jmo.

Posted: **Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:02 pm**

DatBoyWonder wrote:Maybe my interpretation of it is wrong, but I don't think a superstar is determined by defense. LeBron, Kobe, McGrady, and Wade are all examples of superstars who hardly try on the defense end, with the exception of sometimes playing the passing lanes. A superstar, at least to me, is more like a popularity thing. LeBron and other obvious players are household names to casual fans. They are the ones that get the sales on the basketball products, they are the ones who people mark their calendars to see play against their hometeam. If you mentioned Pierce to a casual fan outside of New England, more than not you will get the response of "Who the hell is that?"

That being said, Pierce has always been a superstar to my green eyes

Kobe and Lebron do infact play defense. All 4 names you mentioned are superstars because they are known for their offensive games.

Pierce was the same way, his reputation in the league and to fans is that he is "merely" an offensive type player, but he is not. He does play defense and good defense at that.

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Pierce's defense...