Paul Pierce sees the league going in a different direction. (USATSI)
Paul Pierce appeared on the Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday, and the veteran Washington Wizards forward was asked what quality is most overrated in today's NBA. Pierce's answer was length and athleticism, and he went on to say that some players get drafted these days based on those attributes regardless of their basketball IQ and ability. Then he said something about this era that seems extreme: "I probably wouldn't have got drafted."
Patrick asked him to follow up.
"I don't know," Pierce said. "A lot of stuff is based on potential. Or I probably would've went later in the first round or something. It's amazing how many -- this draft class was supposed to be one of the great draft classes of this era, and as you see, I really don't see nobody in this class really standing out so far. Even though it's only been 10 games. But unlike the LeBron class when you had a number of franchise guys, you just kind of knew that class was going to be great, this class has been dubbed the same thing based on potential. And we haven't really seen much of it yet."
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You can understand what Pierce is talking about. Most guys labeled "busts" are those who looked the part of a pro but lacked the necessary skills to survive in the league. Pierce himself slipped to No. 10 on draft night in 1998 despite a great college career. Pierce's game is all about footwork, and he has had old-man moves in the midrange since he was quite young. That's not what the prototypical star wing player looks like now.
Let's clear something up, though: Pierce himself was athletic coming into the NBA. No, not like Vince Carter -- who he discusses in the interview -- but he was more than capable of dunking on people. If you were to compare his game and level of athletic ability to anyone from the 2014 pool, you'd have to pick Jabari Parker, who was chosen second overall. The next-best comparison would be T.J. Warren, who was the last pick of the lottery. Front offices have generally gotten smarter with regards to projecting performance at the next level, and someone with Pierce's profile could have potentially been selected higher than he did 16 years earlier.
(HT: PBT)
Basketball Hot News
Police re-open investigation of Dwight Howard allegedly abusing his child
The evidence around Dwight Howard in a recently highlighted Florida case seemed pretty damning — a doctor said it appeared the NBA star’s son was struck multiple times with the buckle end of a belt — but officially that investigation was closed with “no substantiated findings of physical injuries.”
However, Cobb County Police in Georgia have re-opened an investigation from this summer into Howard’s alleged abuse of a child, NBC News learned.
The case involves an incident during the summer of 2014, Sgt. Dana Pierce of the Cobb County Police told NBC News in a phone conversation. On Oct. 1 the Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families in Florida mailed a report to Cobb County Police of alleged child abuse. The police investigated, but said they didn’t have enough evidence to proceed.
New information on the case has emerged in the last 48 hours that caused the Cobb County Police to re-open the case, Sgt. Pierce said. To protect the alleged victim in this case the police could not provide any details.
Howard told police after the Florida incident that he had hit his child with a belt, saying he didn’t know it was wrong because that’s how he was raised. Howard’s attorney called the Florida case “frivolous allegations” and said it was a mother trying to use the child as a pawn against Howard.
Howard was born and raised in the Atlanta area. Cobb County is just north of the city (less than 20 miles).
Howard has multiple children by multiple mothers, although the exact number is a matter of speculation as they rarely come forward.
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