Paul Pierce calls himself ‘glorified role player’ with Brooklyn Nets
By Josh Sanchez
The NBA’s blockbuster offseason trade sent Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry shipping off from Boston to the Brooklyn Nets. While Garnett and Terry did not always call Boston home, Pierce had played for the Celtics since 1998. It is going to be a tough transition for Pierce, but the biggest change is that he will go from having the squad be “his team” to being what he calls a “glorified role player”.
Pierce made the comments when speaking with the Boston Globe:
"“There will definitely be less pressure on me on this ball club than there was in Boston,” Pierce said. “In Boston, I was the No. 1 primary option. Here we have so many options. We have young All-Stars on this team. My job is to be more of a glorified role player, as Doc [Rivers] used to always say, with the guys we have.“With my abilities to do so many things, there’s going to be nights where I’m not going to score a bunch of points. I can do other things to help this club win. With the combination of these guys, we’re going to take pressure off each other.”"
The Nets are Deron Williams’ team, and Pierce knows this.
The good news is that the Nets are now a much better squad than the Celtics and, while his numbers may drop in Brooklyn, Pierce has a better shot at returning to the NBA Finals and winning another championship ring than he would have if he stayed with his old team.