"Nobody talk about them two" - Paul Pierce remembers which players were a problem for him during his rookie season
usatsi_5244892
It didn't take long for Paul Pierce to establish himself as one of the better players in the league after getting drafted by the Boston Celtics, a team he despised growing up, with the No. 10 overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft.
During his maiden NBA season, the 1998-99 campaign, Pierce averaged 16.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks per contest on 43.9 percent shooting from the field and 41.2 percent from deep.
He also finished third in that season's Rookie of the Year voting, behind only Jason Williams and Vince Carter.
Pierce's toughest matchups
While Pierce was a very productive NBA player from the get-go, that doesn't mean there weren't guys who got the best of him early on in his pro career.
"So let me see. If a matchup that had a good game that I look — I mean, it had to be Grant Hill, bro. Grant Hill — I emulated Grant Hill, actually, and he gave me buckets, bro. I think he might have gave me like 30. He kept getting me with that stutter cross. I kept going for it every time, you know? He could do it both ways. And like, man, I think he gave me about 30-something," Pierce said.
"That was like my rookie or second year," Paul continued. "I was — I was ready to, like damn, I was like thinking, 'Was I even in the league,' after that game. I was like, 'Man, am I in the league?'"
"The Truth" has admitted that he modeled his game after Hill as a youngster. That said, the 46-year-old also mentioned Glenn Robinson and Jamal Mashburn as the other players who gave him arguably even more trouble early in his career.
"Big Dog was tough. You know who else that people don't talk about? Big Dog and Jamal Mashburn. Jamal Mashburn — nobody talk about them two," the Hall of Famer added.
The best of the bunch
While Pierce had difficulty going up against Robinson, Hill, and Mashburn in the fledgling stages of his stint in the NBA, the forward arguably put together a better pro career than all three players did.
After all, the Celtics legend finished with the most All-Star appearances (10) of the group and also was the lone player outside of Robinson to win an NBA title.
Pierce helped lead the C's to the 2008 NBA title, after Boston eliminated Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. Pierce, who averaged 21.8 points per game in the championship, was named the Finals MVP.