Pierce's production hasn't slipped too dramatically. Gotta figure he got less scoring opportunities in Brooklyn alongside Johnson, Deron, Lopez. Less scoring opportunities in Washington with Wall, Beal and Gortat. But his production hasn't slipped too much.
Here's his Per-36 numbers over the past few years:
Season Age Tm FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK PTS
2008-09 31 BOS .457 .391 .830 5.4 3.5 0.9 0.3 19.7
2009-10 32 BOS .472 .414 .852 4.6 3.3 1.3 0.5 19.4
2010-11 33 BOS .497 .374 .860 5.6 3.4 1.0 0.7 19.6
2011-12 34 BOS .443 .366 .852 5.5 4.8 1.2 0.5 20.5
2012-13 35 BOS .436 .380 .787 6.8 5.2 1.2 0.4 20.0
2013-14 36 BRK .451 .373 .826 6.0 3.1 1.5 0.5 17.3
2014-15 37 WAS .447 .389 .781 5.5 2.7 0.9 0.5 16.3
He'd probably start in Boston right now at point-forward. He'd be our most effective scorer in the starting lineup.
i've watched a lot of wizards and nets games the last couple years, pierce can't impact the game athletically anymore, and is heavily reliant on his teammates to control the game. beal and wall are both elite slashers who get him a lot of high-percentage open shots, and pierce has adapted his game so that he's still fairly efficient. nene and gortat also are a threat inside, so pierce benefits tremendously from their presence, getting easier perimeter shots.
his defense however is now flat-out bad. the wiz cover for him generally by putting him on a slow opponent, sometimes the opposing power forward. this actually creates a matchup problem for the other team, as pierce can drift around the perimeter on offense, but is still strong enough to play inside on defense.
but again, all of this works only because he has great teammates. on a weaker team (like the nets or c's the last couple years) i think he'd really get exposed. he's really flawed now, but i think he's a good fit for their system.
i also think the wiz are a dark horse to win the conference, IMO they are stacked, but dogged it down the stretch and are finally getting their act together now that it matters.
Topic: Watching Raptors v. Wiz (Read 1599 times)