Paul Pierce is a Boston Celtics legend. He played 15 seasons as a Celtic and in his time there won an NBA title. He is a member of the 75th-anniversary team but we haven’t heard much from him since he was fired from ESPN. However, Gilbert Arenas invited Paul onto his podcast which gave him the platform to give his takes on some of the current NBA topics.
Paul Pierce spoke about the All-Star weekend and 75th Anniversary team. He also spoke about his time with KG and playing in Crenshaw. But he ended by talking about the 76ers and the Nets and their most recent trade. That’s where he got into talking about James Harden.
Paul Pierce remarks on James Harden’s lack of success
During his discussion with Gilbert, a question was thrown Paul’s way. He was asked what advice he would give Harden who is about to begin his career under Doc Rivers, Pierce’s former coach. Pierce began with the advice but quickly switched on the vices of Harden. He said,
“But my thing is when I look at that, Embiid right now is the best big in the game, but…if I had the chance to play with the talent that Harden plays with, I’d probably be walking out of here with five championships.”
Paul also went on to mention some of Harden’s teammates. Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, Kyrie Irving, and now Joel Embiid.
James Harden’s best season came when he was on the Rockets and won 65 games along with Chris Paul. The only reason that worked was that Paul’s style of the NBA Chrisplay focuses on getting others around him better. That helps Harden’s productivity more. In comparison, the other stars need the ball to be elite which means it takes it away from Harden.
Paul Pierce is not a scorer at the level of Harden and would therefore do better with those stars than Harden did. The only time Pierce won anything was when he played with other stars. Hence, his statements do hold some truth but are irrelevant because of how different they are as players.
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