In a decade that started on the heels of a championship and ended on the arrival of another potential era of contention, there’s been a lot of players worthy of the title “top player of the decade” for the Boston Celtics.
But that’s exactly what USA Today’s Bryan Kalbrosky tried to suss out for all 30 NBA teams ahead of the new year and decade, arriving at now-retired 10-time All-Star Paul Pierce for the Boston Celtics.
While Pierce had some serious competition in this decade (emphasis here, this decade) in the form of the King in the Fourth Isaiah Thomas and “Average” Al Horford, ultimately the Truth’s contributions at the end of the Big Three era held sway.
Revealing his logic against the ever-present scourge of recency bias, Kalbrosky explained,
“Even though he won the 2008 NBA championship and the Finals MVP in 2008, Paul Pierce went on to make the Eastern Conference All-Star team three more times this decade.
Before he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2013, he was averaging 18.9 points and 5.6 rebounds with 4.1 assists this decade. Pierce even had a chance to officially retire with the organization on a one-day contract in July 2017.”
To be fair to IT and Al, Pierce made it to the NBA Finals in this decade, a feat neither of his successors would be able to accomplish, as well as a trip to the East Finals, the limit of Thomas and Horford’s postseasons with the Celtics.
While most of the 2008 NBA Champion’s fame is derived from the success he had in the decade prior to the one we’re about to leave, Pierce’s impact to the organization transcends that era.
Even with the decline of his game that ultimately sent him to the Brooklyn Nets with teammate Kevin Garnett just a third of the way through the decade, Pierce is a solid choice for Boston’s top player of the 2010s.
