cheers, Passionflower!

But to the original point of my post, what bothers me is not that the Celtics aren’t good and deserving of attention, they are. And it isn’t that Paul Pierce and KG aren’t good and deserving of attention, they are (Ray Allen isn’t). What bothers me is that the Celtics, PP, and KG get soooo overhyped bc the sports media loves Boston. And their love of Boston overshines the fact that PP, in my mind, isn’t clutch (that is debatable, but I need someone to explain to me why in game 7 he didn’t take the clutch shot and instead PJ Brown did for me to believe that he wants the ball in his hands when the game is on the line). It overshines the fact that KG disappears in the final minutes bc he’s too unselfish. It overshines the fact that Rivers is a horrific coach and that when he throws Rondo under the bus KG, the supposed leader, doesn’t stick up for Rondo. And it overshines the fact that they didn’t need Cassell.

There are certainly plenty of die hard Boston fans, but the overhyped thing around those teams leads to the non-informed bandwagon fans demanding that they pick up Sam Cassell when all the knoledgable real fans are aware that Sam I am isn’t an upgrade from Rondo.

After last night’s game I wish he would stop deferring and chuck up more stuff since RA’s stuff isn’t working and KG refuses to do it. somebody has to do it and pp seems like the best option.

1. Me, is Boston really a college sports town? I honeslty don’t know. As a Southerner I just sort of write off the North as pro sports fanatics and the South is college sports fanatics. Maybe Boston is a pocket of college fans, but to me that sort of feels like bandwagoning. Like if you asked a BC student who their favorite team was they’d say Red Sox, Pats, or Celtics and not BC. But like I said, I don’t know that.

2. As for Paul Pierce, I like your comment, but I disagree with you. Maybe disinterested is the wrong way to put it but you have to admit that he has a tendency to get into a phase where he just chucks things up.

3. You wouldn’t rank Kobe above LeBron? I like LeBron more, but Kobe is better on defense so I’d give him the edge. Unless you want to factor in their effect on team chemistry or contract length and age I don’t see how I could, as of right now, rank LeBron over Kobe.

4. Back to Paul. He is a good player. I think he chucks it up as I said in point number 2, but even if we forget that let me list some non-bigs I’d rather have than Paul if I were a GM:

Melo – can’t shot 3s but younger and drives and post up better than Pierce. I think he’s about even with Pierce, so this one is more of a toss up.

Wade – injury prone, which Pierce is not, but I think he’d make your team more dynamic that Pierce would. He can play the point, which is invaluable, or the shooting guard where guys like Pierce can’t gaurd him cause he’s too quick.

Chris Paul/Deron Williams – young point guards about to become great players.

5. Again, Pierce is good and can play the 2 or 3, which is nice, but I’m not as sold on his defense as you are and it kills me when he starts throwing up bad jumpers for no reason. Still, can he compete with Kobe and LeBron? Sometimes. But there’s not consistency and at teh end of the game he does one of two things; throw up a bad shot or defer to someone else. That isn’t clutch. I can’t remember when this was, but wasn’t there a game where he had two free throws at the end of a playoff series to win the game and he missed them because his knees were visably shaking?

Overall, Pierce to me is like a less talented but taller version of Allen Iverson. He has skills, but sometimes they get in the way of winning.

Again, not really disputing your piece, but I can’t even get to that point if I have to go through your characterization of paul pierce.

With the Red Sox and Celtics there are bandwagon fans but somehow the media and even society perpetuate this idea that ALL Boston fans are REAL fans who are knowledgable.

I just want the media to stop treating the Celtics and Sox as if this weren’t true.