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[QUOTE="Mr. French, post: 3671653, member: 2292"]
No doubt, he was a bit older and definitely not the SAME player as in 98, or 04, or 06 ... he was so criminally underrated in his prime, and then he became known as "just a shooter".

I just hate how people act like he was a washed up role player in 08, he wasn't.  He still averaged 17.4 in 07-08 ... in 06-07 in Seattle he averaged 26.4, his highest avg ever.  He didn't fall off a cliff in one year, but people's perception of him instantly changed because he was viewed as the 3rd option and a spot up shooter.

That's what gets my goad.  06-07 might have been his most explosive offensive year ever.  If the roles were quite literally reversed and Pierce had him playmaking or Pierce wasn't there and it was him as the primary scorer with KG and Rondo, he'd have put up big numbers just the same.  Pierce gets all this credit for being this big time closer in those years, understandable, but he never was THAT guy until he had some dudes around him.

By the way, the next 4 years in Boston he then averaged 18, 16, 16 and 14 ... so he clearly was still playing pretty well while declining.  Then 11 and 10 with Miami in an obviously much more limited role.
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