Here are some more excerpts from Paul Pierce's interview with Boston Common (link goes to website, not article. The article isn't online yet) :
On playing for another team:
Q. Have you ever imagined playing on a team with Kobe or Shaq?
PP: The year that Miami won it [2006], all-star weekend, I was talking to Shaq, and he was like, “Paul, do you want to come to Miami? I’ll talk to Pat [Riley, the Miami Heat coach and president], and we’ll try and trade for you, because I know you’re not happy in Boston.” And I was thinking, if I play with Shaq, that pretty much is a guaranteed championship. About three or four years ago, I was on the court with Jason Kidd at the all-star game, and I cut to the basket, and I had never had the kind of point guard who could make that type of pass, but he threw it to me, and before I knew the ball was in my hands, I was laying it up. I was like, Man! Just playing with someone like that.
On his tattoos:
Q. And the tattoos? Is this your most recent one? [Points to the tattoo on Pierce’s arm]
PP: Yes. This is a dagger going through a ball, because basketball is my gift and my curse. Obviously it’s all the good things that come from playing basketball, but you also have to deal with the negative things that come from your gift of being a basketball player. I was stabbed in a nightclub [in Boston in 2000] for just being somebody who is popular. You have people who are envious. That’s all part of being who I am. And that’s why there’s a dagger through the basketball.
On being stabbed 11 times:
“Your life flashes before your eyes and you ponder all your relationships, your family. And it helped you grow so much as an individual knowing that I can all end in a second at any given time… I live a different type of lifestyle now, where if I go places where I need security I’ll hire security.”
On the election:
"I’m going to vote for Obama. I think it would be great to see the first black president. I’m not voting for him only because of that, but because I feel like the change that he could bring as a
Democratic president would be more influential than what the Republicans bring."
On life after basketball:
"I see myself being a part of the organization still. I feel like I definitely have a future here after basketball, because I’ve embraced the history here. My life is in Boston. I feel like I might open up some restaurants, maybe a sports bar or a car dealership. None of the other greats have done that. They won here, but none left their legacy."
Here's a high-res version of the cover
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