Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
“I knew the writing was on the wall, you kinda felt it coming,” Pierce said of Boston’s decision to start the rebuilding process this summer. “I think, toward the end of the [2012-13 season], even before the playoffs started, you looked at the team and, when I was on the bench, you looked down and see the players down there, you start looking towards the future and you see the guys they are bringing in. Me and Kevin talked about it all the time, me and him discussed that this may be our last year in Boston. Then when I started looking, and I was like, ‘Doc is leaving?’ I’ve always said, I don’t want to play for any other coach at this stage of my career. When I saw all of that going down, I pretty much knew my time was up.”
As for their favorite memories in Boston?
“You’re talking about 15 years of memories, there’s going to be a lot of things,” said Pierce. “Ultimately, just winning the championship [in 2008], that whole parade. There’s so many things I’m going to miss, the clam chowder. These are my lasting memories right here.”
ESPN Boston: Conversation Part 2: Pierce, KG
Ahh yes, the clam chowder. If there is anything that the Celtics can use now more than ever to lure potential free agents to Boston, it’s the clam chowder. There was a tipping point last season for Paul Pierce when he knew he would miss that clam chowder very much so, and apparently it was before the playoffs even began. In the second part of the ESPN conversation with Jackie MacMullan, Pierce reveals as much. He doesn’t say a specific date, game, incident or moment, rather just towards the end of the season.
Going further, he felt absolutely convinced of it once the Celtics turned into Beverly Hills, 90210 during the early parts of the offseason, when Doc eventually made his way to that new zip code. The drama made Pierce sure of himself that it was over. It’s interesting to know that he felt it was over well before that. Now, it doesn’t matter since they’re all gone but we didn’t hear much of this until Pierce mentioned it.
In the first part of the conversation, KG also hinted that he felt it was forced upon him… that he was being forced out. Pierce and KG to me will always be Celtics but for the next year or two they will have a solid chance at getting a second ring in Brooklyn. Maybe someday when they each come out with their own books they will reveal more of how it went down. Perhaps when Pierce returns for his own night to raise his #34 to the rafters one of us will be lucky enough to run into him in a restaurant and sit down and chat with him over a bowl of clam chowder and digest his long and storied career as a Celtic.
The rest of the links:
Boston Globe – All in his head: Kelly Olynyk’s rise to promising Celtics rookie | Nets should flourish with Garnett, Pierce as new editions (Sunday Notes) | Boston Herald – Nets owner stocks up to deliver on promise (Sunday Notes) | CSNNE – Checking in on former Celtics at Summer League
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