Celtics great Paul Pierce talks about his path to Boston, stardom
It might surprise some fans of the Boston Celtics to know that it took several years of playing basketball before legendary Celtics small forward Paul Pierce truly realized the NBA was in his future.
Unlike many of his peers who were being groomed for the league early in life on the AAU circuit, Pierce didn’t start to take off as a basketball prospect until he was nearly done with high school, as he related in a video produced for the ESPN show “The Jump.” Airing in the summer of 2020 as the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 gripped the world, the former Boston champion opened up about his path to the NBA.
“I was like a late bloomer select around 11th 12th grader when I started to be one of the best players in the country,” recalled the Truth.
All-American forward from Kansas, Paul Pierce, speaks at a news conference, April 2, 1998 at Inglewood High School in Inglewood, Calif., where he announced plans to enter the NBA draft in June. (AP Photo/John Hayes)
The man who opened his eyes to the path in the first place? His coach in high school.
“I remember (my) high school coach telling me like, ‘You can be in the NBA if you work,’ and I was like, ‘You think so?’; ‘Definitely,’ he said. ‘I don’t say this to a lot of players. I’ve only said it to one other player and he wanted to go to the NBA.'”
“(He was) Harold Miner; to be that next — bam! He got stuck in my head like ‘Man, I can be in the league that became the new dream,” he added. “I’m trying to get to the league now.”
Soon Pierce got himself a scholarship with Kansas — then as now a perennial NCAA power — and began to be noticed by the national media.
“When did I believe I can make it?” asked the Oakland, California native (he would later move to Inglewood for high school) rhetorically.
“Probably after my freshman year in college. You know, I was one of the top freshmen in the country and really had a solid year plan for a top program,” said Pierce as he answered himself.
“My freshman year, I’m one of the top freshmen in the country and I see a couple my peers, they entered the draft after their freshman year, Stephon Marbury and Shareef Abdur-Rahim,” the former Celtic added.
“Now going into my sophomore year, I’m on the cover of Sports Illustrated,” related Pierce. “And not only that, I think I can make the leap to be — I wanted to be the number one pick. So I know I can make it … I’m driving for number one now.”
And then he wasn’t.
Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. High School All Star Game. 1995. (Not Ray Allen in middle – but don’t know who). #Celtics pic.twitter.com/YWJMTK7e0O
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) July 2, 2020
Pierce would end up falling to the Boston Celtics with the 10th overall pick — a team he hated as a native Californian growing up.
“Once I got out there, I hit the ground running. I was motivated, I had a lot to prove I want to be one of the best,” Pierce explained. “I want to make sure that when I got drafted, I was ready to go in right away be a starter and be a prime time player right from the start.”
While Boston might have been as far away from where the future Celtics luminary wanted to end up, it worked out quite well for him in the end.
'Right in Harrington's face!'; recalling Paul Pierce's iconic shot https://t.co/UfsCVKlWoI via @thecelticswire
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) April 27, 2020
At the end of his rookie season with Boston, he’d averaged 16.5 points, 6.4 boards, 2.4 assists, and 1.7 steals per game — exactly the sort of tear he’d hoped to go on from the rip.
One banner, one Finals MVP, 10 All-Star nods, four All-NBA elections, and 19 seasons later, it’s safe to say the one-time NBA hopeful has more than achieved his teenage self’s wildest goals as a professional basketball player.
Even if he wasn’t the No. 1 pick.
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