Wizards sign Paul Pierce, 2 years @ MLE

[stevemcqueen1]

I hope we bring back Gooden and Harrington too. This team is going to have a whole hell of a lot of BBall IQ and a ton of shooting.

What a great acquisition. The Truth + The Professor about to teach some doctoral level courses on the tricks of the trade.

We're going to have injuries, but we're pretty damn deep now. I like our chances to win the East next season.

And I would love for Pierce to mentor Otto.

We are going to have so many different ways to score next year. That Pacers team that beast us last season isn't better than us any more.

[dlts20]

perfect. Just what I wanted. So perfect and I think our team and Wall will be perfect for his game.

[stevemcqueen1]

PG: Wall, Miller
SG: Beal, Rice Jr
SF: Pierce, Porter, Webster
PF: Nene, Booker, Harrington
C: Gortat, Gooden. Seraphin

Is the best roster we'll have had in ages. That whole team can play.

[daSwami]

Love the short contract, spot-up threes, and veteran presence. How's his D though at this stage of his career?

[15th overall]

This may be the best signing in this offseason of atrocious contracts. Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons are gonna be pulling in x2 what you guys will be shelling out to a HOFer who's clutch as F and still a damn efficient scorer.

Definitely gonna be keeping a close eye on you guys this season. Take care of him for us.

[jeffsays]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. What a move. Seriously impressed with Ernie.

Shout out to the guys in the offseason thread. They mentioned this as a possibility earlier today and it ended up happening! SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!

[Wizkids12345]

Wait, with trevor booker now most likely coming back.. Who wears 34? Trevor has it tatted on him. If he has to wear another number that would be wild.


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[dangermouse]

Booker wears and has 35 inked bro.

34 is open, no one wears it and its not retired (until we win 2 'ships in a row with The Truth)

[truwizfan4evr]

Wait, with trevor booker now most likely coming back.. Who wears 34? Trevor has it tatted on him. If he has to wear another number that would be wild.


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Paul has to wear it the future hall of Famer.

[Kanyewest]

[ThumbsUpBaby]

Congrats Washington fans! I was hoping he'd come back to the Celtics but seeing him contribute to other teams is something good to see too. He'll have his off nights but play him 25 minutes and he'll give your team all they'll need. Not to mention, his leadership is great and he's all heart. Good for your young players and especially Otto Porter. Oh and did I mention that he's clutch?

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Great signing! I was thinking Caron, PP never even entered my thought process.

As said, the 2 year deal is perfect, and he is an ideal mentor for Otto. I mean it's like if we added Ray Allen to mentor Beal. It's about as perfect a situation as you can ask for.

Wondering if we still have the ability cap-wise to possibly add Boozer?

If not, Booker and Gooden, and Harrington would provide good depth behind Nene. Seraphin a possibility to backup Gortat, but Okafor returning may become an option. Also probaby bringing back Temple.

Team IQ now is maybe 2nd in league to only San Antonio with Pierce, Nene, Andre Miller, Gooden, Webster, Gortat, providing a learning environment for Wall, Beal, and Porter.

[Induveca]

And slowly our reputation around the league is changing....

Bravo

[Induveca]

Ok, he's on the downside, but adds to the AARP gang. Tough minded. He'll look good next to both Nene, Miller & Gooden as well as helping exemplify professionalism for the youngsters.

Agreed.

This shows that Pierce respects Wall and Beal.

EG going all in on Gortat is okay now.

I like this a lot. It's shocking TBH.

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New respect to the Wiz. What old head is next? We have space. Bring in the tutors...

[Illmatic12]

Yeah, I won't go so far as to call it a talent upgrade, either. Pierce can't defend wings the way Ariza can -- and he certainly can't bottle up PGs the way Ariza did for stretches last year. Unless Porter can really step up, we'll miss Ariza's versatility on defense.

But Pierce is a better ball handler and a better mid-range scorer. And, he's bulky enough to play stretch 4 in a pinch. And he's cheaper. If Ariza had inked that 4 year deal, we'd be crossing our fingers that Webster came back quickly enough from his injury to get traded by the deadline. Signing Pierce to a short deal alleviates the pressure to move Webster, and allows us to keep our depth.

Two things:

1) Our biggest problem last year wasn't our defense, it was offense. Pierce is a significant upgrade from Ariza offensively, and he has the exact skillset we need from our SF to keep our offense from stagnating when Wall and Beal go cold. He can post up, he can create off the dribble, draw fouls-- basically everything Ariza couldn't do. This is especially important in clutch situations, which as we all know was our achilles heel. I'd trade Ariza's defense for that (and it's not like Pierce is a weak link on defense, he's been a key contributor on some very good defensive teams both in Boston and BKN last year)


2) Your opinion of Ariza is based on his contract year, not his median performance. You have to project him coming back to earth somewhat -- which is what I think GMs around the league did, hence him only getting $8M/yr.

And the final thing is that this gives Porter more confidence about being part of our longterm plans, and it gives him a chance to really earn some minutes. It's a clear roster upgrade imo

[Ruzious]

The move fits, but I think it's important to point out that signing Pierce is a patch job with a 36 year old who could lose it over-night. And henceforth, anyone who calls he Wizards a young team should smack themselves. Instead of using the MLE to get a talented young player, they used it for the short-term goal of trying to stay about as good as last season. And what we're seeing in this thread is - this is what the fan base wants.

[hands11]

Great move! I've been following your team for the past fourish years, and I've never been more excited for you guys. Definitely watching 15+ Wiz games next year.

Truth is amazing for his age and this is a fair price. Gl in the playoffs, and enjoy Paul's last years.

Pure awesome.

Welcome to the board. I expect we just gained a lot of Boston fans.

I have been suggesting the team add PP but I don't think anyone thought it was likely vs him going to a bigger name team.

Mad cred for the Wizards that he chose them over other teams.

Perfect addition to the team and on the short contract that we need to be players in FA 2016

[bealwithit]

I'll just say my first reaction after seeing this on my phone 2 hours ago: "WHAT, DID WE - WAIT, WHAT WHAT COOL ALRIGHT AWESOME?!"

[hands11]

Holy crap. Much better move than Caron Butler or any of the other players out there. Not quite as strong a 3 point shooter as Ariza but better overall scorer. Now we'll have a much stronger bench as well when Webby is healthy.

Agreed.

I think everyone is happy now!

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They still might bring back Caron. Adding PP doesn't stop that.

[GhostsOfGil]

LOVE THIS MOVE. Cant remember the last time I said that about EG.