Paul Pierce RIPS into Deron Williams and Joe Johnson

[Paradise]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12690 ... eaks-truth

"I'm much happier,'' he said. "It was a tough situation (in Brooklyn) last year. Horrible, really.

"It was just the guys' attitudes there. It wasn't like we were surrounded by a bunch of young guys. They were vets who didn't want to play and didn't want to practice. I was looking around saying, 'What's this?' Kevin (Garnett) and I had to pick them up every day in practice.

"If me and Kevin weren't there, that team would have folded up. That team would have packed it in. We kept them going each and every day.'

The player that puzzled him the most, said Pierce, was point guard Deron Williams.

"Before I got there, I looked at Deron as an MVP candidate,'' Pierce said. "But I felt once we got there, that's not what he wanted to be. He just didn't want that.

"I think a lot of the pressure got to him sometimes. This was his first time in the national spotlight. The media in Utah is not the same as the media in New York, so that can wear on some people. I think it really affected him.''

Pierce said veteran Joe Johnson was an affable professional but also a reluctant leader.

"Joe is quiet,'' Pierce noted. "He doesn't want much attention. He doesn't say much.

"There's a lot of secondary guys on that team. KG and I went there looking at them as the main guys who would push us, because we were advancing in years. But we ended up doing all the pushing.''

"I would have stayed in Brooklyn because of Kevin,'' Pierce said. "I told him, 'I don't really like this situation but I would never leave you if you want me to stay.' But they decided not to re-sign me so I never had to make a choice. I would never have left Kevin like that.''

[Zachbretton]

Love that someone is ripping into this team for what they are! Thank you Pierce for being the Truth!

Now this reality is out in the open, these Vets are **** losers who have no balls. They do not deserve their contracts and are disgracing this team.

**** you Joe and Dwill, now everyone knows the piece of **** you are


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Swav718]

Wow he just exposed them lol now this team have no choice but to blow it all up .

[Hawk Eye]

They don't call him the truth for nothing

[CalamityX12]

I luv this.... Absolute exposure to the very concerns we had without concrete evidence

[kerry kittles]

"It was just the guys' attitudes there. It wasn't like we were surrounded by a bunch of young guys. They were vets who didn't want to play and didn't want to practice. I was looking around saying, 'What's this?' Kevin (Garnett) and I had to pick them up every day in practice."

That's Ripping into the ENTIRE team.

He tore Deron a new ****.

What he said about Joe has always been well known. He's a quiet, reserved guy, not a leader. He said he's an affable professional meaning: friendly, good-natured, or easy to talk to.

I don't know how that's tearing into the guy. Just stating something we always knew. He didn't say he didn't want to perform at a high level which he did say about Deron.

[kerry kittles]

This is also why I said Paul was a huge loss. There's things that go beyond the box score. Paul was the leader this team needs/needed.

where's the leadership this year? Is Brook Lopez a leader either? Paul still played 2 months with Brook and we've had him for 7 years. He isn't a leader either.

[Paradise]

He said "The vets that didn't want to practice" and followed with "secondary guys who we thought would be main guys"

That's still a direct shot at Joe as well. Brook was out for the season at that point. So, it was a clear shot at Deron AND JJ.

[kerry kittles]

He said "The vets that didn't want to practice" and followed with "secondary guys who we thought would be main guys"

That's still a direct shot at Joe as well. Brook was out for the season at that point. So, it was a clear shot at Deron AND JJ.

Joe acknowledged this: @uuords: On media day this year, Joe Johnson said of last season, “we practiced, but, you know...not really,” and then chuckled.

[Zachbretton]

I think Pierce was very candid and said very important things that people need to not only HEAR but be aware of. DWill is a **** waste, and not only should he know it but everyone needs to know this.

I'm done with that guy. period.

[Paradise]

This is also why I said Paul was a huge loss. There's things that go beyond the box score. Paul was the leader this team needs/needed.

where's the leadership this year? Is Brook Lopez a leader either? Paul still played 2 months with Brook and we've had him for 7 years. He isn't a leader either.

Brook isn't a leader either but he half of his career was spent on rebuilding/tanking seasons and in walking boots. Tomorrow (barring IND loss/Nets win) would complete only his SECOND playoff bound season. He barely knows what winning basketball looks like. He is in the same catagory as a Kevin Love. So, there is still some hope for him to develop that.

There is literally no excuse for Deron or Joe to be reluctant leaders at this stage of their career. None whatsoever. They flat out don't care about winning, championships, legacy, NY pride, fans. None of it bothers them. They are absolutely content in their career.

Content attitudes = lazy play. It's no secret now.

[kerry kittles]

This is also why I said Paul was a huge loss. There's things that go beyond the box score. Paul was the leader this team needs/needed.

where's the leadership this year? Is Brook Lopez a leader either? Paul still played 2 months with Brook and we've had him for 7 years. He isn't a leader either.

Brook isn't a leader either but he half of his career was spent on rebuilding/tanking seasons and in walking boots. Tomorrow (barring IND loss/Nets win) would complete only his SECOND playoff bound season. He barely knows what winning basketball looks like. He is in the same catagory as a Kevin Love. So, there is still some hope for him to develop that.

There is literally no excuse for Deron or Joe to be reluctant leaders at this stage of their career. None whatsoever. They flat out don't care about winning, championships, legacy, NY pride, fans. None of it bothers them. They are absolutely content in their career.

Content attitudes = lazy play. It's no secret now.

It's people's personality. You can have all the talent in the world and not be a great leader. You can have little talent and be a great leader. I was named MVP of my high school team. Was never named a captain. I was the last named captain of my college team despite being one of the most talented guys on my roster. My roommate was voted in before and he was far less talented than me. He was a much better leader than I was.

Joe and Brook are cut from the same cloth. Quiet, reserved, laidback guys that aren't going to get in people's faces to demand better performance. Or give some inspiring, impassionate speech. You can be a great leader on a not so talented team. KG was still an awesome leader in Minnesota despite being on some god awful teams.

It's a personality trait not something based solely on your level of play. Bosh never really struck me as a "leader" despite being a great player.

Personally, I can overlook that in people. It would be great to have ONE leader on this team. I cannot overlook someone not giving it their all which he said about Deron.

[BK nets BK]

If I remember correctly Pierce wasn't any better than them last year. He shouldn't be talking cause he was behaving the same as the people he's talking **** about

[Paradise]

This is also why I said Paul was a huge loss. There's things that go beyond the box score. Paul was the leader this team needs/needed.

where's the leadership this year? Is Brook Lopez a leader either? Paul still played 2 months with Brook and we've had him for 7 years. He isn't a leader either.

Brook isn't a leader either but he half of his career was spent on rebuilding/tanking seasons and in walking boots. Tomorrow (barring IND loss/Nets win) would complete only his SECOND playoff bound season. He barely knows what winning basketball looks like. He is in the same catagory as a Kevin Love. So, there is still some hope for him to develop that.

There is literally no excuse for Deron or Joe to be reluctant leaders at this stage of their career. None whatsoever. They flat out don't care about winning, championships, legacy, NY pride, fans. None of it bothers them. They are absolutely content in their career.

Content attitudes = lazy play. It's no secret now.

It's people's personality. You can have all the talent in the world and not be a great leader. You can have little talent and be a great leader. I was named MVP of my high school team. Was never named a captain. I was the last named captain of my college team despite being one of the most talented guys on my roster. My roommate was voted in before and he was far less talented than me. He was a much better leader than I was.

Joe and Brook are cut from the same cloth. Quiet, reserved, laidback guys that aren't going to get in people's faces to demand better performance. Or give some inspiring, impassionate speech. You can be a great leader on a not so talented team. KG was still an awesome leader in Minnesota despite being on some god awful teams.

It's a personality trait not something based solely on your level of play. Bosh never really struck me as a "leader" despite being a great player.

Personally, I can overlook that in people. It would be great to have ONE leader on this team. I cannot overlook someone not giving it their all which he said about Deron.

The difference is if you have a quiet personality like a Tim Duncan, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Derrick Rose. You go out and lead by example. You can make the argument, going 15-10 since all-star break is a product of Brook leading by example.

However, when has Joe led by example? He wasn't that quiet to call dudes out in the media for being selfish earlier in the season. So, if he can say that then why can't he say it when it's supposed to be said? During that stretch after he made those comments, he was embarrassingly awful on both ends.

Deron is a complete loser at this point but you can still throw Joe within that mix.

[Shook Jones]

This only is going to make it more difficult to move this bum. I would package Plumlee to get rid of him or Joe though. Plumlee isnt good if he cant roll to the basket, he's also a terrible defender since KG left.

[kerry kittles]

Brook isn't a leader either but he half of his career was spent on rebuilding/tanking seasons and in walking boots. Tomorrow (barring IND loss/Nets win) would complete only his SECOND playoff bound season. He barely knows what winning basketball looks like. He is in the same catagory as a Kevin Love. So, there is still some hope for him to develop that.

There is literally no excuse for Deron or Joe to be reluctant leaders at this stage of their career. None whatsoever. They flat out don't care about winning, championships, legacy, NY pride, fans. None of it bothers them. They are absolutely content in their career.

Content attitudes = lazy play. It's no secret now.

It's people's personality. You can have all the talent in the world and not be a great leader. You can have little talent and be a great leader. I was named MVP of my high school team. Was never named a captain. I was the last named captain of my college team despite being one of the most talented guys on my roster. My roommate was voted in before and he was far less talented than me. He was a much better leader than I was.

Joe and Brook are cut from the same cloth. Quiet, reserved, laidback guys that aren't going to get in people's faces to demand better performance. Or give some inspiring, impassionate speech. You can be a great leader on a not so talented team. KG was still an awesome leader in Minnesota despite being on some god awful teams.

It's a personality trait not something based solely on your level of play. Bosh never really struck me as a "leader" despite being a great player.

Personally, I can overlook that in people. It would be great to have ONE leader on this team. I cannot overlook someone not giving it their all which he said about Deron.

The difference is if you have a quiet personality like a Tim Duncan, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Derrick Rose. You go out and lead by example. You can make the argument, going 15-10 since all-star break is a product of Brook leading by example.

However, when has Joe led by example? He wasn't that quiet to call dudes out in the media for being selfish earlier in the season. So, if he can say that then why can't he say it when it's supposed to be said? During that stretch after he made those comments, he was embarrassingly awful on both ends.

Deron is a complete loser at this point but you can still throw Joe within that mix.

Joe led by example in the playoffs last year. You don't his play was inspiring, getting guys to perform better. We won that playoff series on his back.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/NetsDaily/status/588132010876608513[/tweet]

According to our coach he can say things behind close doors which you're implying he cannot.

[Prokorov]

This shouldn't be news. I was telling this entire board this exact same stuff since day 1 in Brooklyn and few people wanted to listen. Leaderless group with no heart. Deron Joe and brook couldn't lead a whore to bed.

No effort no pride no competitiveness. Yet people kept blaming the coaches or blaming some irrelevant role guys who barely play like marquis teague or blame rotations

How about blame the players the 3 max players who have done nothing but get curb stomped by any teams with a .500 or better record for three seasons

But yeah its "hollins rotations" or "Kidd playing lineups with no spacing" or "PJ not playing Mirza" or Avery ”not playing blatche/Lopez together"

No the players are just underachieving bums who refuse to play with effort consistently and aren't driven BH a will to win and shrink under pressure

[kerry kittles]

Yes, honestly nothing here is all that groundbreaking:

One of the reasons we made the trade for Pierce and KG is this team didn't have any leadership.

What he said about Joe people have known for awhile. He's not a vocal leader. He's quiet, reserved, doesn't want much attention.

Joe acknowledged before the season started we didn't practice much last year. Was it Kidd's philosophy? The players kicking back? Joe seemed to say it was more Kidd. Pierce implying more the players.

Deron Williams himself has said he doesn't really feel comfortable in NYC. So the whole media getting to him and such seems pretty substantiated.

Basketball never seemed like a super high priority to Deron. You can tell guys like KG and Paul live and breathe the sport. Never got that vibe for Deron. I believe many here have said that. Pierce says that.

Paul said in the offseason he and KG were going to be glorified role players. I believe he thought that, what he said that Deron was a "MVP type candidate" and that he and KG wouldn't need to carry much of the scoring or leadership role. He was wrong on both. There was major issues with the culture here; something that existed before his arrival, and exists still. The team wasn't as good as it was billed. Paul and KG had to carry more of the load as leaders, and on the court: making plays, scoring, etc.

Nothing really is that groundbreaking. It's just a story because Paul vocalized things that many people believed.

[Paradise]

Joe led by example in the playoffs last year. You don't his play was inspiring, getting guys to perform better. We won that playoff series on his back.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/NetsDaily/status/588132010876608513[/tweet]

As good as Joe was against the Raptors. It's pretty obvious that it was KG and Pierce who motivated him to be that good and consistent. He hasn't looked that good in any important games this season without KG or Pierce. I don't think that is a coincidence.

[kerry kittles]

Joe led by example in the playoffs last year. You don't his play was inspiring, getting guys to perform better. We won that playoff series on his back.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/NetsDaily/status/588132010876608513[/tweet]

As good as Joe was against the Raptors. It's pretty obvious that it was KG and Pierce who motivated him to be that good and consistent. He hasn't looked that good in any important games this season without KG or Pierce. I don't think that is a coincidence.

He was six time all star before he came here whose been past the 1st round. He hasn't looked as good this year because he's been hurt and declining due to heavy minutes and age.