After 15 long seasons with the Boston Celtics, Paul Pierce decided to move on and sign with the Brooklyn Nets along with his friend Kevin Garnett. The season didn’t go as planned and Pierce expressed some regret signing with the Nets instead of going through the rebuilding process with the Celtics. Still he planned to finish it out with the Nets since he and Garnett were close but to his surprise they decided to go a different direction and the time spent waiting on their decision caused him to miss out on another reunion with his old coach, Doc Rivers. He’s since gone on to a new challenge with the Washington Wizards but says he’ll definitely make a return to Boston someday.
via Sports Illustrated:
SI.com: Looking back, what was last season in Brooklyn like?
Pierce: “It was a roller coaster, definitely. A lot of emotion went into it. Going through what we went through last year, I had a lot of thoughts like, ‘Shoot, I could have just stayed in Boston.’ [The Celtics] were going through some of the same things we were going through in Brooklyn. The key was to stay positive. Times change, you have to move on, and that is what I eventually did.”
SI.com: Doc Rivers said he tried really hard to get you to L.A. How close were you to being a Clipper?
Pierce: “I thought a lot about L.A. My wife wanted to stay there and put the kids in school. It would have been an easier transition for me being with Doc, being at home. I think I missed out on that opportunity by waiting to see what Brooklyn was going to do. When they eventually said they weren’t going to make any moves, I missed that boat. That kind of upset me.”
SI.com: Think you will ever go back to Boston?
Pierce: “Definitely. Maybe as a player, maybe as a coach, maybe upstairs [in the front office]. I follow what they are doing. I went back to Boston twice this summer, went to their practice facility. I keep up with them.”
