Austin Rivers explains that Paul Pierce is underappreciated. Additionally, the current social media landscape in the NBA is twisting some players’ stories into another version. Bill Simmons even argues that younger generations forget the predecessors of superstars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Paul Pierce Is Underappreciated And Fans Don’t Even Know Him
Simmons and Rivers vehemently agree that current-generation fans underrate Pierce.
The latter argues that the Hall of Famer was a step below Dwyane Wade’s level and deserves to be there.
“People like disrespecting Paul just ’cause he thinks of himself in D. Wade’s class. People don’t realize he was right below that. Paul Pierce was a f*cking stud. People forget how good this guy’s footwork was. They don’t have players like Paul no more man.”
Austin Rivers
The Minnesota Timberwolf thinks that the age of massive and heavy forwards is over. There are no more all-around positions, staredown and stepback two players.
Now, it’s just tiny, skinny, lanky and athletic players. Rivers thinks Pierce would cut up this generation’s league.
The Social Media Game
The shooting guard indicates that the Hall of Famer wasn’t a flashy player. However, this is to the detriment of his legacy since NBA fans won’t be searching YouTube or TikTok for his highlights.
“Kids don’t grow up YouTubing Paul Pierce. People YouTube D. Wade.”
Austin Rivers
Meanwhile, fans focus on flashy players like Wade. The Timberwolf has a point since back in 2021; the top searched players comprising of active and retired players didn’t even have Pierce in the list.
Admittedly, the list is small, but it still proves a point. Players that appear on social media more will get more attention.
Furthermore, this lowers the attention on great players like Paul Pierce, who like to remain on the down low.
Simmons argues that highlight reels can bring players who aren’t necessarily game-winners much attention. All one would have to do is create a two to three-minute highlight reel of a player that shows all their flashy plays.
“This internet-NBA culture we have now has problems celebrating guys like him [Pierce] or Ben Wallace. The internet, because you can cut anyone into a two minute clip, all of a sudden it can be like ‘Eddy Curry was a problem!’ and you just show two minutes of Eddy Curry highlights. There are certain guards that weren’t necessarily winning players but you could cut together awesome highlight packages of them.”
Bill Simmons
Ironically, this applies to the highlight reel of Paul Pierce as well. However, these types of highlight reels are more available for flashy players.
NBA 2K Ratings And NBA Only Started After Bryant
Meanwhile, the two agree that NBA 2K ratings for players are arbitrary and are solely based on stats. It doesn’t matter if they’re the game-winners—if they have a lousy season, their in-game rating goes lower the following year.
Simmons and Rivers both disagree with this system.
They also explore the idea that many fans nowadays only know the NBA after Bryant and James’ big three. This issue leaves a lot of good players in the dark while fans cheer on the same ten people in the league.
Do Simmons and Rivers have a point?
However, Pierce has been making a few rounds in the community. He recently defended Hakeem Olajuwon’s price for his training from Gilbert Arenas’ attacks.
