Robb: Paul Pierce resurrected a franchise, and helped secure its future as well

Paul Pierce will always be one of the most underappreciated stars in NBA history. Remind anyone who challenges that assessment the best players Pierce played with during first 10 years of his career were Antoine Walker and Kenny Anderson. The fact that he got the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals (2002) in that period is an amazing accomplishment in itself.

Pierce stuck it out through the good, bad and ugly of those years and was rewarded for it on Sunday afternoon, becoming the 23rd player in Celtic history to have his number or name retired by the franchise.

“When Wyc (Grousbeck) gave me that call this summer I was on the freeway stuck in traffic and I was like, 'Whoa,'” Pierce said. “After I was done, like, I know it could happen, but it happened so fast and I’m like, 'Wow really!' A year after I’m out playing, I’m just like, 'Man, I’m going up into the rafters and leaving a legacy, something that is going to be forever.' Like I said, when you are forever with the Celtics, you’re forever. It means so much, it means a lot.”

The speed with which the Celtics retired Pierce’s number came with good reason. His individual accomplishments are good enough to put him among the five best Celtics ever. He ranks No. 2 all-time among Boston's scoring leaders, compiling 24,021 points during 15 seasons in Green. He remains in between John Havlicek (26,395) and Larry Bird (21,791) as the most prolific scorer in Celtic history, and Hall of Famer Robert Parish considers him as the best offensive player of that bunch.

"I think (Pierce) was the greatest offensive Celtic ever, in my opinion," Parish said. "I just think that Paul was more creative. He was a better scorer than Larry and John Havlicek. I think that Larry and John Havlicek and Paul were the best offensive players that the Celtics ever had. I think Paul tops that list in my opinion."

Pierce’s impact in Boston will always be more than what it was on the court. In fact, it was loyalty that was one of the first things that came to the mind of Doc Rivers when the head coach assessed the impact of the 10-time All-Star on Boston.

“I would say this: In this day and time, he stayed, you know?” Rivers explained. “You think about it – no one sticks. Everyone wants to jump around and look for the team that they can try to win with, and Paul could’ve done that. We were pretty bad for a stretch, and even before. And yet he stayed, and then it worked out for him. So I just think his loyalty to this organization and to his team was amazing.”

There are a few stars of Pierce’s generation that have taken similar paths as ‘lifers’ with their respective franchises. Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki are a couple prominent names who come to mind. It’s hard not to compare the path of their franchises (Lakers and Mavericks, respectively) at the moment, and the coinciding twilight period for each of their stars in comparison to the shape the Celtics are in at the moment, in large part thanks to Pierce.

The Lakers overpaid Bryant at the end of his career and haven’t won 27 games since the start of the 2013-14 season, showing their first true signs of progress this year, nearly five seasons later. Nowitzki’s Mavericks have been headed downhill since their 2012 NBA Finals appearance, having failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs in their three postseason appearances since then. They are bottoming out this year and have no other meaningful assets on the roster besides salary cap space and a lottery pick (Dennis Smith Jr.). The future for both of those franchises will be an uphill battle for the remainder of the decade and beyond, barring any surprising free agent signings in summers to come.

Meanwhile, the Celtics, despite a horrific performance on Sunday, have set themselves up to be perennial contenders in a couple short decades and that wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for Pierce.

Danny Ainge found a sucker in Nets general manager Billy King in the summer of 2013 when he offered three future first-round picks and a pick swap (along with some bad contracts) in exchange for Kevin Garnett, Pierce and Jason Terry. However, the Celtics never would have been able to make that deal without Pierce’s blessing. They were never going to move the face of their franchise without his blessing.

After 15 years in green, Pierce admitted at first he wanted to ride out his career in Boston, much like Bryant did, and Nowitzki certainly will. However, he saw the writing on the wall. Ainge knew the team’s title window had closed and wanted to get a jumpstart on rebuilding. Having Pierce and Garnett (who had a no-trade clause) around would have prevented them from doing that to the degree Ainge wanted. Pierce recognized an opportunity for himself to compete in Brooklyn and also saw an opportunity for his former team. He would bite the bullet and move on.

It’s easy to forget, though, the work Pierce had to put in to help the Celtics get that deal done. Not only did he give the trade his blessing, he had to work on Garnett in order to get him to waive his no-trade clause and be moved, per league sources. Garnett, one of the most stubborn players you’ll ever meet, eventually relented before draft night.

Nearly five years later, Pierce watched the Celtics on Sunday afternoon and saw the results of his loyalty. Jaylen Brown (2016 Brooklyn pick), Jayson Tatum (2017 Brooklyn pick swap) and Kyrie Irving (2018 Brooklyn pick) are all leading a 40-18 team, in part because of Pierce’s sacrifice.

Fittingly, as Pierce reflected on his career Sunday, he realized the era of lifers is largely coming to an end.

“I always tell guys with the way the NBA landscape is and how the collective bargaining agreement is and player movement all the time and I had a chance to think about it, my number could be up there without another number going up there for a long time,” Pierce said in his post-retirement presser. “I think the days that you see a player playing 10-15 years for one franchise are probably over, so that could be really special. Who knows?”

Pierce’s legacy will also be cemented in Boston, but this specific generation will always owe an extra bit of gratitude to him for leaving the Celtics in a position to succeed as his final piece of devotion to the franchise.