Paul Pierce: Superstar or All-star?

[bostonguy]

I am curious to know what you guys think. I kinda like to think of him as both. The guy can take over games, you cant shut him down, a pretty good defender etc etc. Of course he isnt on the level of Lebron/Kobe/Duncan but I cant just label him only an all-star on the level of someone like Rip Hamilton or Michael Redd.

Thoughts?

[hater]

he is a beast and pretty much noone can guard him. problem is often he chokes and often he looses his head. still, if he was in the Spurs we would have gone undefeated in the playoffs

[JamStone]

He has great skill. Definitely an all star. Borderline superstar.

[jack sommerset]

All Star.......Don't 4get KG opens up alot of shots 4 him but certainly he is a all-star this season and a few in the past. The scary thing is Allen is heating up to. Boston can be in the finals the next few years!

[xtremesteven33]

i laughed at those who said Pierce was overrated. the guys is a superstar and hes showing it. i think if he pulls out a victory on the road in LA while he scores 30+ points he would establish himself as one of the elite players in the NBA.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Borderline superstar.

[Magic_Johnson]

allstar.
KG is the (borderline) superstar

[angelbelow]

superstar imo.

[UCantHandleTheTruth]

I agree with the borderline superstar tag. He's not Kobe or 'Bron but like you said, he's a clearly above All-Stars like Rip, Redd, Joe Johnson and Ray Allen.

And hater, Pierce doesn't choke (Have you even bothered watching these playoffs?) and he's matured a lot over the past 2-3 years and really doesn't lose his head anymore. Like he said when the refs waived off that 4 point play against Detroit and called it a charge, before he would've got all over the ref, got a T and let the call bother him and his play. Now he's matured enough where he just laughs about it, moves on and takes over the game in the 4th Q.

[1Parker1]

^This is the first year he hasn't choked. And let's wait until this series is officially over before we decide that.

I agree and think he is a borderline superstar. To me a superstar is someone like Kobe, Lebron, Duncan who are consistently great year in and year out, individually no matter who their supporting cast is. I don't think the consistency factor is there for Pierce yet, though he's going a long way to prove his doubters wrong this postseason.

[2centsworth]

superstar, only one of the big 3 that doesn't fold in the 4th.

[MadDog73]

I think game 1 elevated his status to Superstar.

whether it was "showmanship" or not, he came out a Superstar.

[lefty]

PP has always been a superstar UMHO, way before game 1.

He is the truth

[Red Hawk #21]

i laughed at those who said Pierce was overrated. the guys is a superstar and hes showing it. i think if he pulls out a victory on the road in LA while he scores 30+ points he would establish himself as one of the elite players in the NBA.

:toast

[UCantHandleTheTruth]

^This is the first year he hasn't choked.Stop talking out of your ass. He went to the ECF with Antoine Walker as the 2nd best player on his team and Kenny Anderson the 3rd best. He has career averages of 22.7 points per game, 7.2 boards per game and 4.5 assists per game in the playoffs.

The only year he "choked" was in '03-'04, when he was playing on a team that had no business making the playoffs and he saw double teams consistently and sometimes even triple teams while facing arguably the best perimeter defender in the NBA in Ron Artest. The starting lineup Pierce was playing in that series when he shot 34% was himself, Chucky Atkins, Walter McCarty, Mark Blount and Jiri Welsch. Ricky Davis was the 2nd best player on the team.

He led the Celtics to the largest (or was it 2nd largest? I forget...) 4th quarter comeback in NBA history by completely taking over that ECF game 3 against the Nets. His athleticism has declined a bit, but he used to rival LeBron in terms of getting to the rim and drawing fouls and he has the record of most free throws made without a miss in a playoff game with 21.

Paul Pierce is not a choker and never has been.

[lefty]

^This is the first year he hasn't choked. And let's wait until this series is officially over before we decide that.

I agree and think he is a borderline superstar. To me a superstar is someone like Kobe, Lebron, Duncan who are consistently great year in and year out, individually no matter who their supporting cast is. I don't think the consistency factor is there for Pierce yet, though he's going a long way to prove his doubters wrong this postseason.

It's hard not to choke when your team is crappy most of the time.

PP is a great player

[DDS4]

Borderline superstar. When he's on, he's unguardable.

I think him and Baron Davis are in the same boat.

[dbreiden83080]

Boderline Superstar for sure. He keeps playing this well and Celts should win it all and he'll be a lock for the Hall of Fame.

[dbreiden83080]

Pierce is a really good player, but far... I mean far from a superstar. Duncan/AI/Kobe/Lebron are the only superstars in this league. I think if Pierce would work har like a superstar and got his fat ass in shape he could be a great player. But as of right now... hes just an allstar.

I don't really consider AI a superstar anymore

[rAm]

I don't really consider AI a superstar anymore

True, and PP isn't a superstar either until he proves he can draw and hold the attention like a superstar does.

I don't think winning the championship this year makes him a superstar either, KG has more recognition than PP does anyhow.

[xtremesteven33]

All-Stars: Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Amare Staudemire etc...
Superstars: Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett


Legend: Tim Duncan

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Yes, he's better than Rip Hamilton, but at the end of the day, he's just an all star and not a superstar.

[Avitus1]

I'd say somewhere in between.

[TDMVPDPOY]

i say his a allstar only

if he was that good, he wouldnt need KG, gayray to take the celtics to the finals or even the playoffs with the original cast he had last season.

[SRJ]

Lower tier superstar, but superstar for sure. It's not often that a non-superstar goes for 40+ in a 7th game.

[lrrr]

i say his a allstar only

if he was that good, he wouldnt need KG, gayray to take the celtics to the finals or even the playoffs with the original cast he had last season.

Yeah, some merit in that statement, but then again, Kobe never got nowhere without "help".

Superstars are made in the playoffs. let's see what he can do in the next few games. If C's win and he gets Finals MVP, he's a superstar.