The Truth Shall Set You Free: Could A Paul Pierce Trade Signal The End Of The Big Three?


There are a lot of you that hate Paul Pierce.

From the man's inability to grow normal facial hair, to acting like he died when he hurt his knee during the 2008 NBA Finals to him just being a member of the Boston Celtics...there's a lot of hate sent towards No. 34.

Like it or not, Paul Pierce has been THE embodiment of the Boston Celtics for this generation. Now in his thirteenth year, after riding the lows of the "Employee No. 8" era and the highs of the "Big Three" era, things have come back down as each of the Big Three are staring down the other side of 30.

Moreover, with the Celtics staring at a 4-8 record and a point guard who tends to be moody when things aren't going in his favor, changes could be in order. Could Pierce be the one who's on the chopping block first? Words from Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski:

As Kevin Garnett and Allen become free agents this summer, money will peel away from the salary cap. Between then and now, the bigger question promises to be: does ownership and general manager Danny Ainge go for the complete rebuild and trade Pierce before the March 15 deadline? Several contending teams have inquired about Pierce’s availability. As one Eastern Conference official said, there are “lots of calls asking if [Boston] will blow it up.”

Garnett and Allen come off the Celtics’ cap this summer, but Pierce is the most perplexing member of the Big Three. He has two years and $32 million left on his contract through the 2013-14 season, and moving him for a shorter deal could make the Celtics a huge player in free agency the next two years. As Boston officials contend, this is the reason they didn’t re-sign Perkins and Tony Allen to long-term contracts. They’ve been preparing for the time that their core became too old and for the team’s need to start over.

Yes, this could all be premature. The lockout could be a factor in the Celtics' lack of cohesion thus far. Maybe it's the tough early season schedule or even the old and weary legs on the team's results thus far. However, I'll admit that I will be sad when the Big Three trio is broken up. Seeing KG transform himself into the defensive force in the green and white was dope (along with the conversations between Garnett and Bill Russell), watching Jesus Shuttlesworth finally have the stage to be the maestro he'd always been behind the stripe was appreciated and witnessing Paul Pierce be the leader of the C's, in a way only he could've, was simply a cool experience.

Pierce could help a team, no question, but seeing him in other uniform would take awhile for my eyes to adjust.

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