Paul Pierce on he, Doc and KG leaving: "Everything was mutual"

The Boys

Paul Pierce recently spoke to SLAM Magazine, covering a lot of topics mainly about his new team and teammates. Of course, he was asked about the Celtics.

Pierce defended himself, Doc and KG for leaving Boston. Of course, it's mainly only Doc that needs defending.

NetsDaily:
PP: Well, I know the insides with everything that’s going on. A lot of stuff got blown out of proportion because of the media, but Doc has always said he didn’t want to be a part of a rebuilding situation. I’ve always stated that the past four or five years. After the season, the owners decided they wanted to go in that direction. It made Doc look like he was quitting but at the same time it was mutual—everything was mutual at the end. The trade, Doc leaving. I didn’t want to be a part of rebuilding; Kevin didn’t want to be a part of rebuilding; Doc didn’t want to be part of rebuilding. I think it was all mutual. We’ve done so much for the franchise that they wanted to help on our end. So Doc went to L.A., and they sent us to Brooklyn for a chance to win a Championship. That’s pretty much the way it was. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Celtics and Rivers both have a different story when it comes to Doc's leaving.

While Pierce is right that he had always made it publicly clear that he wanted no part of a rebuilding process. As soon as Doc was traded, it became pretty apparent the direction the Celtics were going, and also pretty obvious that Pierce or KG wouldn't factor into those plans, mainly because they wouldn't have wanted to.


Doc, however, didn't make it clear he didn't want to be part of a rebuild.

After signing a nice new five-year contract extension, Rivers said that he was "very willing" to be part of a rebuild. I guess you can't take him on his word.

Anyway, there's no use crying over spilt milk at this point. The Celtics got a substantial amount of draft picks in compensation for blowing up their core. They've also got a very exciting young coach in Brad Stevens, who should add a whole other level of excitement to this Celtics team over the next few years.