Robert Parish identifies with what both Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo are going through

From a Sporting News article by Sean Deveney, here are some quotes from "The Chief" about the roles Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo will now find themselves in:

One Pierce's move to Brooklyn (Parish signed with Charlotte at age 40 after 14 seasons in Boston):

 "Un-com-fortable. In my mind, I would always be a Celtic. I was very thankful and humbled that the Hornets saw fit to allow me to play a couple more years, but the only time I thought of myself as a Charlotte Hornet was game time. Other than that, when the jersey came off, I still felt like I was a Celtic. Just accept the fact that it is going to be awkward initially. That’s all. Because he [Pierce] has worn the Celtics green for so long and it is going to be really awkward for him. But it was time for a change and what I do like about what the Celtics did for Pierce and Garnett, they didn’t send them somewhere to another situation that is not going to be successful. They sent them someplace where they are going to win. Garnett and Pierce have earned that right."

And on Rondo's personality and becoming a team leader:

"Just going by what I have heard, I have heard he has a talent for being difficult. But you can say that about most of us. I know I had my moments. For me, if I don’t know you, I come across as being aloof and distant if I don’t know you. I am just quiet if I don’t know you. I can be very stoic looking, that’s just my facial expression. I don’t smile a lot. I come across as being arrogant and dismissive, even if that is not the case. I know what it is to be misunderstood. I can’t say for sure that’s the case with Rondo, but I can understand it if it is. It turned out to be a good thing [for me]. Things went real smooth, I had a fine time in Boston. A bad reputation doesn’t mean you can’t fix it. It can happen."

From my memory of Parish and hearing him describe himself, it definitely seems as if he and Rondo have some very similar personality traits.  I see two major differences in their respective situations though: One, Parish never had to take on anything more than being the 3rd member of "The Big 3," Rondo is going to have to be "the guy" for the 2013-2014 Celtics.  And two, technology and media presence are much greater now than they were in the '80s; everything Rondo does is scrutinized a thousand times more than it would have been in Parish's day. 


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