Please stop asking Paul Pierce gotcha questions!

Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce is going give enough hot takes on his own. Here's an example from this morning: Personally I don't even understand the tweet since GOAT stands for Greatest of All Time, so there really can only be one GOAT, whether you consider that Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, or LeBron James. Now you'd be wrong if you chose the latter, but I digress.

Just because someone was a great player, doesn't mean they will be a great coach, GM, or NBA analyst. The experience of playing many years in the NBA helps and the name recognition in terms of getting current players to listen assists when coaching, but besides that many athletically challenged people can still be very knowledgeable when it comes to the game.

From the 2008 championship team starters, three of them have transitioned to the media world. Kevin Garnett does his thing on his own show which he has control over which seems to work great. Kendrick Perkins and Paul Pierce went the ESPN route of hot takes after hot takes. Perkins somehow has made a name and brand for himself in this new media style, was Pierce started to flame out and then lost his ESPN job due to the stripper/weed/alcohol live stream.

Pierce recently was on KG's show and that got a little weird when it appeared he was either drunk or high. Pierce is either enjoying his retirement to the max or he's in need of an intervention depending on who you ask.

What is irritating to me is the people who invite him on their shows and ask him gotcha questions. Then social media (and the media in general) run with soundbites he says and often take them out of context. And trust me Pierce gives enough hot takes you don't need to be twisting his words.

When Pierce says he would have won a title with prime LeBron James and prime Chris Bosh that's not the Dwyane Wade slander you think it is. Pierce played all of one season with prime Kevin Garnett and a past his prime Ray Allen, and cruised to a title that season. Had KG not tore up his knee in 2009, even a slightly declining KG along Pierce would have brought home more titles.

Wade in his first year with prime LeBron and Bosh lost to the Dirk Nowitzki Mavs. That team's second best player was who? Jason Terry? Look if you are going to be objective, you can argue that Wade was slightly better than Pierce. But you could also argue the opposite. And Pierce, as well as most NBA greats, doesn't become a champion, All-NBA player, All-Star, and NBA Finals NBA without supreme confidence.

If he ever thought Wade was better than him, he'd have never had the success he did. Pierce would go up against LeBron and didn't look up to him. He thought he was better or at least equal. And LeBron even saw that he couldn't get past Pierce with the heklp of other All-Stars, so he left Cleveland for Miami and got his own in their prime stars.

Shoot LeBron and Bosh should have been able to win at least one title with just the two of them in their prime. Pierce saying he'd win at least one title with them is modest if anything. And regarding Wade, Pierce makes a good point that a lot of his appeal was his flash and athleticism. Wade looked better scoring two points, but Pierce could score 2's at will as well and was a better 3-point shooter.

If Pierce in his prime had a prime LeBron and Bosh on his team for four seasons, he wins three titles in my opinion. Shoot he made it to the Eastern Conference Finals with Antoine Walker. Swap 'Toine for prime Shaq and he's not winning that title too?

The vast majority of NBA analysts will put Wade higher than Pierce on their top whatever lists and that's fine. But if you can put the flash aside, it's at least up for debate, and Pierce should 100% be allowed to feel he was better.

The Jokic thing was also totally taken out of context. Saying Jokic isn't a top 5 passer ever isn't even controversial. Saying Jokic isn't a top 5 passing big would be, but you know how many great passers there have been in NBA history? Bob Cousy, Pistol Pete, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, and Steve Nash just to name guys who won MVP's (or finished top 3 in Maravich's case). Then you have Rajon Rondo and Jason Williams who Pierce mentioned. LeBron and Penny Hardaway are in the mix and then there's a ton of pass first Ricky Rubio types that weren't all-stars or anything.

And I'm a huge fan of Jokic and thought he should have been MVP again this season, but the list of great passers is very long. Pierce saying people might be going overboard on the Jokic passing praise isn't some crazy thought. Often people overrate players after a high moment and underrate them after a low.

For one reason or another their a lot of people who love trying to clown the Celtics or the 2008 team in general. If you're cool with Paul Pierce, stop with the gotcha questions, especially if you're not going to then refute claims when they are taken out of context. Garnett was a good friend and tried his best to get Pierce back on track when he was struggling on KG Certified about a month back. If you think Pierce is "going through something" and you have him as a guest on your show, because you think he will say something wild and "crazy," you're just being a user.

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