https://www.si.com/nba/2021/09/07/paul-pierce-celtics-hall-of-fame-daily-cover Let’s start here: Paul Pierce isn’t sorry. Not for the video, that minutes-long clip that made the rounds on social media, the one that cost Pierce his job at ESPN. Honestly, Pierce didn’t even know he made a video. Here’s what happened: In April, Pierce was playing poker at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. There was drinking. And smoking. And strippers. And after a little too much drinking and smoking, Pierce decided to start an Instagram Live and, well, show off the strippers. He went on for a few minutes, riffing, he thought, for a couple hundred people. When he finished, he deleted it. He didn’t know IG Lives can be recorded (they can) and reposted (it was). Pierce went home that night thinking no one noticed. He woke up the next day and discovered everyone had. Still . . . sorry? “For what?” asks Pierce. It’s early July, and Pierce is reclining in a straight-backed chair at The Spot, a hookah lounge tucked into a strip mall in Encino, Calif. Around him, clusters of 20- and 30-somethings, many on laptops huddled over glowing screens, oblivious to the presence of basketball royalty. Hours earlier, Pierce was at home, a tailor dispatched by the Basketball Hall of Fame taking measurements for a suit to fit Pierce’s 6’7” frame. “I haven’t bought a new suit since I retired,” says Pierce. But he needed something to wear in September for his enshrinement in Springfield, Mass., 90 miles from where he spent the bulk of his 19-year NBA career. ESPN didn’t ask for an apology. The relationship between Pierce and the network had become strained over the past two years. Pierce hated the travel. Network executives didn’t think he was working hard enough. The video, industry sources told Sports Illustrated, was the last straw. “I was done with them, anyway,” says Pierce between pulls of lemon mint. “It wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron all the time.” Pierce’s longtime agent, Jeff Schwartz, suggested Pierce apologize anyway. Schwartz worried that the video might influence Hall voters. Pierce didn’t. “Come on, I didn’t do anything illegal,” says Pierce. “These motherf-----s in the Hall of Fame, some did [cocaine], f---ing battery. What the f--- did I do? I was just having a good time. All the people coming after me, half you motherf-----s do the same s---. You’re just hiding it. And you all are married while you’re doing it. I’m divorced. I’m retired. I’m having fun.” And if Hall voters had held it against him? “Listen,” says Pierce, “if I didn’t make it with this class, it would be the biggest stiff job in Hall of Fame history.” Schwartz suggested Pierce speak to Jerry Colangelo, the longtime NBA and USA Basketball exec who doubled as Hall chairman. Pierce agreed. In May, Pierce was in Springfield for former teammate Kevin Garnett’s induction. At a dinner, he approached Colangelo. Pierce repeated: He didn’t think he did anything wrong. “What happened has nothing to do with what I did on the court,” says Pierce. Colangelo shrugged. “I just told him, ‘To clear up the circumstances, you may want to come out and say something,’ ” says Colangelo. “Don’t leave any doubt in anyone’s mind. Who knows how people are going to be affected by what they saw? I told him he ought to think about [apologizing]. That’s all. And he chose not to. And that’s fine.” Days later, the Hall made it official: Pierce was in. […] At 43, Pierce isn’t ruling out a return to TV. “It would have to be something different,” says Pierce. He could get back into the NBA. Frank Vogel, the Lakers’ coach, offered Pierce an assistant coaching job when Vogel was in Orlando a few years back. The Clippers offered Pierce a front-office role after he retired. “I don’t want to coach,” says Pierce. “Too much work. It’s like playing. Maybe worse. My kids are still young. I don’t want to miss these years.” Pierce has ideas. He’s collaborating with Garnett on a few. The two are planning on launching a podcast. Pierce wants to do a show that follows the two of them traveling the world. “Just doing all the s--- we couldn’t do when we played,” says Pierce. For example? “Skydiving,” says Pierce. “Maybe a bull run in Spain. Get motorcycles and travel around. Experience different cultures, different foods. That would be so much fun.” Pierce is also launching his own brand of mar1juana, Truth, a nod to the nickname Shaquille O’Neal gave him years ago. He’s a partner in SelfiePop, an online platform for social media influencers. (“It’s Cameo meets Linktree,” he says.) He says he’s clearing seven figures from his cryptocurrency investments. (“It’s the future.”)
Not one of my favorite players as I think he's overrated but I'm glad he's living the best life post-retirement.
@J.R. you didn't post the juicy bit: I don't consider myself a vault of Rockets historical knowledge but I do remember a lot during this timeline. That being said, I don't remember hearing anything about Pierce getting traded to Houston.
Would you be happy if he came here? He was drafted in '98. Not sure who Rockets would have given up. Spoiler: 1998-1999 roster Charles Barkley Matt Bullard Antoine Carr Michael Dickerson Bryce Drew Othella Harrington Eddie Johnson Sam Mack Matt Maloney Anothny Miller Cat Mobley Hakeem Scottie Pippen Rodrick Rhodes Stanley Roberts.
Without knowing what the deal would have been (who's coming, who's going). I don't know. If it was for the same package that got us Steve Francis (e.g. Dickerson, Harrington, etc.) then yea I would have made that trade. A backcourt of Mobley and Pierce? Then let's say we still end up with Yao? That probably would have stopped the McGrady era from happening but maybe that wouldn't have been a bad thing?
Im glad Pierce didn't apologize. And then these dudes low-key threaten him by holding his HOF induction over his head? that doesn't sit right with my soul..
Yeah the idea that Jerry Colangelo is the person to decide who gets into the HOF is the biggest joke of all. Probably why so many EuroTrash players and Catholic HS basketball coaches are in the HOF. The whole Basketball HOF needs to be torn down and redone. I took my family to Springfield a few years back for vacation to visit the HOF. For those who have never been, you should go, and then go visit Cooperstown, and tell me which one is the real deal and which one looks just like something we would expect David Stern to put together. There were so many mistakes on the plaques themselves it was ridiculous. For example, the Magic Johnson plaque said he won a title in 1989 and was MVP in 1985. Dafuq? Larry Bird was MVP three straight seasons from 84-86. That was just one example. Then the number of international nobodies in the HOF is a complete joke. Look, if people want a FIBA HOF then by all means do that, but please create an NBA HOF that keeps out the Bill Walton’s, Dino Radja’s, Immaculata, and Connie Hawkins of the world.
I think Bill Walton deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. The same for Rudy Tomjanovich. They are both close, but when taking their entirety of accomplishments and contributions they are deserving.
Read the quoted part and as someone who hated him on ESPN, he sounded so dumb and probably is not the smartest in the bunch, I respect him a great deal for how he's dealt with the controversy of that video and the HOF induction. The hypocrisy is so strong and so indicative of what is wrong with how we deal in general with famous people and their "indiscretions". There are strippers, you can gamble, but please steer clear. And if you do engage with them, please use some discretion. Why? Like he said, the man is single, he can do what he wants. Who cares what it looks like. And the attitude towards strippers, but also smoking weed, is probably more hurtful and harmful than anything else. We should embrace the full person and our human actions, in fact, let that HOF die and then we do a proper one where plaques will talk about overcoming obstacles, what people struggled with, had to deal with and things that would embarrass the corporate, fake religious hypocrites running that **** show as well as the league.
People should be allowed to be who they are. Tiger Woods never got the chance. Deep down at his core, he's a sexual deviant - lol. But that's cool. I like it. Roll with it. Embrace it. Come out and say - I am Iron Man. Not - I'm sorry.