In a submission for Derek Jeter’s Players’ Tribune, Paul Pierce discussed the five toughest NBA players he has ever guarded. Pierce mentioned in the piece that the NBA is now a point guard driven league, yet none of the five players, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, LeBron James, Vince Carter or Carmelo Anthony, play that position. Here’s a snippet from Pierce for each player.
- Kobe wants to destroy his opponent every night, and his desire to do so is second only to Jordan. I never had to play against Michael when he was with the Bulls, so Kobe is the closest I’ve come to facing that type of determination in my career.
- Since there was no way to stop Tracy’s shot, you just had to do everything you could to make sure he didn’t get in a position to shoot. So I would always do my best to deny Tracy the ball and be physical with him. I always knew that I couldn’t allow easy points in transition against him because then he might heat up. And if a guy with an unblockable shot heats up, well, that’s not good. But limiting transition points against a guy with the physical talent of Tracy was just a nightmare. He was such a tremendous finisher. He’s fast, he’s long and he could jump higher than anybody. And if that wasn’t enough, he was one of the better ball handlers in the league.
- Nobody wants to be on a Vince Carter highlight. In his prime, you knew he was going to get four or five highlights every game. And I’d always be thinking about that before we played against him. My mission would always be not to make the Vince Carter highlight reel, so before the game even started, he was already in my head.
- Like a lot of top players, you just have to hope LeBron isn’t feeling it the night you face him. Once he takes his first step off the dribble, if he gets to the side of you, there’s no staying in front of him. He’s just too strong when he gets his shoulder into your chest. And he’s also one of the best finishers with his left and right hand that this league has ever seen.
- Some great players will have one or two particular skills that make them special. But Carmelo can do everything, which puts you in a baaad situation as a defender. A lot of guys might shoot better from certain areas, so you try to force them elsewhere on the floor. Carmelo doesn’t have a spot on the floor where he can’t consistently hit shots.
[Read the entire article over at Players’ Tribune]
