Paul Pierce: Westbrook, Cousins only players with 'competitive fire' gene
Add Paul Pierce to the list of NBA players — both current and former — who have been critical of the level of competition in today's NBA in recent weeks.
Making an appearance on Mike & Mike on Wednesday morning, the 39-year-old future Hall of Famer said that the league is far from what it used to be.
"I don't think the league is as competitive as it was, let's say like, 10 years ago, where you've got the superstars going at one another, talking smack, creating rivalries," Pierce said. "We don't have rivalries anymore. The closest thing to it is Golden State and Cleveland, which could end up being a great rivalry, but outside of that, you don't have any individual rivalries, a Kobe vs. LeBron. Individual rivalries are just not there anymore."
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Pierce, who is retiring at the end of the season, has seen — and been a part of — his fair share of heated rivalries during his two decades in the league, most notably with LeBron James. His fierceness has made him one of the most respected players of the generation, so his stance — which is one that he has made in the past — should come as no surprise.
As for the notion that friends in this era compete harder against each other to earn some form of bragging rights?
"I don't buy into that," Pierce said. "We were friends then, don't get me wrong. I have friends too. But you wouldn't know it by the way we competed on the court, and you couldn't see it. After the game, when we're out having dinner, that's fine. But you could never tell who was friends on the court the way we competed. I don't really buy into that, man. I believe the person who really has the 80s, 90s, early 2000s genes of competitive fire are dead and gone. You have about one or two guys who I see that in, (Russell) Westbrook and maybe like a DeMarcus Cousins or something. But pretty much everybody else, it's a different type of attitude."
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