Wait… When did Paul Pierce become the best basketball player in the world?

Q: Is Kobe really the best player in the world?
A: I don't think Kobe is the best player. I'm the best player. There's a line that separates having confidence and being conceited. I don't cross that line but I have a lot of confidence in myself."

Yes, that question was really asked and yes, that was a serious answer. No, Michael Jordan didn’t say it, neither did Magic or Larry Bird. Nah, it wasn’t Lebron James either. So who said it? Paul Pierce. No, I didn’t misspell Stephon Marbury or Darius Miles, Paul Pierce really said that he is the best player in the world.

Maybe he was talking about Scrabble or Checkers, he couldn’t have been talking about basketball could he? No, he wasn’t talking about any board games, he wasn’t talking about Disney Scene-It or Dominoes either, Paul Pierce was talking about basketball. Not NBA Live (or NBA 2K8 for you bums who hate on EA Sports), he was talking about real live basketball. According to a Madrid, Spain news source, RedArmy, Paul Pierce thinks when he laces up his sneakers, he’s always the best on the floor. This is not a joke, in fact, it’s far from it because the statement was so ridiculous I couldn’t even laugh.

I know if you’ve read anything I’ve written for this website you probably know that I’m a Lakers fan and you probably will have a few questions about the objectivity of me writing this article like: do you think Kobe is the best in the league right now? Are you a Paul Pierce fan? Can you write this objectively if the answers to those questions are yes and no respectively? Well, the answers to your questions are, definitely, I hate Kansas and the Celtics and probably not. However, I have one question for you, does it matter if I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, because that’s exactly what I plan on doing.

It’s hard to fathom someone like Paul Pierce naming himself the best basketball player in the world, especially when he isn’t even the best at his position and has never been, at least as it’s seemed to me, considered a top 10 player in the worlds premier basketball stage. Sure, he’s a perennial all-star, a tough guard and has been extremely underrated on the defensive end these last three years (minus the 06-07 season where he took a year off for the betterment of the team), but the best basketball player in the world? Absolutely not.

But he just won the Finals MVP! I understand this, and I know I’d be feeling myself too if I was named the best player of the NBA Finals, but I wouldn’t be calling out Kobe, making ridiculous statements about conceit and confidence in the most arrogant way possible. Pierce’s vanity is what shocked me the most about his statements. Not the fact that he said that he’s better than Kobe, not that he said that he’s the best player in the world, but it was more how he said it than anything else. Allow me to break down Pierce’s quote.

“I don’t think Kobe is the best player. I’m the best player…”

I can understand when athletes say things like this, you have to believe that you’re better than the next guy if you want to be successful in professional sports. I really don’t have a problem with Paul Pierce believing that he is better than Kobe Bryant; I mean, he was the NBA Finals MVP. However, there is now way that I can let this comment slide without mentioning that his talent level, knowledge of the game and raw athleticism has not been, is not now and will not ever be on par with Kobe Bryant’s. It’s been well documented that no one in the league works harder than Bryant, no one in the league is more feared when they have the ball in their hands and no superstar (outside of Kevin Garnett) has dedicated more time on the defensive end than Bryant. I can continue on and compare statistics, compare awards and milestones, but these are things that everyone knows. Paul Pierce simply cannot do the things Kobe Bryant can do with a basketball, but enough on this because this isn’t why I couldn’t believe what I read.

“…There's a line that separates having confidence and being conceited…”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember Kobe Bryant ever coming off as conceited. Even Talkhoops.net writer, Eddie Maisonet, ran off several reasons why Kobe shouldn’t win the MVP (which really was just seven of the reasons he can’t stand the guy) in his article on why Kobe should have won it last year which included:
1. He wanted to be traded from L.A. at least 57 times.
2. He wanted to bring in Jason Kidd, Jermaine O'Neal, and roughly 22 other players.
3. He snitched on Shaq. What did Ed and Rummy say, "Thank You For Not Snitching!" (Go watch the Boondocks if your unfamiliar)
4. He ripped Bynum about 206 new ones, for what?
5. L.A. isn't the powerhouse it is without Gasol, Bynum, Odom, and Phil Jackson. Take any one of the 4 away and they aren't contending for the #1 seed.
6. L.A. is 6-7 without Bynum or Gasol. Without Kobe in 2006-07, the Lakers were 6-2.
7. He's a selfish, prima-donna, wannabe MJ, who wore #24 just so he could feel he is one better than Jordan. (And I'm not a Jordan fan at all...)

There is nothing that I would love more than to write why most of that was uncalled for, but what I will point out is that cockiness, conceit, vanity, smugness or arrogance is NOT one of the reasons. In fact, in interviews he often comes off as humble. He never talks about how great he is (and don’t give me that ‘he moved Shaq out of Los Angeles with his arrogance’ BS either, that went both ways). I’m sure he knows that he’s the best player in the world, and I’m certain that he feels that there is no one who can stop him, but you won’t hear Kobe telling reporters that he thinks that he’s the best player in the world – or he won’t deliberately tell reporters that he is better than one specific player. Bryant may be a jerk, but he has a little more class than that (well, at least in interviews). Sure, while he’s on the floor you can sense a breath of arrogance, and it’s usually because he’s lighting someone up. When you’re in the NBA you should give off that vibe while you’re on the court, it’s called swag, and Kobe has a lot of it. No need to take shots at him for that, because you can find that on any playground, USA. You’ll find that in high school and college locker rooms, hell, you can find that at your local YMCA. There is a line that separates having confidence and being conceited, Pierce, and Kobe hasn’t crossed it.

“I don't cross that line but I have a lot of confidence in myself.”

When I first read Pierce’s quote, I originally planned on writing 1,500 words about the fact that Paul Pierce just isn’t the basketball player Kobe is. It’s very hard for me to find much (or anything) that Pierce does better than Bryant. However, I took exception to the fact that he called out Bryant’s arrogance while talking about his lack of it – in the most arrogant way possible. Paul Pierce, you crossed that line. In fact, no line has been crossed like that since the German Luftwaffe invaded and attacked Poland back in 1939, and we all know what happened then. You can’t say that you’re the best basketball player in the world then follow it up with the classic, ‘I’m not cocky, I’m just confident’ line. It’s an oxymoron, it makes you look like a Class-A Moron and you’re feeling yourself just a little too much after a Finals victory. I mean, if Bryant had Vladimir Radmanavoc guarding him he probably would have averaged 40 points in that series and if Pierce had five guys who were committed to playing defense on the other end of the floor he might not have played so well (and I wasn’t very impressed with that bum ass Finals performance to begin with).

Also, let’s not forget about how this man spent the whole season talking about how he, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen should all receive equal credit for the team’s success. They were all the best player on that team, and how, after his MVP high, he’s the best. He is the alpha and the omega of basketball, there is no one better – well according to him there isn’t. Paul Pierce needs to calm down with this madness because it’s embarrassing. He’s only added fuel to Bryant’s already scorching fire. You’ll never see Kobe Bryant on a last place team in a weak conference. You’ll never see a situation where you’d rather have another player on Kobe Bryant’s team take the final shot – hell Kobe Bryant would never admit that someone else on his team should take the final shot of a game because that’s what the best players do. Paul Pierce is a good basketball player, but he’s just as conceited as the rest of them and he isn’t better than Bryant, not by a long shot.

Photos Courtesy of bbc.co.uk and pe.com, respectively

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Phillip Barnett is a senior writer for Talkhoops.net and can also be read at imsohideous.blogspot.com