2014 New Year's Resolution: Paul Pierce

Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

Let's just come out and say this right away: Paul Pierce has been terrible for the Brooklyn Nets.

In this disaster of a season where what was supposed to be a "dream team" has become a "nightmare," none have fallen further from grace than Pierce. Over his 15-year career, the veteran forward has averaged 21.9 points on 44.6% shooting, 6.0 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. Just last season, at age 35, Pierce put up numbers that were still very good: 18.6 points on 43.6% shooting, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists.

He's laid an egg this season. Nearly every time he's stepped onto the court, he has been a colossal detriment to Brooklyn's offensive efficiency and production. He's averaging 12.3 points on 39.2% shooting (both career lows), 5.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. His shot selection his been atrocious, he throws careless passes all up and down the court, and he has looked clueless at times – he just looks like he has no idea what he's doing out there.

To play devil's advocate, he's had to put up with a lot this season. He broke his hand on Nov. 29 and had been coming off of the bench for a while after his return on Dec. 10 against his old team, the Boston Celtics – something he has almost never done in his career.

And just when it looked like Pierce looked like he was starting to turn things around, his play has completely collapsed once again. Following two games where he scored 27 and 24 points on 17-for-21 shooting, he all of a sudden lost his stroke, going 0-for-7 and getting ejected in a blowout loss to the Pacers and then following it up by going 1-for-8 in another blowout loss to the Bulls on Christmas. He had a nice game on Dec. 28 against the Pacers, when he moved back into the starting five, leading all Nets scorers with 18 on 8-of-14 shooting. But Brooklyn is not paying him $15 million to have a good game every once in a while.

Now he's calling out head coach Jason Kidd, blaming his terrible play on a lack of consistency with his minutes. He also complains about how his hand it's all the way healed yet.

Then why play?

Sometimes it truly seems like Pierce is not motivated to play for the Brooklyn Nets anymore. The usually-smiley 10-time All Star has been utterly grim this season, often seen scowling or with a blank expression on the sidelines. He's developed a sour attitude that was virtually nonexistent until now, complaining about minutes and getting frustrated on the court:

By now, it's clear that the Boston experiment has failed. The Celtics won this trade in a landslide. Now, after the dust has cleared, there's only one question left: does Paul Pierce have a role on this team? I really doubt it. In 25 games this year, Pierce has only made half of his shots or better in nine contests. He's been held to six points or less in six games. He's scored 18 (his season average last year) or better only five times, and only twice has he scored more than 19.

Even without Andrei Kirilenko in the lineup, Brooklyn's perimeter is crowded by Deron Williams, Alan Anderson, Joe Johnson, Mirza Teletovic, and now Jason Terry. Paul Pierce has become not only superfluous to the Nets' needs, but a downright burden. The only way this ends well for both sides (or either side, honestly) is for Pierce to leave Brooklyn. Billy King, for everyone's sake, needs to admit that this trade is a bust and at least try to get something back for Pierce before he can just walk away for nothing in the summer.

Paul Pierce's New Year's Resolution: Put your head down, play ball, and be Paul Pierce. It seems sometimes like Pierce has no desire to play for this team. He's been the subject of various trade rumors and his contract is up after the season's over, so the Nets might as well trade him away and get something in return. There's absolutely no chance Pierce re-signs with Brooklyn; he'll either retire or hop over to the Clippers and reunite with Doc Rivers to play for a team that wanted him before the Nets did. With such an uncertain future, Pierce's best option is to just press on and try to get better every day.

Most of Pierce's struggles begin and end with shot selection. Just take a look at his shot chart this year:

Verus last year:

As you can clearly see, Pierce's three-point shot has taken a major fall this year. He's also not hitting his midrange shots with any decent efficiency. He's missing a lot of jumpers. Part of that has to do with his hand healing, yes, but what about before the injury? Nets fans have watched Pierce brick open threes countless times. When people were saying Pierce might struggle because he's not used to getting open looks, I just kind of laughed at them. But they were right. He looks like a deer in the headlights when given open jumpers.

For Pierce, it's most likely a system thing that's causing his game to be so terrible this year. For more than a decade in Boston, Pierce was the guy. The Celtics relied on him for so much of the scoring. Pierce was a ball handler, a shot creator, a cutter who could move around the court with ease and make effective decisions and shots. In Brooklyn, though, he's forced into a situation where there are plenty of other ball handlers. The Nets don't count on him to create shots; they create shots for him, and for some reason he just can't sink the open looks like he should be able to.

I guess you really can't teach an old dog new tricks.

It's pretty simple: Pierce doesn't fit on this team. For the Nets' benefit and his, Brooklyn should try to move him before the deadline so that both sides can see some more production. Piece is a liability offensively to the Nets; the Nets are holding Pierce back and not letting him work with the ball and create as often as he needs to. Time to move on.

Possible trade destinations include Memphis (the Nets could get Zach Randolph in return), Phoenix (for one of the Suns' three first-round draft picks this year), the Clippers (possibly for a pick, so that LA wouldn't have to play Jared Dudley anymore), Toronto (for Kyle Lowry – the Raptors might as well go for the playoffs at this point anyway), New Orleans (maybe for Tyreke Evans?) or even Philadelphia (they would love an expiring contract and could give away Thaddeus Young).

Ugh. Happy New Year, everyone.

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