Paul Pierce has been in the headlines for proclaiming himself the best pure scorer in NBA history. But before he was the extremely confident Hall-of-Fame forward basketball fans remember him as, Pierce was a young star trying to make a name for himself. He realized the difficulties of the NBA in a matchup against Grant Hill.
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Modern basketball fans may not know just how great Grant Hill was as a player. Before even stepping foot on an NBA court, Hill imposed his will on the collegiate level, leading the Duke Blue Devils to consecutive NCAA National Championships. Those efforts earned him the third pick of the 1994 NBA Draft, going to the Detroit Pistons.
Hill never reached his full potential due to injuries that derailed his career. However, in his first six years, he wreaked havoc on the league. Pierce was one of his many victims.
Pierce entered the NBA in the 1998-99 season. Hill saw Pierce as an impressionable young player looking to make a name for himself. He made sure to welcome Pierce the same way he had been welcomed in his first NBA season.
“When you got a talented wing player who’s coming in as a top pick, and you see them for the first time, you want to go at them and send a message,” Hill said on The Dan Patrick Show. “If I can go at them and punish them the first time I see them, they’re always going to remember that.”
Hill did exactly that. In his first matchup against Pierce, Hill finished with 33 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists on 79% shooting from the field. Pierce didn’t have an answer for slowing down the 6-foot-8 forward.
“I came in against Grant Hill. I almost cried my rookie year, the way he killed me,” Pierce said on Podcast P. “He went at me so crazy that I had to rethink my position in the NBA.”
Thankfully, Pierce didn’t let that experience against Hill break his confidence. He went on to become an NBA champion and Finals MVP, a pair of feats only a select few in the league’s history have the privilege of boasting.
Hill holds Pierce in high regard for the career he achieved. However, he pumps the brakes when it comes to the Boston Celtics legend’s claim as the best pure scorer.
“That I don’t agree with,” Hill said. “But I think people need to understand that to be great, you have to have a delusional confidence in who you are and what you can do.”
Hill isn’t upset at Pierce’s claim. He believes it’s an issue if a great player doesn’t view himself in that light. Pierce’s viewpoint can be a perfect example to inspire young players to reach their fullest potential.
