Report: Wes Johnson may start at small forward over Paul Pierce

By foxsports
Published

Paul Pierce is going to be 38 years old before this NBA season starts and is on a three-year deal. That's a recipe for breakdown, even if he is coming off a solid year and an incredible playoffs with the Wizards last season. 

A recipe for breakdown...unless the Clippers use him right during his first year in Los Angeles. Apparently, coach Doc Rivers is already thinking about ways he can limit the man who's becoming more than just a veteran at age 38.

From Dan Woike of the Orange County Register:

This all makes a bunch of sense. Pierce has actually found more success as a small-ball 4 over the last couple of years than as a 3, where he's sometimes too slow-footed and rickety to defend opposing wings. 

Once the Nets moved Pierce to power forward a couple of years ago, they went on their run, eventually winning a playoff series before falling to the Heat in the second round of the playoffs. When the Wizards stuck Pierce at the 4 during the postseason, their offense transformed. They started shooting more threes and making a higher percentage of them, all while spreading the floor for John Wall pick-and-rolls, one of the most dangerous weapons in the game even when you don't get tons of space from a stretch 4.

Chris Paul is an even better pick-and-roll point guard than Wall. If you can use Pierce as a small-ball 4 with either Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan at center for spurts, all while giving Pierce as much rest as possible, it seems like solid execution of Pierce's versatile skill set. This doesn't mean he'll never play the 3, just that it doesn't have to be the priority. The NBA's most valuable wings nowadays are the ones who can play (and guard) 2s, 3s and 4s. Pierce is two-thirds of the way there. There's no reason Rivers shouldn't take advantage of that.

(h/t Orange County Register)

Wes Johnson, whom the Clippers signed in free agency from the Lakers, is still being considered as an option to start, sending Pierce to the bench.

Bringing Pierce off the bench could be a way to limit minutes and preserve his legs for the postseason. It also would allow Rivers to use Pierce at multiple positions, perhaps at power forward in all-bench lineup with Josh Smith, Lance Stephenson, Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers.

Doc Rivers recently told the Boston Globe he wanted to use Pierce as a small-ball power forward.

“I don’t want to overuse him, I know that,” he said to the Globe. “I don’t even know how we’re going to use him yet. I’m going to play him at (power forward) a lot, but what I want him to be is healthy in the playoffs. So however we can figure that out, that’s what I’m going to try to do. I’m really looking forward to it.”