Last year ended in disappointment for the Celtics. Sure, there were injuries abound — most notably to Kevin Garnett — but that's no excuse. And Paul Pierce isn't using it as one.
This year, he wants to win. He needs to win, because he knows that every great team in the NBA has an expiration date.
"We put a team like this together knowing most championship contenders have like a five- or six-year window," Pierce told The Boston Globe. "This is our third year. Hopefully we have a few more years to compete but we're trying to get it done now."
Winning championships isn't all Pierce has been contemplating lately. The 31-year-old forward is starting to think about what comes next.
According to the Globe, Pierce has said he can see himself playing for just four more years, and after that, he may be interested in extending his involvement in the NBA to front office work. But outside of basketball, he wants to have an influence, too, and as a guest at Bill Clinton's Global Initiative event this week, he started to see just how much of an impact he can make.
"It's different when you're around politicians and philanthropists," he told the newspaper. "You see people out here trying to change the world and make a difference, and I'm part of that. You really don't know these people away from TV or music or whatever they do, especially the people of influence, so when you see them in this light, it's like, 'Man, they really do care about what's going on in America.'"
But still, right now, he has the rest of his NBA career to think about.
