In an interview with ESPN.com, Paul Pierce recently took open jabs at his former teammates Deron Williams and Joe Johnson. Pierce was traded to Brooklyn along with Kevin Garnett to form a potential power player in the Eastern Conference along with Williams, Johnson, and Brook Lopez, but the Nets severely underachieved in their efforts.
Pierce specifically cited Williams and Johnson as lacking leadership qualities and not wanting the attention required of great players.
Williams and Johnson both had their own impartial responses to Pierce’s criticisms, via Devin Kharpertian at The Brooklyn Game:
Johnson said he was unaware of the comments Pierce made about him. When he heard Pierce’s description of him as a quiet loner, he laughed. “He’s probably right. He’s right about me. He’s absolutely right.”
Johnson said the criticism didn’t bother him. “I’ve been criticized before, it’s not the first time, it definitely won’t be the last. So it doesn’t bother me one way or another. If that’s how Paul felt, that’s how Paul felt. He’s entitled to his opinion. … It is what it is. It doesn’t bother me. Does it surprise me? I don’t know, kinda. But it doesn’t matter.”
“I thought (Paul) was a great teammate,” Johnson said. “I played with Paul my rookie year. I came in, he was my vet. So I seen two sides of it. So it was different, a lot different last year than my first year. As a rookie, you don’t get no respect. It’s do this, do that. It’s just how it is, you have to earn your way.
“But yeah, last year, he’s right. Him and KG were the leaders. They led us through the good and the bad. So I don’t have nothing negative to say.”
Johnson doesn’t seem to affected by Pierce’s opinion of him, other than agreeing on the “quiet loner” part.
Pierce touched on the downfall of Nets point guard Deron Williams, saying that Williams simply had no interest in being an MVP-caliber player. Williams’ response:
“Not bothered at all (by what Pierce said). Being here, I got pretty thick skin. He has his opinions and that’s fine.”
“He just had his own opinions. It is what it is,” Williams said. “I can’t change his opinions. So just leave it at that.”
So it appears there’s no bad blood from Williams or Johnson towards their former veteran leader. Not to say Pierce made his comments out of personal haste, but obviously he felt some sort of way about how things played out last season.
Maybe Deron Williams and Joe Johnson just don’t care quite as much.
