Greivis Vasquez on the Raptors' woes: 'We need a Paul Pierce'

Greivis Vasquez may have the prescription for what is ailing the downtrodden Toronto Raptors: their very own Paul Pierce. 

During Monday's locker cleanout day for the team, still stinging from Sunday's first-round series sweep by the Washington Wizards, the Raptors point guard had some surprising words about the Wizards' small forward who had a heavy hand in derailing the Raptors' postseason. 

"Basically, we need a Paul Pierce that's gonna talk that trash," Vasquez told the media during his exit interview. "We don't have that."

To say that Pierce talked trash is an understatement. He mocked the Raptors to the media, saying that they did not have the "it" factor necessary to earn a championship, and also on the court, yelling "this is why I'm here" after a dagger 3. The Wizards' veteran made it his mission to troll the Raptors even after the sweep.  

Vasquez appeared unbothered by the talk.

"You need to have that spiciness. You need to be a little bit of an asshole like he is and back it up on the court ... that's what we need," he said. 

Finishing the first year of a two-year, $8 million contract with Toronto posting 9.5 points, 3.7 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 24 minutes per game, Vasquez does not pin all of the Six's woes on a lack of a hard-nosed players – there is also the selfish ball that the Raptors play. 

Numbers don't lie. The Wizards proved that moving the ball works wonders. Washington passed the ball 219 more times than Toronto over the four-game series, according to NBA.com's John Schuhmann. 

"Frankly, I felt like our offense was good, we got guys that can score," Vasquez explained. "But I felt like in order to win games in the playoffs, you have to play unselfish ball."