Paul Pierce knows how to put on a brave face, but sooner or later the truth comes out.
It may not have been a secret that last year's Brooklyn Nets were an overpriced, misfit, disappointment of a team, but it would've been hard to guess how deeply the dysfunction was rooted, or how it affected Pierce, who was traded there along with former Boston Celtics teammate Kevin Garnett the preceding offseason.
"I'm much happier,'' said Pierce, now a Washington Wizard, in an exclusive interview with ESPN's Jackie MacMullan. "It was a tough situation last year. Horrible, really.
"It was just the guys' attitudes there. It wasn't like we were surrounded by a bunch of young guys. They were vets who didn't want to play and didn't want to practice. I was looking around saying, 'What's this?' Kevin and I had to pick them up every day in practice."
In other words:
The Nets still managed to salvage the season to a degree, going 34-17 after a 10-21 start, and making it through to the second round of the playoffs. But Pierce claims that never would've happened if he and Garnett weren't there to keep everyone honest.
"If me and Kevin weren't there, that team would have folded up. That team would have packed it in. We kept them going each and every day.''
On a roster stuffed with one-time All-Stars and All-NBAers past their primes, Pierce was particularly vexed by point guard Deron Williams.
"Before I got there, I looked at Deron as an MVP candidate,'' Pierce said. "But I felt once we got there, that's not what he wanted to be. He just didn't want that.
"I think a lot of the pressure got to him sometimes. This was his first time in the national spotlight. The media in Utah is not the same as the media in New York, so that can wear on some people. I think it really affected him.''
Pierce is thankful to have left that situation behind, and he's happy Garnett, who was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the trade deadline, has done the same.
"He's happy,'' Pierce said. "I'm glad he waived his no-trade clause. I told him, 'They don't appreciate you in Brooklyn, man.' They didn't even use him right."
Pierce continued to expound on a variety of subjects relating to his storied, 17-year NBA career, including Ray Allen's reticence, his personal rivalry with LeBron James, and the benefits of sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber.
He talked about the disciplinary role he's taken on with the young Wizards, particularly their promising starting backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal, as well as how he feels the game - and the collective attitude of its players - has changed since he entered the league:
I talk to them a lot about mental preparation and consistency. I keep telling Wall and Beal, 'You've got to make up your mind. Do you want to be good, or do you want to be great? Because if you want to be great, you gotta do it every single night, not just when you feel like it.'
Both of those guys have the potential to be great. I love them. But sometimes I'm not sure they realize what it takes.
That was (Rajon) Rondo's problem, too. Some days he did, some days he didn't. I think it's more this generation. A lot of these players have been catered to since the sixth grade. The NBA is changing so much. It's not like when I came up, with that old-school mentality that practice really mattered. You've got these 24, 25 year old guys who sit out of practice now to rest. It's hard for me to understand, but I'm trying.
With that sentiment in mind, perhaps it's not surprising that the 37-year-old Pierce plans to retire at the end of next season, when his contract with the Wizards expires.
"I've had my time,'' he said.
