Paul Pierce slams Deron Williams, Nets in interview with ESPN

Washington Wizards forward Paul Pierce slammed the Nets’ attitudes in his recent interview with ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan.

“It was a tough situation (in Brooklyn) 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 (Garnett) and I had to pick them up every day in practice.

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.”

In the interview, Pierce discussed his short tenure with the Nets, where he felt like the veteran players on the team didn’t want to play and compete. Deron Williams, in particular, was not the MVP candidate that Pierce thought he was when he arrived to Brooklyn. After being traded to Brooklyn, Pierce thought that Williams “just didn’t want [to be MVP].”

Paul Pierce later admitted that he would have stayed in Brooklyn because of his close relationship with Kevin Garnett. However, he never had the opportunity to stay because the Nets opted not to re-sign Pierce to another contract.