NBA

Pierce hoping to create new legacy for Nets

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Social Links for Tim Bontemps
Published Aug. 9, 2013, 4:00 a.m. ET

By pulling off the blockbuster trade with the Celtics on draft night in late June, the Nets continued the franchise’s yearlong makeover, including their move to Brooklyn, unveiling a new color scheme and filling their roster with All-Star caliber talent that has thrust them into the title conversation.

The franchise, basically forgotten by the NBA during its final few seasons in New Jersey, suddenly has become a force — something new Net Paul Pierce, is still trying to come to grips with.

“You’re definitely surprised, because since I’ve been in the NBA, when you’ve looked at the Nets, you always looked at them as bottom-dwellers,” Pierce said Thursday. “They have only put a couple of winning teams out in the last 10-15 years since I’ve been in the league, [and] nobody really respected them.

“Now they’ve got new owners, now they’ve got a new building, now they’ve got a new attitude. … You can definitely see a change in what’s going on, and I can see this organization really rising to the ranks of the respectability of the Lakers, of the Knicks, of the Celtics. That’s what they’re trying to build, but in order to do that you have to have the players, you have to have great management and you have to have great owners, and that’s what I see in place here in Brooklyn.”

Pierce, speaking after playing a game of horse with fans at Basketball City on Pier 36 , has spent the first 15 years of his career playing for one of the NBA’s flagship franchises in the Celtics, and said the idea of being able to create the foundation for what he hopes can turn into another of the league’s cornerstone franchises is intriguing.

“Definitely,” he said. “That’s what I want to create here. I want to create a legacy here in Brooklyn. I want to be that guy to say I was one of the first guys to put a banner in Brooklyn. I want to be a part of the start of that legacy, and hopefully it will continue.”

Pierce, who will turn 36 in October, hasn’t been shy about setting expectations for his new team. After all of the moves the Nets have made this summer — including acquiring Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry in the trade with Boston, signing Andrei Kirilenko and Shaun Livingston and re-signing Andray Blatche to supplement a core that won 49 games last season — Pierce is setting his sights much higher than the Nets’ first-round exit from the playoffs last season.

“This is our time,” Pierce said. “This is it. A lot of players, a lot of teams, you don’t get this opportunity. I played so many years with so many bad teams, it’s like … when you get these opportunities, you cherish them. I got a chance to cherish my last four or five years in Boston, and I’m cherishing and embracing this move to Brooklyn because of the players I’m playing with.”

The trade also allows Pierce to continue his career-long torment of the Knicks and their fans. Over the years, the future Hall of Famer has turned Madison Square Garden into his personal playground, knocking down one big shot after another. Now that Pierce will be living and playing in the same city, he’s excited to see that tradition continue.

“I’m closer now,” he said with a smile. “I’m within hands-reach of the rivalry now.

“When you’re talking about the only thing separating the two teams being a bridge, both of them in the same division, both of them considered contenders, you can’t help but say this is probably going to be the best rivalry in sports next year.”