Even after having three weeks for the move to sink in, Paul Pierce still looked shell-shocked when he took the stage inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn last month alongside Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry for their introductory press conference, officially marking the end of his 15 years in Boston to begin his career.
But Pierce said Thursday that he’s growing more and more used to the idea of wearing a new uniform and playing at a new address next season.
“I’m very comfortable,” Pierce said after playing horse at a Sprint event at Basketball City in Manhattan. “I’m really getting used to the surroundings here in New York. I’ve been spending the last few weeks out here back and forth, moving my stuff and getting adjusted, and so I’m really settling in nicely.
“I’m just embracing the change and looking forward to it.”
One of the biggest criticisms of the blockbuster trade from the Nets’ standpoint is that they have acquired older players while giving up several future first-round picks that could potentially come back to haunt them as this group continues to age.
But Pierce brushed off and possibility of criticisms of the trade, or even of the trade itself, being motivational tools for him, instead saying that only one thing – the pursuit of the Larry O’Brien trophy next season – being more than enough of a motivating factor for him as he prepares to begin playing for a new team.
“I’m a self-motivated person,” Pierce said. “I don’t have to use anything to motivate me, being traded or anything like that, other than for me to say I want to come out and win a championship. I’ve only got so many years left in my career, so ultimately the goal is to try to win another one or two, as many as I can before I retire. That’s the motivation right there.”
Recently, Pierce’s longtime coach with the Celtics, Doc Rivers, said that he felt Pierce would be rejuvenated by the move, and Pierce wholeheartedly agreed.
“Oh, definitely,” he said. “I know that everything’s not on my shoulders, but I definitely feel rejuvenated. New city, new team, new attitude, new opportunity, I’m definitely motivated.”
Still, that doesn’t mean that Pierce, who added he will be living in Manhattan and had already found a place to live, is as comfortable with putting the Boston chapter of his career completely behind him. When asked how long it took him to find the first game back in Boston – which comes on Jan. 26 – on the schedule when it was released Tuesday night, he said he “spotted it right away,” and admitted that he wished that first return to Boston would come much earlier than roughly halfway through the regular season.
“You just want to get it out the way,” Pierce said. “When you have to go through something tough, I’ve always been a guy to just get it out the way.
“It’s going to be in the back of my mind throughout the season. I don’t know if I’ll play there in the preseason … I don’t know if I can even go there in the preseason. That will be tough to do that.”
tbontemps@nypost.com