It took awhile for Paul Pierce to settle in Brooklyn

With the Nets season officially in the books, it’s time to look back at the year that was. We’ll look back at a different player each weekday, before wrapping up with the coaching staff and front office. Next up: Paul Pierce

Regular season stats: Averaged 13.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.4 blocks per game. Shot 45.1 percent from the field, 37.3 percent from 3-point range, 82.7 percent from the foul line in 28.0 minutes per game over 75 games (68 starts).

Playoff stats: Averaged 13.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.3 blocks per game. Shot 46.5 percent from the field, 35.8 percent from 3-point range and 78.1 percent from foul line in 30.7 minutes per game over 12 games (12 starts).

Contractual status: Unrestricted free agent

Season recap

As the Nets introduced Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in a lavish press conference inside Barclays Center last summer, you could see the pain on Pierce’s face as he tried to be excited about his new home.

You could understand what Pierce was going through: After spending 15 years with the Celtics, winning a championship in 2008 and firmly establishing himself as one of the five best players in the history of the NBA’s most storied franchise, he was forced to try and adjust to a new city, teammates and organization.

For the first few months of the season, Pierce tried to find his comfort zone. As the Nets struggled early on, he never quite seemed comfortable, never quite seemed to know where he fit with this new group, including a seven-game stretch when he mostly came off the bench for the first time in his career.

That slowly began to change once the Nets switched to the smallball lineup at the start of 2014 and reeled off some wins. Winning had the same impact on the Nets it has on most teams. But things noticeably changed for Pierce once he finally had the chance to return to Boston and play his first game there against the Celtics on a Sunday night in late January.

It was a memorable night for everyone in attendance, and especially for Pierce, who got a chance to say hello — and, in some ways, goodbye — to many of the arena workers and team personnel he had gotten to know over the previous 15 years in Celtics green and white. The Celtics lived up to their reputation by treating Pierce and Garnett both with incredible class, giving both of them lengthy tribute videos and allowing for the hometown fans to give them massive ovations.

From that night forward, things seemed to change for Pierce. Always outspoken, Pierce seemed to grow more comfortable with speaking his mind, with publicly dictating how he thought the Nets should respond to adversity or handle success.

It wasn’t only off the court that Pierce made his voice heard. In the season’s first trip to Miami to face the Heat, his most hated opponent, the Nets were expected to be beaten handily with Kevin Garnett and Andrei Kirilenko out due to injury. Pierce made sure that wasn’t the case, scoring 29 points on 9-for-12 shooting to help the Nets come away with a win, the third of their four victories without a loss in the regular season over Miami.

Pierce had another memorable moment in his first playoff game with the Nets, scoring nine straight points late in the fourth quarter of a Game 1 victory against the Raptors, capping his scoring streak with a turnaround jumper that left him screaming for everyone inside a quiet Air Canada Centre to hear.

After the two teams battled right to the end of regulation of Game 7 of an intense first-round series, Pierce made the game-saving block on Kyle Lowry’s drive at the buzzer to ensure the Nets would advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since coach Jason Kidd was running the point.

Pierce was solid in the Nets’ second-round loss to the Heat, increasing his scoring in each of the five games while often playing defense against his longtime rival LeBron James, but couldn’t help the Nets conjure the same magic they had against Miami during the regular season.

Outlook for next season

The big question as Pierce enters the summer as an unrestricted free agent is where he will play next season. The Nets have made it clear they would like to have Pierce back. They can pay him more than any other team and created an environment Pierce seemed to grow to appreciate and enjoy in his first NBA season outside of Boston. Combined with continuing indications Kevin Garnett will return to the Nets next season, it’s hard to see Pierce opting to leave his old friend behind to play elsewhere.

How would the Nets use Pierce next season? Presumably he would return to the power forward role he filled so nicely in 2014, averaging almost 48 percent shooting from the field and almost 39 percent from 3-point range from that position.

The Nets hope Pierce will help them build on the success they enjoyed in the second half after everyone – Pierce included – got comfortable following a rocky first couple months.

Tomorrow: Mason Plumlee