Ex-Heat player Mike Miller pokes fun at Paul Pierce leaving LeBron off his top five list
Paul Pierce had a really tough week.
The former Boston Celtic started catching heat Wednesday after not listing LeBron James among his top five greatest basketball players. Basketball fans had cooled off recently but one of James’ former teammates decided to reignite the fire.
Mike Miller, who won two rings with LeBron in Miami, took to Twitter Thursday night to make fun of Pierce’s ongoing record of outlandish claims.
A career 40-percent shooter from three, Miller is known for many things, least of all dunking. Search “Mike Miller dunk” on YouTube and the first results page has just as many videos of him above of the rim as him being put on a poster (no, seriously).
Miller’s jab at Pierce is rooted in the 10-time All-Star growing number of bad takes which, by the time he steps away from television, could likely fill a library.
Since joining ESPN in 2017, he’s claimed the 2019 Eastern Conference Semifinals was over after the Celtics won game one (his Celtics would lose in five), the Zion Williamson-led Duke team could beat the Cleveland Cavaliers and he had a better career than Dwyane Wade.
But Pierce’s exclusion of LeBron might be his worst opinion yet. Appearing on ESPN’s NBA Countdown, the analyst listed Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant as his top five while contending King James’ record of leaving teams removes him from the conversation.
“Kareem, Magic, Jordan, Tim Duncan, Kobe, [Larry] Bird: these guys are all-time top 10 players who either helped build up their organization or continued the tradition,” Pierce said. “We haven’t seen that from LeBron. He went a put together team in Miami and, in some ways, he came back to Cleveland to put that team together”
Although Pierce’s assessment isn’t necessarily wrong, he prioritizes it over one of the most important elements in these debates: the eyeball test. Not only has LeBron dominated in an era where players are more skilled than ever, he is one of, if not the, most naturally gifted athlete in NBA history. True, the 35-year-old had to come to Miami to learn how to win but those four seasons eventually brought Cleveland its first championship in more than half a century.
Pierce shouldn’t blame LeBron for the Cavaliers’ inability to properly build a team but doing so has produced some hilarious content. That’s not a bad consolation prize considering basketball fans haven’t had much new material, save for the “The Last Dance,” in nearly 80 days.
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 1:51 PM.
