Paul Pierce The NBA's "Easiest" Good Player To Block?

Summer Reading: "The Art of a Beautiful Game" written by Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated.

Ballard's book is one of the better recent basketball books that's been published.  It was released in the Fall of 2009 but I just got to reading it now.  I can't recommend it highly enough.  While the chapters seem scattered all over the place, it doesn't interrupt the flow at all.  While the book itself doesn't contain that much Celtics related material, there's plenty of great insights of the NBA in general.  There is however, one interesting tidbit in Chapter 11.

Entitled: "Shot Blockers: A Rare Affection for Rejection," Ballard discusses the mindset of the shot blocker and what it takes to become a good shot blocker.  He discusses how much Dwight Howard enjoys rejecting a shot 30 rows into the crowd, then contrasts Howard with Bill Russell, who perfected the blocked shot by tapping it to a teammate.

He touches upon Manute Bol's 8 blocked shots in one quarter and how Mark Eaton holds the NBA record for most blocks in a single game with 14.  Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Ben Wallace, Emeka Okafor, Alonzo Mourning and newest Celtic Shaquille O'Neal expectedly get their due.  The one little nugget I found interesting was how Utah's Andrei Kirilenko described Paul Pierce.  Below is an excerpt from that chapter, discussing how shot blockers use the "bait-and-block" ploy to block a shot effectively:

This ploy, the bait-and-block, is one of many tricks of the trade.  A primer might include these tips: 1) know your pump fakes (Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady are especially dangerous); 2) swat with the hand opposite the shooter's for better extension (a favorite of Ben Wallace's); 3) watch your man's jersey, not his eyes ("the eyes lie," warns Eaton); 4) beware the nearly unblockable floater of guards like Tony Parker (it's the blocker's mirage, there one second, gone the next); and 5) know who loves to get to the line (Utah's Andrei Kirilenko rates Boston's Paul Pierce as the easiest "good" player to block because Pierce is forever trying to get a shot off near the basket in hopes of getting to the free throw line, sometimes offering up easy block opportunities).

If you're an NBA player speaking strictly from your defensive instincts, this might be true about Pierce.  Going by statistical data, Pierce ranked 77th in total shots blocked with a total of 50, tied with Andrew Bynum, Aaron Afflalo, Dirk Nowitzki and teammate Glen Davis.  Here are the top 80 (from HoopData.com) based on players that played at least 40 games last season:

Player	Team	GP	MP	Shots Blocked
Zach Randolph	MEM	81	3055	121
Carmelo Anthony	DEN	69	2636	109
Gerald Wallace	CHA	76	3120	106
David Lee	NYK	81	3019	105
Amare Stoudemire	PHO	82	2836	103
Rodney Stuckey	DET	73	2501	101
Russell Westbrook	OKC	82	2815	99
Carlos Boozer	UTH	78	2674	96
Derrick Rose	CHI	78	2872	93
Rudy Gay	MEM	80	3176	92
Stephen Jackson	CHA	72	2830	89
Monta Ellis	GSW	64	2647	88
Andray Blatche	WAS	81	2254	87
Corey Maggette	GSW	70	2078	84
Tyreke Evans	SAC	72	2681	84
Aaron Brooks	HOU	82	2919	80
Brook Lopez	NJN	82	3025	78
Carl Landry	HOU	52	1413	76
Luis Scola	HOU	82	2672	75
Chris Bosh	TOR	70	2527	74
Andre Miller	POR	82	2499	71
David West	NOR	81	2948	71
Michael Beasley	MIA	78	2329	70
Brandon Jennings	MIL	82	2672	69
Jason Thompson	SAC	75	2355	68
Tim Duncan	SAS	78	2435	68
Kevin Durant	OKC	82	3240	67
Kobe Bryant	LAL	73	2835	67
Chris Kaman	LAC	76	2608	66
Rajon Rondo	BOS	81	2965	66
Danny Granger	IND	62	2277	65
Kendrick Perkins	BOS	78	2153	65
Roy Hibbert	IND	81	2036	65
Tony Parker	SAS	56	1729	65
Deron Williams	UTH	76	2805	64
Dwyane Wade	MIA	77	2795	64
J.J. Hickson	CLE	81	1692	64
Dwight Howard	ORL	82	2844	63
Josh Smith	ATL	81	2874	63
Jermaine O'Neal	MIA	70	1990	62
Trevor Ariza	HOU	72	2633	62
Al Jefferson	MIN	76	2469	61
Andrew Bogut	MIL	69	2231	61
Chauncey Billups	DEN	73	2490	61
Chris Douglas.Roberts	NJN	67	1736	61
Jonny Flynn	MIN	81	2341	61
Kevin Love	MIN	60	1721	61
Paul Millsap	UTH	82	2275	61
Shawn Marion	DAL	75	2386	61
Darren Collison	NOR	76	2106	60
DeJuan Blair	SAS	82	1496	60
Emeka Okafor	NOR	82	2369	60
Pau Gasol	LAL	65	2404	60
O.J. Mayo	MEM	82	3115	59
Baron Davis	LAC	75	2524	58
Corey Brewer	MIN	82	2485	58
Nene Hilario	DEN	82	2763	57
Devin Harris	NJN	64	2218	56
Elton Brand	PHI	76	2298	56
Chuck Hayes	HOU	82	1779	54
Luol Deng	CHI	70	2655	54
Al Horford	ATL	81	2846	53
Joe Johnson	ATL	76	2882	53
Jonas Jerebko	DET	80	2233	53
Sam Young	MEM	80	1320	53
Eric Gordon	LAC	63	2233	52
George Hill	SAS	78	2275	52
Thaddeus Young	PHI	67	2144	52
Al Harrington	NYK	72	2192	51
Spencer Hawes	SAC	72	1904	51
Taj Gibson	CHI	82	2205	51
Will Bynum	DET	63	1669	51
Andrew Bynum	LAL	65	1980	50
Arron Afflalo	DEN	82	2221	50
Dirk Nowitzki	DAL	81	3039	50
Glen Davis	BOS	54	932	50
Paul Pierce	BOS	71	2409	50
Stephen Curry	GSW	80	2895	49
Raymond Felton	CHA	80	2646	48
D.J. Augustin	CHA	80	1470	47

Interesting to note that Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Chris Bosh, Tim Duncan, Deron Williams, Derrick Rose, Amare Stoudemire, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol, Joe Johsnon and Dirk Nowitzki (tied) are all ahead of Pierce.  I guess in Kirilenko's mind, they are tougher to reject.

It should also be noted that in an earlier chapter that discusses the defensive capabilities of Shane Battier, Battier himself gives Pierce an "honorable mention" when ranking the toughest players to guard.  He ranks Kobe, Wade, Brandon Roy, Manu Ginobili and LeBron James as the most difficult while giving honorable mentions to Pierce and Kevin Martin.