As we are beginning Paul Pierce's tenth season, it seems as good a time as any to start pondering his legacy as a Boston Celtic. The last few offseasons saw trade rumors swirling as Pierce was growing antsy in Boston. Now with the additions of KG and Ray Allen it seems likely Paul Pierce will finish the most meaningful chunk, and quite possibly ALL of his career as a Boston Celtic. At the beginning of the game this evening, Mike Breen mentioned that Pierce was 36 points behind Sam Jones for 6th place on the C's all time scoring list. 28 points tonight means he'll likely pass Jones Sunday at Toronto. With that in mind I thought I'd check out his career numbers against the all-time Celtic greats.

Points
After Sam Jones, Pierce 1,544 points back of Bob Cousy for fifth place. Including his injured season last year and a shortened rookie season, Pierce has averaged 1,708 points per season, which would allow him to pass Cousy and pull within shooting distance of Kevin McHale. Barring injury, by the end of the 2008-2009 season, Pierce could be in sole possession of third place on the Celtics all-time scoring list. Not too shabby.

Games Played
Pierce is currently 74 games (73 after tonight) back of Dave Cowens for tenth on the all time list. If healthy he'll pass him this season and then he'll have a chance during the '09-'10 and '10-'11 seasons to climb into the top in games played. He'll be 33 heading into the 2010-2011 season so that is certainly a reasonable expectation.

Average Points
Paul Pierce is currently second on the Celtics all time in average points per game. One of the more interesting things to see this season is how this kind of statistic is affected. While the Celtics have more depth than people give them credit for, GPA is clearly going to be carrying the load, so I'd expect Pierce to continue to get his points every night.

Assists
Pierce is currently tenth in assists with 2,526 and should pass Nate Archibald this season and maaaaybe Dave Cowens, who was 302 assists ahead of him heading into tonight. I could see Pierce's assist numbers going down now with Garnett in town. KG is a great passer and always puts up solid assist numbers.

Championships
And this is where things get interesting and what will keep people tuned in. Will Pierce get a ring with the Celtics? Obviously if tonight's play keeps up the odds increase tremendously. However, I think we'll need to check in later in the season when the team's depth is being tested and the adrenaline is not quite like opening night.

Personally I don't see any reason Pierce wouldn't end up seeing #34 hauled up to the rafters. He's been the face of this franchise for a decade (sorry Antoine) and is finally getting a legit chance to be on a great team. The media has talked about the "long suffering" Paul Pierce and I think they're right, even as they over-analyze it. He's had his highs and lows in Boston, but he's finally seeing the payoff for his patience.