Steve Francis vs. Paul Pierce Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Paul Pierce and Steve Francis, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Steve Francis played 9 years in the NBA, 10 less than Paul Pierce, who played 19. Steve Francis had the first of his seasons in 1999-00, while Paul Pierce had his rookie season in 1998-99. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achievements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Rookie Season
	Steve Francis	Paul Pierce
Season	1999-00	1998-99
Team	Houston Rockets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	77	36.1	18.0	2.0	3.3	5.3	6.6	1.5	0.4	4.0	3.0	6.5	14.5	.445	1.4	4.0	.345	3.7	4.7	.786
difference:	+29	+2.1	+1.5	+0.4	+0.7	+1.1	+4.2	+0.2	+0.6	-1.6	-0.1	+0.6	+1.0	+.006	+0.4	+0.3	+.067	+0.8	+0.6	+.073
Paul Pierce	48	34.0	16.5	2.4	4.0	6.4	2.4	1.7	1.0	2.4	2.9	5.9	13.5	.439	1.8	4.3	.412	2.9	4.1	.713
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Steve Francis nor Paul Pierce played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 3
	Steve Francis	Paul Pierce
Season	2001-02	2000-01
Team	Houston Rockets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	57	41.1	21.6	1.8	5.2	7.0	6.4	1.2	0.4	3.9	3.0	7.4	17.7	.417	1.2	3.7	.324	5.7	7.4	.773
difference:	+25	+3.1	+3.7	+0.7		+0.6	+3.3	+0.5	+0.4	-0.7	-0.1	+1.0	+0.8	+.037	+0.6	+1.0	+.059	+1.0	+1.6	+.028
Paul Pierce	82	38.0	25.3	1.1	5.2	6.4	3.1	1.7	0.8	3.2	3.1	8.4	18.5	.454	1.8	4.7	.383	6.7	9.0	.745
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Steve Francis nor Paul Pierce played in the postseason in their season 3

Season 4
	Steve Francis	Paul Pierce
Season	2002-03	2001-02
Team	Houston Rockets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals

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4th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	81	41.0	21.0	2.0	4.2	6.2	6.2	1.7	0.5	3.7	3.1	7.0	16.2	.435	1.0	3.0	.354	5.9	7.3	.800
difference:	+1	+0.7	+5.1	+1.0	+1.7	+0.7	+3.0	+0.2	+0.5	-0.8	-0.2	+1.6	+3.3	+.007	+1.6	+3.3	+.050	+0.4	+0.5	+.009
Paul Pierce	82	40.3	26.1	1.0	5.9	6.9	3.2	1.9	1.0	2.9	2.9	8.6	19.5	.442	2.6	6.3	.404	6.3	7.8	.809
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Paul Pierce	16	42.0	24.6	1.7	6.9	8.6	4.1	1.7	1.3	3.8	3.3	7.6	18.9	.403	1.9	6.5	.288	7.5	9.8	.764

Season 5
	Steve Francis	Paul Pierce
Season	2003-04	2002-03
Team	Houston Rockets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Celtics Lost East Conf Semis

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5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	79	40.4	16.6	1.5	4.0	5.5	6.2	1.8	0.4	3.7	3.3	5.7	14.1	.403	0.9	3.2	.292	4.3	5.5	.775
difference:		+1.2	+9.3	+0.2	+2.0	+1.8	+1.8		+0.4	-0.1	-0.4	+2.7	+6.1	+.013	+0.6	+1.7	+.010	+3.3	+4.0	+.027
Paul Pierce	79	39.2	25.9	1.3	6.0	7.3	4.4	1.8	0.8	3.6	2.9	8.4	20.2	.416	1.5	4.9	.302	7.6	9.5	.802
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	5	44.6	19.2	1.2	7.2	8.4	7.6	1.4	0.2	4.2	3.6	6.0	14.0	.429	1.4	3.4	.412	5.8	8.0	.725
difference:	+5	+0.1	+7.9	+0.1	+0.7	+0.6	+0.9	+0.7	+0.6	-0.2	-0.2	+1.7	+5.3	+.030	+0.2	+1.1	+.056	+4.3	+3.7	+.138
Paul Pierce	10	44.5	27.1	1.1	7.9	9.0	6.7	2.1	0.8	4.4	3.8	7.7	19.3	.399	1.6	4.5	.356	10.1	11.7	.863

Season 6
	Steve Francis	Paul Pierce
Season	2004-05	2003-04
Team	Orlando Magic	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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6th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	78	38.2	21.3	1.6	4.2	5.8	7.0	1.4	0.4	4.1	3.5	7.2	17.1	.423	0.5	1.6	.299	6.4	7.8	.823
difference:	+2	+0.5	+1.7	+0.7	+1.5	+0.7	+1.9	+0.2	+0.3	-0.3	-0.6	+0.3	+1.6	+.021	+0.9	+3.2		+0.1	+0.1	+.004
Paul Pierce	80	38.7	23.0	0.9	5.7	6.5	5.1	1.6	0.7	3.8	2.9	7.5	18.7	.402	1.4	4.8	.299	6.5	7.9	.819
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Paul Pierce	4	40.8	20.8	1.5	7.3	8.8	2.5	1.3	1.0	6.3	3.0	6.5	19.0	.342	1.3	4.3	.294	6.5	7.8	.839

Season 7
	Steve Francis	Paul Pierce
Season	2005-06	2004-05
Team	Orlando Magic, New York Knicks	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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7th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	70	34.2	14.4	1.1	3.1	4.1	4.9	1.1	0.2	3.1	2.9	4.8	10.9	.435	0.4	1.2	.301	4.5	5.7	.787
difference:	+12	+1.9	+7.2	+0.1	+2.5	+2.5	+0.7	+0.5	+0.3	-0.3	-0.2	+2.0	+4.0	+.020	+0.9	+2.4	+.069	+2.2	+2.4	+.035
Paul Pierce	82	36.1	21.6	1.0	5.6	6.6	4.2	1.6	0.5	2.8	3.1	6.8	14.9	.455	1.3	3.6	.370	6.7	8.1	.822
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Paul Pierce	7	39.7	22.9	1.0	6.7	7.7	4.6	1.9	1.4	2.7	2.6	6.7	13.3	.505	1.0	3.9	.259	8.4	9.7	.868

Season 8
	Steve Francis	Paul Pierce
Season	2006-07	2005-06
Team	New York Knicks	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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8th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	44	28.1	11.3	0.8	2.8	3.6	3.9	0.9	0.3	2.3	2.9	3.2	7.8	.408	1.0	2.5	.378	4.0	4.8	.829
difference:	+35	+10.9	+15.5	+0.2	+2.9	+3.1	+0.8	+0.5	+0.1	-1.2	-0.1	+5.5	+10.7	+.063	+0.4	+1.5	+.024	+3.9	+5.5	+.057
Paul Pierce	79	39.0	26.8	1.0	5.7	6.7	4.7	1.4	0.4	3.5	2.8	8.7	18.5	.471	1.4	4.0	.354	7.9	10.3	.772
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Steve Francis nor Paul Pierce played in the postseason in their season 8

Additional Years
* Paul Pierce played 10 seasons more than Steve Francis in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 10 to 19, from 2008 to 2017—Paul Pierce played in 10 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 10 extra years over Steve Francis, Paul Pierce got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 5 All-Star Game