Paul Pierce on the Raptors: "I don't feel they have the 'It' that makes you worried."

The Raptors haven't done particularly well in the playoffs (one series victory in 20 years), so we've never really had any true rivals. Vince Carter comes to mind, but even that ship has sailed. So, what we have is Paul Pierce, who hit some big shots and was very vocal about it in the first round last year when he was with the Brooklyn Nets.

We still have one more night of regular season basketball to determine the final seedings, but the Raptors are currently slated to play the Wizards in the first round.

In an extensive interview with ESPN's Jackie MacMullan, Pierce surveyed the East and assessed the Raptors specifically:

The Wizards will likely draw a first-round series with either Chicago, whom they split games with this season, or Toronto, which has won all three games they've played.

"We haven't done particularly well against Toronto, but I don't feel they have the 'It' that makes you worried,'' Pierce said. "There isn't a team I look at in the Eastern Conference that makes me say, 'They are intimidating, we don't have a chance.'

"As good as Atlanta is, they just don't give off that aura where we're afraid of them.

"You definitely have to worry about Cleveland because they have LeBron and some vets now, but if we get to the conference finals, anything can happen.''

So, if it does end up being Wizards-Raptors, we can officially confirm our first piece of bulletin board material and have Pierce play the villain once again. I personally can't wait for the Toronto Sun front page headlines.

As for Pierce's assessment of the Raptors? I mean, he's not really wrong. Bring on the playoffs.

And by the way, there's this:

A few Wizards players said they heard that the Raptors want to play them instead of the Bucks, which is a bit surprising I guess.

— Jorge Castillo (@jorgeccastillo) April 15, 2015