NBA History the best of: Boston Celtics

Greetings and Salutations to all to start this blog off I will be doing a series where I go through every team in the NBA and make a ‘Dream Team’ of sorts. What this encompasses is the best: 5 players (positional), Coach, Emblem and Uniform. I will be going alphabetically hope we all enjoy this!

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are the most storied franchise in NBA history with 17 banners in the ceiling, which is 24.3% of all championships since the league formed, also having the record for most consecutive championship wins with eight (1959 – 1966). They are one of the eight original NBA franchises formed in 1946 that have survived to this day.

All Time Starting 5

 PG – Bob Cousy

‘The Houdini of the Hardwood’, ‘Mr. Basketball’, ‘Cooz’… a man with that many nicknames had to be really good right? Right.

Bob Cousy at the time was the best point guard to ever grace the hardwood, revolutionizing the way the basketball was played by not only Point Guards, but by the whole league. His ridiculous amount of achievements include:

·      6x NBA Champion (1957, 1959-1963)

·      NBA MVP (1957)

·      13x NBA All-Star (1951-1963)

·      2x All-Star MVP (1954, 1957)

·      10x All NBA First Team (1952-1961)

·      2x ALL NBA Second Team (1962, 1963)

·      8x Assists Leader (1953-1960)

On top of these achievements he is only one of four men to make every single NBA Anniversary team (25^th, 35^th and 50^th).

Career Averages: 18.4 PPG, 7.5 APG, 5.2 RPG (Blocks and steals weren’t counted)

He ranks 1^st in Assists and 6^th in Games played, Minutes and Points for Boston All-Time

Honourable mentions – Tiny Archibald, Dennis Johnson, Jo Jo White, K.C. Jones

SG - John Havlicek

16 years with the Boston Celtics in the 60’s and 70’s makes sure you are one accomplished son of a gun. ‘Hondo’ is a once in a generation athlete being drafted into both the NBA and the NFL (95^th by the Cleveland Browns), he chose to commit to basketball and the Celtics. The man who revolutionised the Sixth man role he is arguably the most important Celtic in history (okay the second but that’s still pretty good). His accomplishments include:

·      8x NBA Champion (1963–1966, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976)

·      NBA Finals MVP (1974)

·      13× NBA All-Star (1966–1978)

·      4× All-NBA First Team (1971–1974)

·      7× All-NBA Second Team (1964, 1966, 1968–1970, 1975, 1976)

·      5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1972–1976)

·      3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1969–1971)

·      NBA All-Rookie First Team (1963)

He was also named to the 35^th and 50^th Anniversary Teams.

Career Averages: 20.8 PPG, 4.8 APG, 5.3 RPG, 1.2 SPG (started counting 1973-74)

Havlicek is the Celtics All-Time leader in Points (26,395) and Games (1,270). Also 2^nd in Assists (6114), 5^th in Rebounds (8007) and 4^th in Win shares (131.7)

Honourable Mentions: Bill Sharman, Sam Jones, and Ray Allen

SF – Paul Pierce

Now this was where it got extremely tough, do I put Larry Bird at the 3 and leave Paul Pierce out of the team, or do I shift Bird to the 4 and leave McHale out of the team. Paul Pierce was the heart and soul of the franchise for 15 years, he was drafted into a storied franchise that had not tasted championship gold since 1986, and he provided a shot of excitement back into the Garden. ‘The Truth’ is undoubtedly the most important Celtic of the 21^st century and is about to have his jersey hung in the rafters. His accomplishments include:

·      NBA Champion (2008)

·      NBA Finals MVP (2008)

·      10x NBA All-Star ((2002–2006, 2008–2012)

·      All-NBA Second Team (2009)

·      3× All-NBA Third Team (2002, 2003, 2008)

·      NBA All-Rookie First Team (1999)

Career Averages (as a Celtic): 21.8 PPG, 3.9 APG, 6 RPG, 1.4 SPG, and 0.6 BPG

Pierce is the Celtics All-Time leader in Steals (1583), 2^nd in points (24,021), 3^rd in games played (1102) and win shares (138.4), 4^th in Blocks (668), 5^th in Assists (4305) and 7^th in Rebounds (6651)

Honourable Mentions: Don Nelson, Frank Ramsey, Cedric Maxwell and Reggie Lewis

PF – Larry Bird

One of the greatest players of ALL TIME and arguably the face of the Modern Celtics Larry Legend played 13 excellent seasons for Boston. He is one of the most recognizable faces in NBA history as he and Magic Johnson tussled for the title of the best player during a boom period for the NBA in the 1980’s. His accomplishments include:

·      3× NBA champion (1981, 1984, 1986)

·      2× NBA Finals MVP (1984, 1986)

·      3× NBA Most Valuable Player (1984–1986)

·      12× NBA All-Star (1980–1988, 1990–1992)

·      NBA All-Star Game MVP (1982)

·      9× All-NBA First Team (1980–1988)

·      All-NBA Second Team (1990)

·      3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1982–1984)

·      NBA Rookie of the Year (1980)

·      3× NBA 3-Point Shootout champion (1986–1988)

·      2× 50–40–90 club (1987, 1988)

He was also named to the NBA’s 50^th Anniversary All-Time team

Career Averages: 24.3 PPG, 6.3 APG, 10 RPG, 1.7 SPG, 0,8 BPG

In the Celtics All-Time lists Larry ranks 2^nd in steals (1556) and Win shares (145.8), 3^rd in Points (27,971), Blocks (755), Assists (5695), 4^th in Rebounds (8974) and 8^th in Games played (897), although he is 5^th in minutes played (34,443)

Honourable Mentions: Kevin McHale, Tom Heinsohn, Satch Sanders, Jim Loscutoff and Kevin Garnett

C – Bill Russell 

Surprise? The most decorated man in the history of the NBA, and in all likelihood will stay that way to the end of time. Although he was extremely polarizing figure during his time, no one can deny that he is in fact the greatest Celtic of All-Time HANDS DOWN. His (long list) of Accomplishments include:

·      11× NBA champion (1957, 1959–1966, 1968, 1969)

·      5× NBA Most Valuable Player (1958, 1961–1963, 1965)

·      12× NBA All-Star (1958–1969)

·      NBA All-Star Game MVP (1963)

·      3× All-NBA First Team (1959, 1963, 1965)

·      8× All-NBA Second Team (1958, 1960–1962, 1964, 1966–1968)

·      NBA All-Defensive First Team (1969)

·      4× NBA rebounding champion (1958, 1959, 1964, 1965)

·      NBA 50th Anniversary Team

·      NBA 35th Anniversary Team

·      NBA 25th Anniversary Team

·      No. 6 retired by the Boston Celtics

Also keep in mind that his last two championships came when he was Player-Coach of the Celtics.

Career Averages: 15.1 PPG, 4.3 APG and 22.5 RPG (YIKES)

(Blocks were not counted on the stat sheet but its said he averaged around 10 blocks a game (my word))

In the Celtics All-Time records Bill is 1^st in Rebounds (21,620), (Blocks aswell but we don’t have that stat), 2^nd in Minutes played (40,726), 6^th in Assists (4100) and 8^th in Points (14,522)

Honourable Mentions: Robert Parish, Dave Cowens and Ed Macauley

Coach

The best coach in Celtic and maybe NBA History: Red Auerbach.

Red is a 9x NBA Champion, NBA Coach of the year (1965), 11 times All-Star coach (1957-1967) and was named as one of the best 10 coaches in NBA history by the NBA.

With at 66.9% win percentage in the Regular Season and a 60.8% win percentage in the playoffs with the Celtics it’s safe to say he deserved those cigars.

Honourable Mentions: K.C. Jones, Bill Fitch, Tom Heinsohn, Doc Rivers and Brad Stevens

Jerseys

The Celtics have always remained tremendously faithful to their roots so their jerseys have basically been the same since day dot so here, have a green jersey.

Next up is the Brooklyn Nets