10

Tommy Heinsohn

He’s an 8-time NBA Champion, a six-time All-Star, and the league’s Rookie of the Year. As a coach he guided the Celtics to two world championships and was named the NBA Coach of the Year.  He’s also an NBA Hall of Famer.

Was he the most important player to ever don a Celtic uniform?  Clearly not.  Was he the most talented player to ever lace up the sneakers for the Green and White? Not even close.  But Tom Heinsohn remains one of the most significant players in Celtics history.  He arrived the same year as Bill Russell, giving the team a tough inside presence that could get off his shot in a crowd.  Heinsohn, in fact, never saw a shot he didn’t like, and he rarely dwelled on the misses.  And he loved being a Celtic – if there were an All-Homer team, Machine Gun Heinsohn would likely top the list.  You gotta love him.  You gotta have him in your Top 10.

9

Paul Pierce

He fell to the Celtics at Number 10 in the 1998 NBA Draft.  He was nearly stabbed to death after being attacked at the Buzz Club on September 25, 2000 – just as his future Hall of Fame career was set to launch.  Imagine – if not for a leather jacket, Pierce could have completed a triumvirate of bad luck for the Celtics, following the tragic deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis.

But this story has a happy ending. Pierce survived the attack, shrugged off the bad influence of former teammate Antoine Walker, matured into a leader following the arrival of Doc Rivers (okay, that took some doing), and became a world champion with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen as his wing men.  Winding down his legendary career, Pierce, who grew up in Los Angeles loving the Lakers, is a Celtic to the core and a lifer in the green and white.  Not bad at all, and certainly good enough to land Pierce at the Number 9 spot on Celtic Nation’s Top 10 Greatest Boston Celtics Ever.  And that, as we like to say, is The Truth!

8

Robert Parish

His list of honors and accolades run almost as long and as deep as his twenty-one record-breaking seasons in the NBA, a Hall of Fame career that includes 6 trips to the NBA Finals, 4 NBA World Championships, 9 All-Star selections, a place on the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, and a jersey retired in honor of the player best known as “Chief”.

Robert Parish arrived via trade in 1980, another Red Auerbach steal, joining Larry Bird and Kevin McHale to form the nucleus of arguably the greatest frontline in NBA history.  The 7′-2″ Parish was the perfect fit – neither as chatty as McHale nor as demanding of the ball as Bird, all Parish wanted to do was fit in and do the little things that help win championships.

Fans will always remember the quiet demeanor and the intense scowl, but behind closed doors Parish was one of the jokesters in the Celtic clubhouse.  His sense of humor was as spot on as his rainbow jumper, a shot he learned as a youth by shooting over a raised broom handle.

And who can forget the chants of “Chief!” in the old Boston Garden, the ultimate show of respect by the most knowledgeable fans in the game?  Robert Parish will forever be mentioned as one of the greatest Boston Celtics ever, and on this list he holds down the Number 8 spot.  All hail the Chief!

7

Kevin McHale

We can recite his accomplishments all day long, but when it comes right down to it there is only one thing that really needs mad love – Kevin McHale’s unbelievable low-post game.  For those of us who saw him play, McHale’s seemingly boundless offensive repertoire was nothing short of genius.  The spins, the body contortion, the ability to put the ball back in the basket without bringing down belong his head – no other NBA big during his era, with the possible exception of Akeem Olajuwon, could boast the such a varied offensive game.

The third overall pick in the 1980 NBA Draft, McHale played his entire Hall of Fame career in Celtic green. His early claim to fame was instant offense off the bench, coming in for players such as Cedric Maxwell and Larry Bird, but by the mid-80s McHale was firmly entrenched as the third pillar in the famed Big Three.

McHale’s jersey has been rightfully retired by the Celtics.  He was selected to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.  He won three NBA championships and was a 7-time All-Star.  He was an All-NBA First Team selection in 1987.  He was a three-time All-NBA First Team selection.  Again, his list of accolades runs as long as the man with the 6′-11″ frame and the wingspan of a Boeing 747, but that’s not what made McHale so special. It was his uncanny ability to destroy his defenders.  It was his quick wit.  It was his gutsy performance during the 1987 NBA Playoffs, when he played through a foot injury that would have sidelined lesser men.

Kevin McHale is without question one of the greatest Celtics of all time, and his game remains as unmatched today as it did during the NBA’s Glory Days of the 1980s.

6

Sam Jones

He was Mr. Clutch, the player the Celtics counted on when the game was on the line, and time and again Sam Jones delivered under the most pressure-packed of circumstances. He was so good on the offensive end in those tense moments that the incomparable Bill Russell called him the greatest player he’d every played alongside. His bank shot was, in a word, poetic. Yet today Sam Jones’ achievements and legacy go largely unknown by those who never saw him play. Maybe it was his name, lacked the flair of an Oscar Robertson or a Wilt Chamberlain. Or maybe it was the fact that he played in the shadow of Russell’s defensive brilliance. Regardless of the reason, Sam Jones’ resume is bursting at the seams: A jersey retired, induction on the the Hall of Fame, being recognized as one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest, ten championships in twelve years as a pro.

It’s easy to see why Jones tops our list at Number 6. Give it up for Mr. Clutch.

5

Dave Cowen

Everyone who played with – or against – Dave Cowens remembers one thing more than any other after all of these years, one thing that stands out more than winning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, more than being recognized as the league’s MVP, more than the 2 NBA Championships and all of the other honors, accomplishments and accolades that come with being one of the NBA’s all-time greatest players: A ferocious, burning intensity that few players in any sport have ever brought to the table. And they all point to the the same thing – the eyes. Cowens, the undersized center with the indefatigable motor and molten hot passion for playing the game, always stepped onto the court with The Look, a jacked-up, crazed expression that inspired teammates and sent the most primal of messages to those wearing the other team’s uniform.

For Cowens, a 6′-9″ center who nearly always lined up mano-a-mano against a bigger opponent, playing the game as if he were riding a caffeine sunami was the difference between being a good NBA player and one of the game’s treasures. It is also what lands him at Number 5 on Celtic Nation’s list of the Greatest Celtics Ever. Congrats, Big Dave!

4

Bob Cousy

He was the Houdini of the Hardwood, a flashy player who burst onto the professional basketball scene and instantly revolutionized the point guard position.  Never mind that Red Auerbach didn’t want him; Bob Cousy was destined to be a Boston Celtic, and he helped set the stage for one of the greatest dynasties in the history of professional sports.  Without Cousy, there would have been no vaunted Celtic fast break.  Without Cousy, basketball in Boston may have never taken hold.

Cousy helped sell tickets in Boston, but in a larger context he also helped put the NBA on the map.  He was Magic before Magic, the showman with the dizzying, behind-the-back passes and the flair of a future hardwood genius, the incomparable “Pistol” Pete Maravich.  Beyond that, he was the game’s greatest ambassador and the foundation for the globalization of basketball as we know it.  We luv ya, Cooz!

3

John Havlicek

He started his Celtics career as the team’s quintessential Sixth Man, and he finished it as the leading scorer in team history.  His 16 NBA seasons produced 8 championships, and through it all Hondo was as good a player as any in the storied history of the Boston Celtics.  There were the indelible moments – Havlicek stealing the ball against Wilt and the Sixers in the playoffs, a call made famous by the late Johnny Most.  There were the mind-numbing team records – 26,395 points during an era that didn’t include the three-point shot.  But Havlicek represented something more; to suggest that he was simply the bridge between the Russell Dynasty and the Bird Era doesn’t do him justice.  Havlicek was his own man, and during the 70s he helped lead the Celtics to the team’s first two championships without Bill Russell.

Want more proof?  Havlicek was a 13-time NBA All-Star, an NBA Finals MVP, and a 4-time All-NBA First-Team selection.  I could keep going, but you get the point.  Havlicek easily lands at Number 3 on this list of the Top 10 Boston Celtics of All Time.

2

Larry Bird

Simply put, Larry Bird remains one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game.  Let’s just start there.  He was also part and parcel of the Bird – Magic rivalry that helped launch the league into the stratosphere.  Bird, the self-proclaimed Hick from French Lick, was a glorious basketball player, the best passing big man the game has ever seen.  (A status that hasn’t changed.)  Sure, he couldn’t jump and he wasn’t particularly fleet of foot, but Bird had just about everything else in in his arsenal.  He was a deadly outside shooter who was one of the first to really understand the psychology of the three-pointer, and what a dagger from outside could do to an opponent.  And he relished the challenge of playing in the biggest games on the biggest stages.

Bird was the perfect player in the perfect place at the perfect time.  He came to Boston when the league was struggling with an image problem, and the franchise was struggling to regain its luster.  And with his rival, Magic Johnson, leading Showtime in the West, the stage was set for the most riveting story lines in NBA history.  By the mid-80s, a Celtics-Lakers Finals was almost a foregone conclusion.  And there was Bird, the three-time league MVP, lifting his team to 3 titles over the course of his brilliant, hall-of-fame career.

It’s safe to say that there will never be another Larry Bird.  And that there will never be another Golden Age of NBA basketball, when players like Bird and Magic were all about basketball but, in so many ways, so much more.

1

Bill Russell

If Bird is Number 2 on the list, then only one man can be Number 1.  That’s Bill Russell, of course; while not nearly the all-encompassing player that was Larry Joe Bird, Russell was the launching pad for the greatest dynasty in the history of professional sports.  Try 11 championships in a 13 season NBA career – with two of those coming as player-coach.  And let’s not forget the back-to-back national championships at the University of San Francisco, or the Olympic gold medal.  Russell was all about the bottom line, and he was more than equipped to deliver.

Just think back to all of those battles between Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.  Wilt was bigger, stronger, faster and far more skilled on the offensive end of the court.  Wilt, you may recall, once scored 100 points in a game.  And this:  Wilt averaged 30 points and 22 boards over the course of his career.  And while he towered over Russell statistically, Russell was far more cunning and competitive than Wilt could ever be.  That was his edge.  Russell was able to get inside Wilt’s head when it mattered most – when the championship was on the line.  And time and again, Russell delivered.  Eleven championships in 13 seasons.  Eleven!  Chamberlain, for all of his greatness, finished his hall-of-fame career with only 2 rings.  And on many of those fruitless quests, there was Russell, the game’s ultimate defender, blocking Wilt’s path to the coveted hardware.

Congratulations, Mr. Russell – You are the greatest player the Boston Celtics have ever known.