Flashback: Boston Celtics
As one of the NBA's original teams, the Boston Celtics nearly became known as the Whirlwinds, Unicorns, and/or Olympics. Thankfully, Walter Brown finally coined the franchise as the Celtics. His rationale? The name had a recognizable basketball tradition from the old Original Celtics in New York, and the term coincided with Boston's notorious Irish population.
Long before the current state of the Celtics' fate laid in the hands of random ping-pong balls, the Celtics were a franchise of destiny. From 1957-1969, the Celtics captured 11 championships in 13 seasons, including a record 8 consecutive championships (from 1959-1966).
The lore of "Celtics Tradition" all started during this incredible run -- a run which will not be duplicated in our lifetime (any sport).
Walter Brown (Owner). Bill Mokray (Team VP). Red Auerbach (Coach & GM). Bill Russell. Tom Heinsohn. Bob Cousy. KC Jones. John Havlicek. Sam Jones. Frank Ramsey. Bill Sharman.
To put the above names in perspective, this championship run led to 8 Celtics players and 3 management figures to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. On the flip side, Larry Bird (whom last played in 1992) was the last Celtic player to turn in a Hall of Fame career.
Plain and simple, Bill Russell was the cornerstone of this dynasty. His ability to grab rebounds and block shots ignited endless fast breaks. Russell was a defense, in-and-of itself...teams could not penetrate the lane and put-backs were a thing of the past. A 5-time NBA MVP and a 12-time All-Star, the 6'9" center average 22.5 rebounds/game for his career. Bill Russell revolutionized the game of basketball.
So, how did the Auerbach and the C's land Russell in the first place?
While playing his college ball at San Francisco, Russell averaged 20.7 points and 20.3 rebounds. With the 1956 Draft approaching, Coach and GM Red Auerbach was determined to add Russell to his lineup. As currently constructed, the C's were a scoring machine offensively (led by Cousy, Sharman, and undersized center Ed Macauley)....but, were inefficient in terms of team defense and rebounding. However, there was one problem...in the '55/'56 season, the C's compiled a 39-33 record (good enough for 2nd place). Thus, in order to land Russell, a trade would be required. In the end, Auerbach coerced the St. Louis Hawks, owners of the #2 overall pick, into trading the Celtics the rights to this selection. The ransom? Ed Macauley and rookie Cliff Hagan. Although the deal resulted in a championship for the Hawks (in 1958), the same deal foreshadowed an overwhelming dynasty in Boston. Later in the SAME draft, Boston landed both Heinsohn and K.C. Jones, Russell's college counterpart.
One draft...3 future Hall of Famers selected by the same team. Are you kidding me???
In 1959, Russell's greatest rival (the greatest individual rivalry of all time...any sport -- hands down), Wilt Chamberlain, entered the league. Chamberlain was an unstoppable offensive force -- the most dominating scorer in league history (in his third season, he average 50.4 PPG...only to follow it up with a modest 44.8 PPG). Chamberlain's overall numbers dwarfed those of Russell's (forgetting free throw percentage, Chamberlain's compiled the best numbers the game has ever seen), but Russell was the one which hung 9 banners in the Garden's rafters in his first 10 seasons in the league.
As Celtics player Don Nelson once said, "There are two types of superstars. One makes himself look good at the expense of the other guys on the floor. But there's another type who makes the players around him look better than they are, and that's the type Russell was."
What became clear, during the intense rivalry between Chamberlain/Russell, was that basketball was a team game. As Russell later wrote, "To me, one of the most beautiful things to see is a group of men coordinating their efforts toward a common goal, alternately subordinating and asserting themselves to achieve real teamwork in action. I tried to do that, we all tried to do that, on the Celtics. I think we succeeded."
As I recall a past Dan Shaughnessy article, he mentioned that the Celtics never had a slick marketing machine that would churn out slogans designed to spur their continued greatness. Instead, they motivated from within. After winning the first, they wanted to prove they could repeat. Then they wanted to win one for the "Cooz", or for Walter Brown, or for Auerbach. According to Russell, "For a few years in there we couldn't think of anything special, so we won those on general principle."
Long before the current state of the Celtics' fate laid in the hands of random ping-pong balls, the Celtics were a franchise of destiny. From 1957-1969, the Celtics captured 11 championships in 13 seasons, including a record 8 consecutive championships (from 1959-1966).
The lore of "Celtics Tradition" all started during this incredible run -- a run which will not be duplicated in our lifetime (any sport).
Walter Brown (Owner). Bill Mokray (Team VP). Red Auerbach (Coach & GM). Bill Russell. Tom Heinsohn. Bob Cousy. KC Jones. John Havlicek. Sam Jones. Frank Ramsey. Bill Sharman.
To put the above names in perspective, this championship run led to 8 Celtics players and 3 management figures to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. On the flip side, Larry Bird (whom last played in 1992) was the last Celtic player to turn in a Hall of Fame career.
Plain and simple, Bill Russell was the cornerstone of this dynasty. His ability to grab rebounds and block shots ignited endless fast breaks. Russell was a defense, in-and-of itself...teams could not penetrate the lane and put-backs were a thing of the past. A 5-time NBA MVP and a 12-time All-Star, the 6'9" center average 22.5 rebounds/game for his career. Bill Russell revolutionized the game of basketball.
So, how did the Auerbach and the C's land Russell in the first place?
While playing his college ball at San Francisco, Russell averaged 20.7 points and 20.3 rebounds. With the 1956 Draft approaching, Coach and GM Red Auerbach was determined to add Russell to his lineup. As currently constructed, the C's were a scoring machine offensively (led by Cousy, Sharman, and undersized center Ed Macauley)....but, were inefficient in terms of team defense and rebounding. However, there was one problem...in the '55/'56 season, the C's compiled a 39-33 record (good enough for 2nd place). Thus, in order to land Russell, a trade would be required. In the end, Auerbach coerced the St. Louis Hawks, owners of the #2 overall pick, into trading the Celtics the rights to this selection. The ransom? Ed Macauley and rookie Cliff Hagan. Although the deal resulted in a championship for the Hawks (in 1958), the same deal foreshadowed an overwhelming dynasty in Boston. Later in the SAME draft, Boston landed both Heinsohn and K.C. Jones, Russell's college counterpart.
One draft...3 future Hall of Famers selected by the same team. Are you kidding me???
In 1959, Russell's greatest rival (the greatest individual rivalry of all time...any sport -- hands down), Wilt Chamberlain, entered the league. Chamberlain was an unstoppable offensive force -- the most dominating scorer in league history (in his third season, he average 50.4 PPG...only to follow it up with a modest 44.8 PPG). Chamberlain's overall numbers dwarfed those of Russell's (forgetting free throw percentage, Chamberlain's compiled the best numbers the game has ever seen), but Russell was the one which hung 9 banners in the Garden's rafters in his first 10 seasons in the league.
As Celtics player Don Nelson once said, "There are two types of superstars. One makes himself look good at the expense of the other guys on the floor. But there's another type who makes the players around him look better than they are, and that's the type Russell was."
What became clear, during the intense rivalry between Chamberlain/Russell, was that basketball was a team game. As Russell later wrote, "To me, one of the most beautiful things to see is a group of men coordinating their efforts toward a common goal, alternately subordinating and asserting themselves to achieve real teamwork in action. I tried to do that, we all tried to do that, on the Celtics. I think we succeeded."
As I recall a past Dan Shaughnessy article, he mentioned that the Celtics never had a slick marketing machine that would churn out slogans designed to spur their continued greatness. Instead, they motivated from within. After winning the first, they wanted to prove they could repeat. Then they wanted to win one for the "Cooz", or for Walter Brown, or for Auerbach. According to Russell, "For a few years in there we couldn't think of anything special, so we won those on general principle."
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