This is every player in Boston’s history who wore the Celtics’ No. 54 jersey for at least one game.
The Boston Celtics have more retired jerseys than any other team in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean the rest of their jerseys have little history of interest tied to them.
In fact, with 17 titles to their name and decades of competitive basketball played in them, their unretired jersey numbers pack in some of the most history not hanging from the rafters of any team in the league. To that end, we have launched our accounting of that history, with every player in every jersey worn by more than one Celtics player in the storied franchise’s history accounted for.
Today’s installment focuses on the six players who wore No. 54 over the years.
The University of Wisconsin – Madison product went undrafted in the 2008 NBA draft, and would play professionally overseas and in the G League before signing with the Celtics in December of 2011 as an unrestricted free agent. It would be several weeks before the former Badger saw any live game action however, making his debut for the team on the 28th of that month in a 97 – 78 loss to the (then) New Orleans Hornets (now, Pelicans) on the road at New Orleans Arena in the eponymous Louisiana city.
Creating an all-time NBA lineup of Wisconsin alums
While Wisconsin basketball has not always been a consistent tournament team that pumps out NBA talent, we have seen a number of Badgers succeed at the next level over the years. With this all-Wisconsin starting five we will be creating an all-time NBA starting five featuring Badger alums. The criteria I used to come to the selections was as follows. The players chosen were selected because of their NBA careers, not their Wisconsin careers, and positions were sometimes hard to fill with a player that was actually listed at that position. For each player chosen, I also chose the year that I would want them on my team (in other words, the best year of their NBA careers). So, here is our BadgersWire all-time Wisconsin NBA starting five.
Boston legend Tommy Heinsohn had high praise for journeyman big Greg Stiemsma in the winter of 2012.
It may have been a bit of exaggeration.
When the Boston Celtics hosted the Washington Wizards in early 2012, an impressive defensive play caught the eye of Celtics legend Tommy Heinsohn.
Big man Greg Stiemsma blocked a shot, then caught it, passing it ahead to teammate Rajon Rondo in a way few centers have been able to do since Heinsohn’s Celtics ruled the 1960s as the then-color commentator played with of one of the all-time frontcourt greats.
This elicited the strongest praise imaginable from Heinsohn, who compared the University of Wisconsin product to Bill Russell, said teammate and arguably the greatest big man to play the game.
“This kid has got the same timing as … Russell,” began Heinsohn.
“He gets out there, he cuts them off [and] makes them commit, and then has the quickness to get up before, and just before the ball is totally released, ” he finished.
While Stiemsma’s defensive acumen did indeed resemble Russell’s on that play, it should go without saying that while the journeyman might have shown a flash of Russell’s timing on that play, he was far from the Celtic great in almost every other way.
Boston fans hoped Stiemsma might work his way into a bigger role than the 2.9 points, 3.2 boards and 1.5 blocks per game he averaged in Boston that season, but apart from his elite rim protection, the Wisconsinite had little else to offer.
While admittedly an excellent shot-blocker, the former Badger wasn’t what the team needed going forward — though Stiemsma did manage to parlay the season (and perhaps the compliment) into a few more NBA contracts.
One of Heinsohn’s more interesting lines from many years of color commentary, this clip was a fun window into the latter years of the Celtics last contention era.
