It’s no coincidence this team has the most retired jersey numbers with 17 banners hanging alongside them.
There are no teams in the history of the NBA to have more titles than the Boston Celtics — at least not yet — so it makes sense there are no other franchises with more retired numbers to honor the players over the decades who earned and hung those banners.
In fact, there are no teams in any sport with more retired jersey numbers at 22 overall, a reflection of the excellence behind the Celtics mystique built by franchise architect Red Auerbach. From his signing with the team as coach and general manager onward, Boston became one of the premier teams of the greatest basketball league on the planet.
But who were the players for which those jerseys were retired after the latest addition of Hall of Fame big man Kevin Garnett? Let’s take a look at them all.
On this day in Celtics history, Larry Bird’s No. 33 jersey was retired, and Orien Greene and Jim Loscutoff were born.
On this day in Boston Celtics history, the franchise retired Hall of Fame forward Larry Bird’s No. 33 jersey in a special, sold-out ceremony at the TD Garden in 1993.
Larry Legend played his college ball primarily at Indiana State (he briefly played at Indiana under iconic coach Bob Knight before transferring) and was drafted before he graduated via a loophole in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement that was exploited by legendary Celtics general manager Red Auerbach in the 1978 NBA draft (and in turn allowed Bird and his agent to extract a record-breaking rookie deal from Boston in the process).
The Hick from French Lick (as the Indiana native was called) signed a historically large rookie contract and began racking up accolades in his inaugural season.
This is every player in Boston’s history who wore the Celtics’ No. 18 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 seven players who wore No. 18 over the years.
This is every player in Boston’s history who wore the Celtics’ No. 20 jersey for at least one game. https://t.co/gICiZPTG8Q
The Athletic ranked every third pick in league history, and we re-ranked the 13 Boston Celtics on that list.
The Boston Celtics are one of the few franchises dating back all the way to the birth of the NBA in 1946 when it was still the Basketball Association of America (BAA), so it’s racked up a lot of things, most notably titles at 17 overall.
But it’s also collected a number of players drafted third overall — both that the franchise made the pick as well as providing a new club for players who’d moved on from their first team.
So it’s no surprise the Celtics have a heavy presence in The Athletic’s article by Zach Harper ranking the top No. 3 picks in NBA history; between players Boston drafted and those it picked up later on, there’s 10 in total.
— The Athletic Atlanta (@TheAthleticATL) June 11, 2020
The Celtics Wire decided to compare their overall achievements with what they’ve managed to do in green and white, with a re-ranking at the end strictly for their Bostonian accomplishments.
On this day, the Boston Celtics won their first of a league-best 17 banners in 1957, 2 years to the date they drafted ex-Celtic forward Jim Loscutoff.
On this day in 1957, the Boston Celtics won the first of their 17 championships, a 125-123 double-overtime thriller at the Boston Garden against the St. Louis (now, Atlanta) Hawks.
The Hawks and Celtics had been tied three games to three, and saw rookie and future legendary big man Bill Russell grab a record 32 rebounds, the most-ever for a rookie in a Finals game.
It also saw Tommy Heinsohn, a 6-foot-7 rookie forward, score 37 points and 23 rebounds in the win. The victory sparked a short-lived rivalry between the two clubs that would end in the early 1960s, supplanted by the Los Angeles Lakers.
It is also the date that former Celtic forward Jim Loscutoff was drafted by Boston in the 1955 NBA Draft — third overall — out of Oregon.
Loscutoff would play for the Celtics for nine seasons, averaging 6.2 points and 5.6 rebounds over that stretch. Boston would win six championships while he was on the team, with his bruising defense being a significant factor in many of them.
He requested “Loscy”, his nickname — not his jersey number, No. 18 — be retired so future Celtics would still be able to wear it in what may someday soon prove a prescient move.
In 1986, Boston ended the 1985-86 season with a 135-107 blowout over the then-New Jersey Nets at Boston Garden.
Larry Bird talks about how the 1986 team went 40-1 in the regular season.
This left the Celtics with a 40-1 record at home, a record for both the most home wins and highest home winning percentage (.976) over a season in league history.
It is also the anniversary of three wins since the season of the team’s last NBA championship in 2007-08. The first was a 112-102 victory over the New York Knicks that saw both teams sit most of their starters.
Guard Avery Bradley scored a then-career high 20 points and center Glen Davis added 17 points and 8 boards.
Boston also routed the Orlando Magic 120-88 on this date in 2013 as the Celtics veterans did not sit for a late season contest, using the game as a bit of a warm-up instead.
Wing Courtney Lee led the team with 20 points off the bench, and forward Jeff Green had 17 points and 6 rebounds. Kevin Garnett added 14 points and 9 boards, and Paul Pierce 12 points and 8 rebounds as all five starters and seven players hit double figures.
Finally, the Celtics beat the Heat 98-88 on this date in 2016 after coming back from being down 26 points.
Point guard Isaiah Thomas had 21 points and 6 assists to lead the team, Bradley added 17 points and 7 rebounds, and wing Evan Turner contributed 16 points from the bench.
