Tag: K.C. Jones

Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 27

Today’s installment focuses on the 12 players who wore No. 27 over the years as of August 2023.

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 12 players who wore No. 27 over the years as of August 2023.

On this day: ex-Boston guard K.C. Jones hired as Celtics head coach

On this day, the Boston Celtics hired their former championship point guard K.C. Jones as head coach of the team.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, champion ex-Celtics point guard K.C. Jones was hired as head coach of the team he won eight titles with as a player. He went on to win two more titles with the Celtics as a coach in 1984 and 1986 and was named head coach of the All-Star game four times.

Jones amassed a 308-102 regular-season record and a 65-37 playoff record, good for .751 and .637 winning percentages, respectively. To the surprise of many, Jones resigned as head coach following the 1987-88 NBA season. The job was taken over by longtime Celtics assistant coach Jimmy Rodgers.

”It’s something I wanted to do,” Jones would say of his resignation in an interview at his home with the Associated Press.

Which Boston Celtics have played in the most Game 7s in the postseason?

The storied ball club has a number of their former players on any list of NBA greats who have played in the most Game 7s.

When talking about playing in Game 7s in the history of the  NBA playoffs, fans of the Boston Celtics will not be too surprised to learn the storied club has a number of their former players on any list of NBA greats who have played in the most Game 7s over the course of their careers.

But when you take into account the dominance of the Celtics from the 1950s to the precipice of the 1970s with long stretches of contention in the mid-seventies, the eighties and late aughts, it makes sense that such lists are littered with former Boston players.

Let’s take a look at the record books to find out.

On this day: Jones, Sharman born; Pierce leads 21-point rally vs. Nets

On this day, Boston Celtics guard legends KC Jones and Bill Sharman were born, and Paul Pierce almost single-handedly beat the Nets in 2002.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, point guard legend KC Jones was born in 1932 in Taylor, Texas. Jones played his college ball with fellow Celtics legend Bill Russell at the University of San Francisco and was taken in the same draft class as Russell by the Celtics with the 13th overall pick of the 1956 NBA draft.

The Texan guard would go on to win eight titles with Boston, the only club he played for over a nine-season career in the NBA. He would average 7.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game with the Celtics. He would also win two titles with the team as a head coach in the 1980s.

Jones would be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1989.

On this day: KC Jones resigns, Jimmy Rodgers hired; 1967 draft

On this day former Celtics player and coach KC Jones resigned as head coach, and assistant Jimmy Rodgers stepped into the role.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, head coach and former player KC Jones resigned as coach unexpectedly on completion of the 1987-88 NBA season. Jones, an eight-time NBA champion with the team as a point guard, would win two more rings as head coach (one in 1984, the other in 1986), and would be designated coach of the NBA All-Star game for Boston four times between 1984 and 1987.

The University of San Francisco product coached the Celtics for five seasons beginning in 1983-84 and would amass a 308-102 regular-season record and a 65-37 playoff record, good for .751 and .637 winning percentages, respectively.

Jones would stay on with the team in an advisory role for one more season before joining the Seattle Supersonics as an assistant coach in the 1989-90 NBA season.

On this day: Jones, Heinsohn draft; Russell swap; Rivers hire; Bass born; Tatum gets 60

On this day, Boston drafted Bill Russell, KC Jones, and Tommy Heinsohn, hired Doc Rivers as coach, and saw Jayson Tatum score 60.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, veteran center Ed Macauley and small forward Cliff Hagan were traded to the (then) St. Louis (now, Atlanta) Hawks for the second pick in the 1956 NBA draft, which the Celtics would use to select legendary big man Bill Russell. Boston negotiated from a position of strength; head coach and GM Red Auerbach leveraged his relationship with Hawks owner Ben Kerner — a former employer.

Auerbach convinced Celtics owner Walter Brown to lend the (then) Rochester Royals (now, Sacramento Kings) the Ice Capades for a week. The Ice Capades, also owned by Brown, were one of the most popular attractions filling arenas at that time. Mercifully for Boston, there was no Collective Bargaining Agreement to prevent the Royals, who held the first overall pick, from taking Russell first — the other end of the bargain that got the legendary center to the Celtics.

It was in the same draft that the Celtics also took Dan Swartz, Tommy Heinsohn, and KC Jones.

On this day: Boston Celtics field NBA’s first All-Black starting five

On this day in 1964, the Boston Celtics fielded the first all-Black starting 5 in league history when Willie Naulls replaced Tommy Heinsohn in the lineup.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the storied franchise made history by starting the first all-Black starting five in NBA history back in 1964. The Celtics were on the road to play a regular season game with the (then) St. Louis (now, Atlanta) Hawks when Hall of Fame power forward Tommy Heinsohn ended up a scratch due to an injury he sustained previously.

In that era, there was a so-called “gentlemen’s agreement” that acted as an unspoken agreement to always have at least one white player on the court at all times, supposedly in the interest of racial harmony.

But, legendary team manager and head coach Red Auerbach decided to play recently-acquired Willie Naulls in his place, breaking that tacit, racist agreement.

On this day: Red passes; KC Jones coach, Hudson, Rozier, Mickey, R. Morgan, Cook player debuts; Nelson signed

On this day, legendary Boston Celtics team president and coach Red Auerbach passed away in 2006.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, legendary Celtics team president and coach Arnold “Red” Auerbach passed away at the age of 89 in 2006. Auerbach assembled a career in basketball unparalleled in its time and to this day, winning nine titles with the team as a coach, and seven more as an executive.

He joined the franchise in 1950 after stints coaching the Washington Capitols (now defunct) in the Basketball Association of America (BAA – a precursor league to the NBA) and at the NCAA level as an assistant coach with the Duke Blue Devils before joining the Celtics.

Red — as he was often called — transformed the game with his emphasis on the fast break and team-focused play reliant on ball movement at all positions.

Every Boston Celtics player who never lost an NBA Finals series

Let’s take a look at all the Boston players who never lost a Finals series with more than two appearances.

Which Boston Celtics never lost a game in the NBA Finals?

While the Celtics have a large number of players who can say they never have, it might surprise you that the greatest winner of all time is not on that list. The Celtics’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the 1958 NBA Finals is to blame for 11-time NBA champion Bill Russell missing the list.

But many of his teammates appear on the list as do a few other former Celtics from later years when Boston was a regular visitor to the finals.

Let’s take a look at all the Boston players who never lost a finals series with more than two appearances.

The Celtics have retired 23 jersey numbers (and one name) – these are the players so honored

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.