Tag: K.C. Jones

Boston Celtics all-time roster: See which legends made the cut

In honor of the NBA’s 75th anniversary, we present the best rosters in Celtics history drawn from every era.

In honor of the 75 years the Boston Celtics have been a foundational part of the league they helped shepherd from its days as the Basketball Association of America, the predecessor league it was formed from, we at the Celtics Wire decided to try our own hand at the many lists of players being commemorated as part of the Association hitting the three-quarters century mark.

To that end, we have put together not just one but four all-time Celtics teams, featuring our Honorable Mention team along with First, Second, and Third team honors. It is a veritable ‘who’s who’ of iconic Boston players — and each team has a head coach drawn from the greatest the Celtics have to offer in that regard.

The criteria for ranking is a subjective mixture of what each player did as a Celtic and how good of a player they were in their era. With this in mind, if you disagree with our rankings, that’s likely why. So without further ado — here are our teams.

WATCH: Legendary Boston big man Robert Parish on iconic Celtics coach KC Jones

Chief sees Jones as a role model for a variety of reasons.

The only Boston Celtics player with more rings than Bill Russell — counting his NBA championships as an assistant and head coach along with those won as a player at 12 overall —  K.C. Jones joins Russell as among the winningest athletes to ever play one of the major North American sports.

But Jones was also known for his unflappable personality, exemplary demeanor, and calm, focused class as well. In fact, it was this side of Jones that legendary Celtics big man Robert Parish most admired, and even modeled his own career after having played under the iconic Boston coach for many years.

Watch the clip embedded below put together via our friends at CLNS Media where Parish shares his thoughts on his former coach and friend, and how he feels Jones influenced his own life as a role model.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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

On this day, Boston Celtics guard legends K.C. 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 K. C. 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 as Russell by the Celtics with the 13th overall pick of the 1956 NBA draft.

The Texan guard would go on to win eight championships with Boston, the only club he played for over a nine-season playing 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.

Bill Russell reacts to death of teammate, friend K.C. Jones on Twitter

Russell posted a tribute his fallen friend n Christmas Day.

The loss of legendary Boston Celtics point guard and head coach K.C. Jones leaves not only the fans and wider Celtic community with an immeasurable loss fresh on the heel of the death of Tommy Heinsohn, but the entire NBA community and society as whole as well — but few as much as Boston icon Bill Russell.

The two were teammates not just for the unprecedented string of titles they shared across eight of Jones’ nine seasons in the Association as a player, but even before that when the pair were both playing for the University of San Francisco Dons, where they would win back-to-back NCAA titles together.

They would shatter the color barrier together as well — first as players, two-fifths of the first all-Black starting five in NBA history on this very date in 1963, then later as coaches, two of the first four Black head coaches to win a title in the league.

And through the years and their respective orbits bringing them both away from, then back to the Celtics over the course of their careers and lives, they always called one another friend.

For Russell, this one has to hurt.

The Celtic center luminary posted a tribute to his fallen comrade on Twitter Christmas Day, saying,

“I just received a call letting me know my x-roommate/teammate & most of all friend the great KC Jones passed this morning. Prayers to his family. We have been friends for almost 60yrs, this our last photo together.”

“Friends for life,” he closed.

For these two, at least that long — our condolences, Mr. Russell.

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WATCH: K.C. Jones – a champion Celtic’s career in video

A video memorial to a Celtic legend.

Boston Celtics champion K.C. Jones helped build the NBA giant that was the Celtics franchise in the late 1950s and 1960s that won eight straight titles, and would return to the team after retiring as a player to lead Boston to two more titles as a head coach.

In honor of his Hall of Fame career on the day of his passing, we honor the Celtic great with a collection of videos documenting his incommensurable contributions to the storied franchise’s history. From his earliest associations with the team after being taken in the same draft as his college teammate and fellow NCAA champion Bill Russell to his final championship with the team as coach in 1987, Jones remains an inseparable part of Celtic history.

Boston Celtics release statement on passing of K.C. Jones

The Celtics made an official statement about the legend’s passing.

The Boston Celtics have released a statement on the passing of franchise icon K.C. Jones, who passed away on Christmas Day, 2020 at the age of 88.

The former Celtic champion player and coach won eight titles in the late 1950s and 1960s with the only team he ever played for professionally, which he would later return to as the head coach, winning two more titles with the team in that role in 1984 and 1986. Jones remained close to the team afterwards, an honored and beloved figure in the pantheon of fellow Celtic greats. Distributed to the media on the afternoon of his passing, the team related the following:

“Where K.C. Jones went, winning was sure to follow. K.C. – his given name – was a twelve-time NBA champion as player and coach, a two-time NCAA champion, and a Gold medal-winning Olympian and Hall of Famer. In NBA history, only teammates Bill Russell and Sam Jones have more championship rings during their playing careers. K.C. along with Russell, Clyde Lovellette, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner, Earvin “Magic “Johnson and Michael Jordan, are the only players in history to achieve basketball’s “Triple Crown” – winning an NCAA Championship, an NBA Championship and an Olympic Gold Medal. His number 25 has hung from the rafters since 1967.

“K.C.’s coaching career was similarly illustrious. He was named to lead the Celtics in 1983, beginning what is one of the most remarkable head coaching runs the NBA has seen. K.C. helmed the Celtics for two of the most memorable seasons in the team’s rich history, first leading the team to a championship in 1984 over the Lakers during a peak of that storied rivalry. Two seasons later, he led what many consider the greatest team in NBA history, the 1986 Champion Boston Celtics. These were the highlights of an astonishing four consecutive seasons in the NBA Finals, one of the most impressive and beloved Celtics eras.

“K.C. also demonstrated that one could be both a fierce competitor and a gentleman in every sense of the word. He made his teammates better, and he got the most out of the players he coached. Never one to seek credit, his glory was found in the most fundamental of basketball ideals – being part of a winning team. The Celtics family mourns his loss, as we celebrate his remarkable career and life.”

Our thoughts are with those countless lives Jones touched in his long and storied career.

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Boston Celtic champion player, coach K.C. Jones passes away at age 88

Rest In Peace, K.C. Jones.

Just days after the Boston Celtics paid tribute to the passing of a franchise giant in iconic power forward Tommy Heinsohn at the team’s season opener on Dec. 23, news of former teammate, friend and fellow Celtic legend K.C. Jones following Heinsohn in departing us has broken via multiple sources.

White was perhaps the most under-celebrated yet utterly essential part of Boston’s unparalleled string of titles spanning from the late 1950s to the end of the 1960s, the man part of an elite club of players who have won eight or more titles as a player — all of them former teammates from those halcyon days of Boston basketball.

The Celtic great was fellow Boston luminary Bill Russell’s college roommate at the University of San Francisco, where the duo won back-to-back NCAA titles with the Dons before being drafted together to the Celtics in the 1956 NBA draft.

The pair would continue winning together after Jones finished a tour in the military ending in 1958, and would see the historic run of titles sparked by Russell with Heinsohn two years prior continue unabated until 1966.

Jones would retire after losing to the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1967 East Finals, but remained close to the team.

He soon embarked on a coaching career at the collegiate level at nearby Brandeis University that would eventually lead him back to the Celtics as head coach of the team he won eight titles with as a player in 1983.

The Texas native would win two more as a coach with the “original” Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale in 1984 and 1986.

Jones would retire from that post in 1988, remaining with the team for a season in an advisory role before moving on to other opportunities. His passing will leave a massive hole in the heart of Celtics fans everywhere.

Rest In Peace, K.C. Jones.

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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 1983, former Boston Celtics point guard K.C. Jones was hired as head coach of the team he won eight championships with as a player.

He would go on to win two more titles with the Celtics as a coach in 1984 and 1986, and would be named head coach of the All-Star game with Boston four times.

Jones would amass 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 would decide to resign his position as head coach following the 1987-88 NBA season, the job being taken over by longtime Celtics assistant coach Jimmy Rodgers.

He would remain with the team one season further in the front office before leaving to join the Seattle Supersonics as an assistant coach.

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

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

On this day, Boston Celtics point guard legend K. C. 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 drafted along with Russell by the Celtics with the 13th overall pick of the 1956 NBA Draft.

The Texan guard would go on to win eight championships with Boston, the only club he played for over a nine season playing career.

He would average 7.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game with the Celtics, and would be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1989.

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Believe it or not, Danny Ainge was once happy to be dealt to the Kings

Boston Celtics team president and ex-player Danny Ainge was once excited to be traded to the Sacramento Kings.

In today’s NBA, it might raise a few eyebrows for a player to be excited about being dealt from the Boston Celtics to the Sacramento Kings given their long history of mediocrity and dysfunction.

And even in Celtics team president Danny Ainge’s heyday as a player, it might have seemed strange given he was dealt to the California franchise in 1989, not even two seasons removed from Boston’s last NBA Finals appearance in 1987.

But the writing was on the wall for those with eyes to see it, and Ainge by all accounts was one such person as the 1980s drew to a close.

Injuries to Larry Bird and Kevin McHale and the loss of Len Bias signaled tough times ahead, and the Oregon native was in no mood to play out the best remaining years of his career on a rebuilding squad.

“I just felt our team after the ’87 season was just not the same,” related Ainge to the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn. ” … and I didn’t feel like the Celtics were going to be contender any time soon.”

Then, a pair of Celtics icons no longer with the team conferred and the seed of a trade was planted. Former Boston legend Bill Russell — now the GM of the Kings — spoke with former teammate and coach of Ainge K.C. Jones.

Soon after, plans were laid that eventually became the deal sending the Brigham Young product to Sacramento along with Brad Lohaus for Joe Kleine and Ed Pinckney.

“I think it made a lot of sense and I was excited about it,” offered Ainge. “Bill Russell was my general manager and he had talked with his good friend K.C. Jones about me. I was excited to go to Sacramento and after that first year, there was a lot to look forward to in that franchise.”

Russell had only known success as a player and a player-coach, and had quietly been a force behind the scenes in guiding renowned team president Red Auerbach make draft decisions, so there was little reason to doubt Russell’s acumen as an executive.

But then, little could have been foreseen about  what had gone sideways; a player — Ricky Berry — tragically took his own life. Pervis Ellison, the team’s No. 1 overall pick that summer’s draft, spent 48 games of his rookie season out injured, earning him the moniker “Out of Service Pervis” from Ainge.

The team would end up winning just 23 games.

The now-team president would eventually be dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers to avoid shackling the then-31-year-old guard to a rebuilding team, and he’d go on to have several more deep runs with the Blazers and later Phoenix Suns.

And while the Kings have continued their dysfunctional ways right up to the present day — as strange as it may sound — there really was a time when it sounded like a smart move to move to Sacramento.

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