On this day: Celtics first game ever in 1946, MANY players, coach John Russell debut; Hal Crisler passes

On this day in Celtics history, the storied franchise played its first game.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the storied franchise played the first game of its storied history in 1946 as it kicked off play in the brand-new Basketball Association of America, which became the National Basketball Association in 1949).

That first contest was not an auspicious one. The Celtics dropped their inaugural game to the (now defunct) Providence Steamrollers, 59-53. Boston fell to 0-1 to start the 1946-47 BAA season on a sour note that offered no hints of the many wins to come. It was of course the Celtics’ debut for the entire team, but in that era, sparse counting stat records were kept — or even conceived of.

With that in mind, let’s review the details we do have.

Who are the best international players to play for the Boston Celtics?

From Charlie Hoefer to Alaa Abdenaby to Rick Fox to Kristaps Porzingis, there has been no shortage of players who were born abroad who have worn the green and white.

The Boston Celtics are a storied franchise for more than just their titles. They have been a trailblazing team in terms of signing and fielding players from all over the world, a philosophy that started in their first season.

From Charlie Hoefer to Alaa Abdelnaby to Rick Fox to Kristaps Porzingis, there has been no shortage of players born abroad who have worn the green and white.

But who were the best and who were the worst? What criteria should we use to judge them across eras? In the spirit of the annual arrival of #RankingSeason, the thing to do is try.

And try the hosts of the CLNS Media “How Bout Them Celtics!” did on a recent episode.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear how they assessed the international Celtics of all time.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 43

Today’s installment focuses on the 14 players who wore No. 43 over the years as of Aug. 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 14 players who wore No. 43 over the years as of Aug. 2023.

On this day: Avery Bradley, Abdel Nader inked; Bill Dinwiddie, Luke Kornet born

On this day, the Boston Celtics re-signed Avery Bradley and Abdel Nader, and former Boston big man Bill Dinwiddie was born.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the Celtics re-signed guard Avery Bradley to a four-year, $32 million deal, fully guaranteed with no player or team options in 2014.

Bradley had been drafted by the Celtics with the 19th overall pick of the 2010 NBA draft out of the University of Texas and would remain with the team until the final season of that new contract. After he began its final season, he would be traded to the Detroit Pistons with draft assets in exchange for small forward Marcus Morris Sr., one of the last remaining players from the team’s last era of contention.

Bradley’s trade was necessitated by the signing of former Utah Jazz All-Star forward Gordon Hayward in the summer of 2017. He averaged 12.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game while with the team.

On this day: Allen traded for; Sullinger, Green, Gomes drafted

On this day, the trade that brought Ray Allen to Boston went down, and Jeff and Gerald Green, Jared Sullinger and Ryan Gomes were drafted.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, team president Danny Ainge and the rest of the front office traded for star shooting guard Ray Allen. Sending out a package of point guard Delonte West, small forward Wally Szczerbiak, and forward Jeff Green to the then-Seattle Supersonics in exchange for Allen and center Glen “Big Baby” Davis.

“You’re always listening when you come into a situation like this. You don’t wake up one day and look to move a player like a Ray Allen,” said then-Sonics’ general manager Sam Presti via ESPN. “Someone has to come get them and Boston did that here.”

The move of course would facilitate the trade of Kevin Garnett to the Celtics soon after, Ainge and Boston having assembled the requisite talent to convince the Big Ticket that such a deal would bear fruit in the banners department, which of course it did.

On this day: Celtics first game ever in 1946, MANY players, coach John Russell debut; Hal Crisler passes

On this day in Celtics history, the storied franchise played its first game.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the storied franchise played the first game of its storied history in 1946 as it kicked off play in the brand-new Basketball Association of America, which became the National Basketball Association in 1949).

That first contest was not an auspicious one. The Celtics dropped their inaugural game to the (now defunct) Providence Steamrollers, 59-53. Boston fell to 0-1 to start the 1946-47 BAA season on a sour note that offered no hints of the many wins to come.

It was of course the Celtics’ debut for the entire team, but in that era, sparse counting stat records were kept — or even conceived of. With that in mind, let’s review the details we do have.

On this day: Avery Bradley, Abdel Nader re-signed; Bill Dinwiddie born

On this day, the Boston Celtics re-signed Avery Bradley and Abdel Nader, and former Boston big man Bill Dinwiddie was born.

On this day in 2014, the Boston Celtics re-signed Avery Bradley re-to a four-year, $32 million deal, fully guaranteed with no player or team options.

Bradley had been drafted by the Celtics with the 19th overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft out of the University of Texas, and would remain with the team until the final season of that new contract, when he would be traded to the Detroit Pistons with draft assets in exchange for forward Marcus Morris.

Bradley’s trade was necessitated by the signing of former Utah Jazz All-Star forward Gordon Hayward in the summer of 2017.

He averaged 12.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while with the team.