Tag: Marcus Thornton

Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 4

Today’s installment focuses on the 30 players who wore No. 4 over the years as of September 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 or 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 30 players who wore No. 4 over the years as of September 2023.

On this day: Rozier, Billups, Mercer, Kreklow, Hunter, Mickey drafted

On this day, the Boston Celtics drafted several players in multiple drafts, including Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, Ron Mercer, and Wayne Kreklow.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the storied franchise took just one player of note in the 1979 NBA draft, held in New York City at the Plaza Hotel, after having traded away their first-round draft pick. The sole player selected by the Celtics that year was 6-foot-4 shooting guard Wayne Kreklow, taken with the 53rd overall pick in the draft’s third round (drafts went on much longer then than they do today).

A native of Neenah, Wisconsin, Kreklow had been playing college ball at Drake before being drafted by Boston. He did not initially make the team, not unusual for a prospect drafted so late. But, instead of being waived, he would play a season with the Maine Lumberjacks of the Continental Basketball Association (the equivalent of the G League in that era), where he averaged 9.6 points per game.

Kreklow would join the team for the 1980-81 season, helping to win a championship in a reserve role that saw him average 1.2 points over 25 games with the Celtics in his sole season with the franchise.

Where do Boston Celtics alumni rate among the NBA combine’s highest leapers?

A number of Celtics alumni can be found among the highest leapers in combine history.

With the 2023 NBA draft set to take place on the night of Thursday, June 22nd, a new cohort of athletes (some, admittedly, less athletic than others) will be joining the Boston Celtics and the rest of the league, at least for a little while in some cases.

Much of what will determine how well they will do in their prospective careers in the association in a sport where verticality is key is their ability to leap from both a standing and running position. To determine that aspect of their overall toolkit, players are measured for their maximum vertical reach in both contexts at the NBA Combine ahead of the draft.

A number of Celtics alumni can be found among the highest leapers in combine history — let’s take a look at which made the history books courtesy of research from the staff of our sister site, HoopsHype.

On this day: Paul Pierce’s ‘wheelchair game’; Marcus Thornton born; Mike Bloom passes

On this day, Paul Pierce had his ‘wheelchair’ game in Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals, Marcus Thornton was born, and Mike Bloom left us.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, star forward Paul Pierce had to be carried off the court and placed in a wheelchair after having smashed his knee into teammate Kendrick Perkins late in the third quarter of Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The wind came out of Boston’s home arena, the Celtics looking hopelessly outmatched without the Kansas alum’s services being available. But after just a few moments of treatment in the locker room, Pierce reappeared, nailing a pair of 3-pointers. Boston would go on to win the game and the series in six games to secure their 17th and most recent championship, the most in league history.

Rumors persist as to what exactly happened to Pierce on that day — a possibly apocryphal tale the Californian had a bowel movement seems to have been taken up by Pierce as a joke, but might also have been an admission.

LSU men’s basketball all-time roster: Tiger Legends

The Tigers have had a surprising amount of talent come through their basketball program over the years

March is upon us, and that means that the madness will also return to us soon.

Unfortunately, LSU (in all likelihood) won’t be participating in the festivities after a rough first season under coach [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] that featured a 14-game losing streak that lasted from late December until the end of February.

This will be the first NCAA Tournament the Tigers have missed since 2018. Although LSU basketball has, historically, been a bit of an afterthought compared to the more successful football and baseball programs, it’s had a surprising level of consistency.

Aside from several lengthy droughts — most notably in recent years from 1993-00 and 2009-19 (with the exception of 2015) — this team has regularly appeared in the postseason for much of the last several decades, though it is still searching for its first national title. Those teams have, unsurprisingly, featured quite a bit of talent over the years.

With that in mind, we’re taking a crack at piecing together an all-time two-deep LSU basketball roster including one head coach and two assistants. Let’s start things off with the coaching staff, with our first choice likely coming as no surprise.

On this day: Marcus Smart, Semih Erden signed; Bob Duffy born

On this day, veteran guard Marcus Smart and former Celtic center Semih Erden signed contracts with Boston, and former Celtic forward Bob Duffy was born.

On this day in 2014, Boston Celtics veteran guard Marcus Smart signed his $14.8 million rookie-scale contract with the team.

Drafted by the Celtics out of Oklahoma State with the sixth overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, the Flower Mound, Texas native was named to All Rookie Second Team in his inaugural season.

Crafting a reputation as one of the NBA’s most dogged defenders, the 6-foot-3 floor general would later make All-Defensive First Team in 2019.

Now in his sixth campaign with Boston, Smart has averaged 9.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.6 steals per game over his career with the Celtics.

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On this day: Paul Pierce’s ‘wheelchair game’; Marcus Thornton born

On this day, star Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce had his ‘wheelchair’ game in the first game of the 2008 NBA Finals, and ex-Celtic guard Marcus Thornon was born.

On this day, Boston Celtics star forward Paul Pierce had to be carried off the court and placed in a wheelchair after having smashed his knee into teammate Kendrick Perkins late in the third quarter of Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The wind came out of Boston’s home arena, the Celtics looking hopelessly outmatched without the Kansas product’s services being available.

But after just a few moments of treatment in the locker room, Pierce reappeared, nailing a pair of 3-pointers.

Boston would go on to win the game and the series in six games to secure their 17th and most recent championship, the most in league history.

Rumors persist as to what exactly happened to Pierce on that day — a possibly apocryphal tale the Californian had a bowel movement seems to have been taken up by Pierce as a joke, but might also have been an admission.

The world may never know if there was poo involved in Truth.

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