Tag: Robert Parish

Seven Boston Celtics make HoopsHype’s 20 greatest centers list

Some of the greatest players to play the game have suited up for Boston at the 5 over the course of the organization’s storied history.

Perhaps the most impactful position in the history of the Boston Celtics, centers have been instrumental in winning most of the team’s NBA-record 17 banners. Some of the greatest to play the game have suited up for the Celtics at the 5 over the course of the organization’s storied past.

Scholars of the team’s history are already aware of the names mentioned in the latest edition of HoopsHype’s 20 greatest centers list. A number of the all-time great Boston big men made the cut for H/H’s list.

Let’s dive into which former Celtics made the list.

HoopsHype updates their top 75 all-time NBA player list for 2022, dropping several Boston Celtics

We might be biased, but we’re not too crazy about the update.

While some NBA media outlets are dialed into the 2022-23 NBA season for their annual exercise to fill the late September content desert that is ranking season, our sister site HoopsHype has its eyes on a bigger prize.

Drawing on the popular all-time NBA list released adjacent to the NBA’s version put together for the league’s 75th anniversary, HoopsHype has gone a step further and updated the list again for 2022. There’s quite a bit of change (including the absence of many Boston Celtics who made the last list), and to be frank, we are not fans of an all-time list that would see so much turnover a mere 365 days later.

Take a look for yourselves at the various Celtics greats who were omitted and where those who remain are ranked now, and let us know why we are wrong if you feel so compelled.

What are the 5 biggest Celtics trades made during the NBA draft?

The Boston Celtics have made some hugely impactful trades during the NBA draft. Check out the miraculous story behind some of these deals.

The NBA draft is all about roster design. There are a lot of different strategies out there, but let’s stick with what legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach once offered: “They said you have to use your five best players but I found you win with the five who fit together the best.”

With that frame, the draft offers a tantalizing number of opportunities. Sure, you can select the best available player and hope he grows with your system. But fortune favors the bold — the NBA draft is a chance to really swing for the fences and bring in the right player. A smart trade on draft night can change everything.

Boston, unsurprisingly, has a history of moving and shaking far beyond the limited frame of their own specific pick. Following the leadership of Auerbach, the Celtics’ NBA draft trade history is a rich and storied one. As we’ll see, some of the franchise’s best players landed in green by way of a draft-day trade. Let’s discuss.

On this day: Parish, McHale’s pick traded for; Bird, Ainge drafted

Today saw the deal for Robert Parish and Kevin McHale and the drafts that brought Larry Bird and Danny Ainge to the Boston Celtics go down.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, President of Basketball Operations Red Auerbach pulled off one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history in 1980. Auerbach dealt a pair of first-round picks used to select big man Joe Barry Carroll and center Rickey Brown to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for big man Robert Parish and the draft pick used to select Kevin McHale.

In one fell swoop, Boston’s head honcho scooped up two-thirds of one of the greatest frontcourts ever assembled. Forward Larry Bird, who had already been drafted, completed the trio that win titles together in 1981, 1984 and 1986.

It is also the anniversary of the 1978 NBA draft, in which the Celtics took three players of note.

Celtics legend Robert Parish says Dubs’ Draymond Green a ‘fingernail away’ from letting his teammates down with his antics

A suspension by Green under similar circumstances might have cost his team the 2016 title by Green’s own admission.

In a month full of old school vs. new school NBA culture wars, Ye Olde Argument on Physicality reared its familiar head into the discourse of the 2022 NBA Finals series unfolding between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors as a result of Dubs star forward Draymond Green’s envelope-pushing antics.

Namely, Green’s hyper-aggressive on-court play coupled with his open admission of his awareness of how he is officiated evoked a response from Celtics alumnus and broadcaster Cedric Maxwell regarding what was called a ‘corrective altercation‘ by some euphemistically that he might have encountered in the 1980s.

That in turn was answered by former Maxwell teammate and fellow Celtics champion Robert Parish, whose sage message is likely betting less attention than his recounting of a frustrating moment with Detroit Pistons enforcer Bill Laimbeer.

Celtics great Robert Parish thinks Boston has a ‘chance to do something special’ vs. Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals

The Hall of Fame Boston big man thinks this iteration of the team has a shot at being ‘part of the legendary, rich history of the Celtics.’

Legendary Boston Celtics center Robert Parish might have been drafted by the Golden State Warriors, but when it comes to rooting interests, the Hall of Fame Boston big man recently threw his weight behind the team with whom he won 3 of his 4 NBA titles.

Appearing at a rally for the Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals that sees them pitted against the Dubs who selected Parish with the eighth overall pick of the 1976 NBA draft, Chief (as Parish is often called) shared his thoughts on Boston’s chances. “They (have) got a chance to do something special,” Parish said via CBS Boston’s Paul Burton. “To be part of the legendary, rich history of the Celtics.

“So, I am definitely cheering for them and wishing them the very best,” he added. “I think it’s going to be a long grueling series.”

Parish won titles in 1981, 1984, and 1986 with the Celtics, his only other championship coming later in his career with Michael Jordan and the Bulls in 1997.

“It makes you feel proud, and when you walk into the Garden you look up and you can say hey, I am part of some of those banners up there,” he offered.

Hopefully soon, they’ll be another among them.

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

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On this day: Danny Ainge hits 1000th 3-pointer, Robert Parish plays 1561st game

On this day, Celtics Danny Ainge hit his 1,000th career 3-pointer, and Robert Parish played his 1,561st game, an NBA record.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, former Celtic shooting guard and team president Danny Ainge became the third NBA player in league history to reach 1,000 made 3-point shots in 1995. He was no longer with Boston at the time, having been traded to the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers before landing with the Phoenix Suns, the team with whom he was playing when he passed that lofty record.

Only Dale Ellis and Reggie Miller had shot as many 3-pointers at that time in NBA history, the dynamics of the game still focused on near-basket makes with shots from the midrange being taken in abundance still being the norm.

The game has changed a LOT since Ainge’s era as a player.

Celtics alumni have strong showing in new HoopsHype assessment of the greatest players drafted at any position

These former Celtics have been judged the greatest to play the game at their draft position.

With the Boston Celtics and the league now well past the 2022 trade deadline and in the thick of the stretch run, attention begins to shift to the draft as the next big, bright beacon of promise for teams to improve their fortunes with. And when it comes to the draft, not all front offices are created equal.

But the Celtics have deep institutional memory to draw on in that regard, with a well-established history of drafting well throughout the annual event’s history. They have also rostered several other players who were evidently not appreciated where they had been selected initially, spreading their wings in Boston instead.

Frank Urbina of our sister site HoopsHype put together a list of the best players drafted at any position in the history of the draft as a whole, and the Celtics have a strong showing of alumni on that list, even if they weren’t always the team doing the drafting — let’s take a look at where they placed.

With LeBron James breaking the all-time scoring record, where do Boston Celtics alumni stack up behind him?

Out of the top 40 scorers of all time in the regular season and playoffs combined, there are now 9 Celtics alumni. Can you guess them?

After flirting with the record for some time, Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James finally broke the all-time scoring record of combined playoff and regular-season points scored with 44,157 total scored as of this writing in the Lakers’ recent 117 – 115 road loss to the Golden State Warriors this past Saturday.

Given how storied the Boston Celtics organization has been through its three-quarters of a century of existence, there are plenty of Celtics alumni below James on that list — but where in relation to each other, and how many in total make up the top 40 scorers in all games in NBA history? Building off of a comprehensive list of all top 40 scorers in league history put together by our sister site HoopsHype, we’ve identified nine Boston alumni.

See if you can suss them all out on your own — and better yet, in order — before scrolling down to check.

Which Celtics had the longest careers with Boston?

These are the 10 Celtics who played the most seasons with Boston.

It is increasingly rare for a player to spend a significant portion of their career with one team never mind the bulk or even all of it in the modern NBA, but throughout the course of NBA history, few teams have done a better job at retaining their stars than the Boston Celtics.

In an era where their institutional coherence was in itself an advantage over many teams in the league, a host of Celtics lifers spent all of (or very nearly so) their careers in green and white — and given they were racking up titles at an unprecedented rate in the 1960s onward, it is understandable why they were loathe to leave.

But who were the Celtics who played the most seasons with the franchise across its storied history? Let’s take a look at the players who were part of the team for the most seasons below.