Tag: willie naulls

Calculating the Hall of Fame odds for Boston Celtics yet to make it in

There are more Boston Celtics in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame than players of any other team – but who else might be joining them from Boston’s ranks?

The Boston Celtics have more players in Springfield, Massachusetts’ Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame than any other franchise in NBA history, and could be poised to add several more in the future, if the odds listed by Basketball-reference.com pan out favorably.

But who are the Celtics alumni with a good chance — or for that matter, any chance at all? We put together the following list of candidates with at least some shot at making the hall according to the essential reference of all things NBA statistics, excluding players who did not complete at least one full season with Boston to put some manageable limits on this exercise.

Let’s take a look at the potential candidates.

On this day: Boston Celtics field NBA’s first All-Black starting 5

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 1964, the Boston Celtics made history by starting the first all-Black starting five in NBA history.

The Celtics were on the road to play a regular season game with the St. Louis Hawks when starting power forward Tommy Heinsohn ended up a scratch due to injury. In that era, there was a so-called “gentlemen’s agreement” that acted as an 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.