Inspired by the Favorite 20 Songs post, I thought I’d issue a different kind of offseason challenge. We’ve all heard the Mt. Rushmore debates of greatest Boston Celtics but how about this for a different twist?
Who are your top 10 favorite Celtics of all time that were never teammates? This can be your personal favorites or perhaps the best team you can put together.
For example: If you pick Bill Russell, you can’t pick anyone he played with (Cousy, Havlicek, Sam Jones, etc.).
Since we don’t all have encyclopedia type memories, I’m providing you a lookup tool to see who has been teammates with who: Basketball Reference
I don’t have a full list yet because I’m finding it hard to leave out some of the tent-post players in my fandom.
- Bill Russell
- Dave Cowens (opps, it has been pointed out to me that Cowens and Bird were teammates)
- Larry Bird
- Paul Pierce
- Isaiah Thomas
- Jayson Tatum
Each of the above had a long career that spanned many years and of course many teammates. So I’m scratching my head trying to come up with fill-in players that will get the list up to 10.
Let’s see, Bird retired in ‘92 and Pierce was drafted in ‘98, so are there any dark ages players worth noting? Maybe Dino Raja.
Pierce was traded in 2013 and Tatum was drafted in 2017, so which short timers can I pick from that era? I thought about Jared Sullinger but he played 45 games with Pierce. See how tricky this is?
The only option is to go back and take out one of the big names and fill in with others creating a quantity vs. quality dilemma. For instance, I could pull Pierce and insert Antoine Walker which could free up someone like Kevin Garnett.
Like I said, I’m still working on my list, but please feel free to share yours! I promise I won’t steal your ideas (note: I will totally steal your ideas).
