A Question For Our Celtics Historians

[Donoghus]

Still have his jersey that my kids pull out of the closet from time to time. He was my favorite player at the time.
Wish we could've seen a Celtic team with Reggie and Bias.

Found Reggie's jersey on eBay a couple of years ago.  Glad to have nabbed it.

My dad got to do a shootaround on the parquet at the old Garden back in the early 90s.  Met Dee Brown & Reggie in the hallway afterwards and got a pic with the two of them.   My dad framed it and kept in his office up until he retired. 

[Roy H.]

It is about Reggie Lewis.

I understand that Reggie's death could have been avoided, but I can't find a concise answer if Reggie had to immediately retire...or could his heart have been repaired to resume his professional career?

When I saw “Reggie Lewis”, I thought the question was whether he should’ve made the top 15 Celtics team over Ray Allen, which my answer to that would be absolutely yes!  Reggie was early in my Celtics-watching, but I just remember how incredible he was on both ends of the floor.  Also, I know the Celtics are about winning titles, but I’m not going to fault the guy for being drafted at a time when the Big 3 was starting to break down.  Hell, in his 6-year career, only three franchises won a title.  Also, combing what he did on the court with what he did in the community is why I would’ve put him ahead of Ray.  I’d also put Maxwell and maybe Tiny ahead of Ray too.  The other thing that bothers me is that this ensures Ray will get his number retired, which I also believe is unwarranted.

Sorry for going off-topic, but had to vent.

I had Max on before Ray (Tiny would also have been an interesting choice) but I don’t think this means Ray gets his number retired

Ray Allen doesn't belong anywhere near the top 25 Celtics, never mind the top 15. He was a good player for the team, but was only here 5 years and it's not like he tore it up in the playoffs.

As for Reggie, it was such a tragedy. Once Bird retired, he immediately became the star of the team - gone way too soon. I am glad his number is retired.

Ray:  5 seasons, 1 title, 3x All-Star, 16.7 ppg

Max:  8 seasons, 2 titles, 0x All-Star, 13.7 ppg

Reggie: 6 seasons, 0 titles, 1x All-Star, 17.6 ppg

Ainge: 8 seasons, 2 titles, 1x All-Star, 11.3 ppg

Macauley: 6 seasons, 0 titles, 6x All-Star, 4x All-NBA, 18.9 ppg

Tiny:  5 seasons, 1 title, 3x All-Star, 12.5 ppg

Antoine:  8 seasons, 0 titles, 2x All-Star, 20.6 ppg

Howell: 4 seasons, 2 titles, 1x All-Star, 18.0 ppg

Tatum: 4.5 seasons, 0 titles, 3x All-Star, 1x All-NBA, 20.4 ppg

Anybody I missed?

Not winning a title hurts, but if you're looking at who was the best relative to his peers, it's Macauley. 

[angryguy77]

Still have his jersey that my kids pull out of the closet from time to time. He was my favorite player at the time.
Wish we could've seen a Celtic team with Reggie and Bias.

Found Reggie's jersey on eBay a couple of years ago.  Glad to have nabbed it.

My dad got to do a shootaround on the parquet at the old Garden back in the early 90s.  Met Dee Brown & Reggie in the hallway afterwards and got a pic with the two of them.   My dad framed it and kept in his office up until he retired.

that's awesome!

[aefgogreen]

It is about Reggie Lewis.

I understand that Reggie's death could have been avoided, but I can't find a concise answer if Reggie had to immediately retire...or could his heart have been repaired to resume his professional career?

When I saw “Reggie Lewis”, I thought the question was whether he should’ve made the top 15 Celtics team over Ray Allen, which my answer to that would be absolutely yes!  Reggie was early in my Celtics-watching, but I just remember how incredible he was on both ends of the floor.  Also, I know the Celtics are about winning titles, but I’m not going to fault the guy for being drafted at a time when the Big 3 was starting to break down.  Hell, in his 6-year career, only three franchises won a title.  Also, combing what he did on the court with what he did in the community is why I would’ve put him ahead of Ray.  I’d also put Maxwell and maybe Tiny ahead of Ray too.  The other thing that bothers me is that this ensures Ray will get his number retired, which I also believe is unwarranted.

Sorry for going off-topic, but had to vent.

I had Max on before Ray (Tiny would also have been an interesting choice) but I don’t think this means Ray gets his number retired

Ray Allen doesn't belong anywhere near the top 25 Celtics, never mind the top 15. He was a good player for the team, but was only here 5 years and it's not like he tore it up in the playoffs.

As for Reggie, it was such a tragedy. Once Bird retired, he immediately became the star of the team - gone way too soon. I am glad his number is retired.

Ray:  5 seasons, 1 title, 3x All-Star, 16.7 ppg

Max:  8 seasons, 2 titles, 0x All-Star, 13.7 ppg

Reggie: 6 seasons, 0 titles, 1x All-Star, 17.6 ppg

Ainge: 8 seasons, 2 titles, 1x All-Star, 11.3 ppg

Macauley: 6 seasons, 0 titles, 6x All-Star, 4x All-NBA, 18.9 ppg

Tiny:  5 seasons, 1 title, 3x All-Star, 12.5 ppg

Antoine:  8 seasons, 0 titles, 2x All-Star, 20.6 ppg

Howell: 4 seasons, 2 titles, 1x All-Star, 18.0 ppg

Tatum: 4.5 seasons, 0 titles, 3x All-Star, 1x All-NBA, 20.4 ppg

Anybody I missed?

Not winning a title hurts, but if you're looking at who was the best relative to his peers, it's Macauley.

Possibly Silas?  What I think is interesting is there are only 11 Celtics that have been voted All NBA in a championship season:
Cousy, Sharman,  Havlicek, Heinsohn, Russell, Tiny, Sam Jones, Bird, Garnett, Cowens, Pierce

[tenn_smoothie]

Roy, you have to include rebounding in those player comparisons, plus their defensive ability.
Max excelled in both areas, along with coming up huge in the biggest playoff wins of that era.
He fully deserved that Finals MVP in 1981.

Wasn't Max averaging 20+ ppg before the arrival of Parish and McHale ? He willingly gave up his big scoring role in order to do other things that team needed to win, defense and rebounding. Easily top 15 in my book.

I sometimes wonder if we had not traded Max after the '85 season - would we have won two more titles instead of just one. I realize that Bill Walton was a key ingredient in making the 1986 Celtics the greatest team in league history, but I think a healthy Max in that season would have produced the same title and certainly could have gotten us over the hump in '87.

I share the other poster's loss of never getting to see Reggie and Len Bias lead the team into the 90's. With some of our other very good draft picks during that time and the 80's star providing all their talent and requiring less minutes, we would have won more titles.

[JSD]

Toine made 3 all star teams