The great Bill Walton has died

[angryguy77]

Sucks all these greats are passing before seeing the team get 18.

[Roy H.]

RIP.  Forever a Celtic.

Condolences to his family.

[SHAQATTACK]

Always a unique and interesting person. With great insight.  I watched him as a little guy play on TV when he was a college great.  I loved his Portland team .  Dude was a beast. Gone , but will always be remembered.
Thanks for all the great memories Bill !

[Neurotic Guy]

So sad about this. Walton was one of a kind and was a major contributor to a banner. Seems like a guy who had great impact on the people around him.  Also a person who had an interesting personal journey.  RIP.

[A Future of Stevens]

Oh wow that's so sad. That's too bad. He seemed like a nice man.

[BASS_THUMPER]

In San Diego about 30 years ago he use to bring Luke to the North Park Rec  to play ball. Mr Walton was a cool dude..

*sippin*

[Indocelts]

I have never watched him play as a Celtic, but he is a great ambassador of the Celtics nation. Great personality too. Rest in peace, Bill.

[tenn_smoothie]

Though I usually give Bill Russell the nod, for at least the one season when he was able to stay on the court, 1977, Bill Walton may have been the greatest of all time. Defensive anchor, central rotation point of the offense, top rebounder, best passing center of all time, absolute intense competitor.

God Bless & God Speed, Bill.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Sucks all these greats are passing before seeing the team get 18.

 

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Rest in Peace Big Red....and say hello to DJ for us. 

two greats from 86 team gone. ainge, mchale, bird and chief better appreciate our team this year. they better soak it in.

[0003323344]

Walton was one of the greatest college players ever. For 3 years he dominated at UCLA winning 2 championships. He averaged a double double in his NBA career and won 2 championships. I was 29 when he helped the Celtics win the 1986 NBA championship. RIP Bill.

[Kernewek]

My favourite Celtic alumni when it comes to what he did outside of the organisation, probably.

The world was and is a better place for Walton having been in it, and a worse place for no longer having him around.

[Redz]

Great stuff from Rick Carlisle in the post game last night.  He actually starts out with a clarification of the play thru drew up at the end of game 3 (which is also interesting) then gets into Bill.

https://youtu.be/che0_wCstK8?si=YXxdHHLC8fDsbiof

[aefgogreen]

Walton is similar to John Madden and Tommy Heinsohn in that how you view him speaks to your generation. He had different identities:

One of college's greatest stars
An NBA great with a short but impressive peak
A color commentator with a larger-than-life personality.

As an NBA player, he's somewhat of a "What if." He had so many injury problems, but at this peak he managed consecutive seasons with accomplishments such as All NBA, All Defense, Finals MVP (and Championship) and a Season MVP.

He'll be missed.

[ozgod]

Dan Shaughnessy shared a funny story about Bill's first game with the Cs, against New Jersey, in 1985.

None of us who were there will ever forget Walton’s first Celtic game. Playing in New Jersey, the Celtics blew a 19-point lead to the atrocious Nets and committed 28 turnovers in a 113-109 overtime loss. Walton scored 4 points in 19 minutes, committing five fouls and seven turnovers. He was hard on himself after the game.

“We play a million of these games, and this was just another one, and we knew we were OK,” McHale remembered. “But Bill was really taking it hard. All of a sudden, he stood up and said, ‘I’d like to apologize to all of you for losing the game tonight. I was a disgrace to the game of basketball.’

“None of us had ever heard anything like it, and Larry just snapped at him and said, ‘I sure as hell hope we play better, because I can’t stand hearing this 81 more times. Go have a beer and forget about it.’ ”

Walton did just that, and it ended up being one of the greatest seasons in NBA history.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/27/sports/bill-walton-celtics-2/