This is #13 in a series of threads to determine the 25 greatest Celtics of All-Time.
It´s the off-season, and we need something to talk about besides nonsensical trade-rumors.
So I thought we could make a big poll to decide once and for all who are the greatest Celtics of all-time. I´m sure it has been done many times before, and I know that it´s tricky to rate our legends, but I think there´s no better place for this than Celticsblog, and I haven´t seen such a poll here before.
Players to consider:
Don Chaney
Charlie Scott
Ray Allen
Nate Archibald
Cedric Maxwell
M.L. Carr
Frank Ramsey
Satch Sanders
Don Nelson
JoJo White
K.C. Jones
Jim Loscutoff
Kevin Garnett
Paul Silas
Ed Macauley
Reggie Lewis
Danny Ainge
Rules1. Only former or current players are eligible.
No former coaches, GMs or owners. The Celtics´ history has just too many characters to include all of them.
You can´t vote for a player who has already won one of the earlier polls.
2. You can include off-the-court performances.
Although only former or current players are eligible, it is perfectly fine to include Tommy`s contributions as a coach and broadcaster, Danny Ainge`s work as a GM or Dave Cowens´ nap on a parkbench after celebrating with the fans in 1974 in your evaluation.
3.
You have three votesThe first vote is worth 4 points, the second 2 points, and the third 1 point. This system is certainly more suited for a poll like this than a simple "one vote" poll.
Just write a post with your votes, and after the poll is closed, I will go through the thread and count every vote personally. I´ll close the poll in 2-4 days.
#1 Bill Russell
#2 Larry Bird
#3 John Havlicek
#4 Bob Cousy
#5 Kevin McHale
#6 Tommy Heinsohn
#7 Paul Pierce
#8 Dave Cowens
#9 Sam Jones
#10 Robert Parish
#11 Bill Sharman
Winner of the last poll:
Dennis Wayne "DJ" Johnson3-Time NBA Champion
NBA Finals MVP (1979)
All-NBA First Team (1981)
All-NBA Second Team (1980)
6-Time NBA All-Defensive First Team
3-Time NBA All-Defensive Second Team
5-Time NBA All-Star
A prototypical latebloomer, the 6'4" Johnson overcame early struggles and had a successful NBA player career. Playing the roles of shooting guard in his first years before becoming a point guard with the Celtics, he won three NBA championships, winning the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in the 1979 NBA Finals, was voted into five All-Star Teams, in one All-NBA First and one Second Team, and into nine straight All-Defensive First and Second Teams. Apart from his reputation as a defensive stopper, Johnson was known as a clutch player who made several decisive plays in NBA Finals history.
For his feats, the Celtics franchise has retired Johnson's number-3 jersey, which hangs from the rafters of the TD Banknorth Garden. Despite his performances, Johnson was denied induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and is therefore considered by several sports journalists as one of the most underrated players of all time.
Prior to the 1983-84 NBA season, the Celtics had repeatedly lost in the previous NBA Playoffs campaigns to the Philadelphia 76ers, mainly because physical Sixers guard Andrew Toney routinely caused problems for their defensively fragile backcourt. Thus, Celtics general manager Red Auerbach added the perennial All-Defense Team member Johnson to his squad. Johnson joined a squad led by Hall-of-Fame forward Larry Bird, who played in the frontcourt with two fellow Hall-of-Famers, center Robert Parish and forward Kevin McHale, a combination often called the best frontcourt of all time by the NBA. Johnson described it as a "dream come true" and enjoyed the tutelage of highly successful Celtics general manager Auerbach, who was "living history" according to Johnson.
With the Celtics, Johnson changed his playing style for the third time in his career: after being known as a slam dunking shooting guard with the Sonics, and an all-around scorer with the Suns, he now established himself as a point guard who defined more by playmaking than scoring.[4] In his first year as a Celtic, he averaged 13.2 points and 4.2 assists and was elected to the All-Defensive Second Team. The Celtics reached the 1984 NBA Finals, where they met the Los Angeles Lakers, their intense rivals since the 1960s. The Celtics won 4-3, and Johnson took credit for playing smothering defense on Hall-of-Fame Lakers playmaker Magic Johnson, limiting him to a sub-average 17 points in the last four games, and being at least partly responsible for several of the Laker point guard's game-deciding errors in Games 2, 4 and 7. As a result, Magic Johnson was from that moment on taunted as "Tragic Johnson" whenever Lakers and Celtics played against each other.
In the following 1984-85 NBA season, Johnson continued playing smothering defense, earning his next All-Defensive Second Team call-up while averaging 16.9 points and 7.3 assists per game. The Celtics went into the 1985 NBA Finals, and met the Lakers again. Johnson's big moment came in Game 4: when the score was tied 105-105, teammate Larry Bird had the ball in the last seconds. Being double-teamed by Lakers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, Bird passed out to the open Johnson, and the guard sank a 19-foot (5.8 m) buzzer beater which won the game. However, the Lakers took their revenge this time, winning the series in six games, powered by venerable 38-year old Finals MVP Abdul-Jabbar. Johnson described this loss as one of the toughest ever, because the Celtics were "close [to winning the series]" but "could not get the job done".
In 1986, the Celtics came back. Helped by the performance of Johnson, who made the All-Defense Second Team again while scoring 17.8 points and 6.7 assists per game, the Celtics reached the 1986 NBA Finals against the up-and-coming Houston Rockets, led by the "Twin Towers" of centers Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon. Led by Finals MVP Larry Bird, the Celtics beat the Rockets 4-2, and Johnson won his third title.
The Celtics were unable to repeat their title in 1987 despite several dramatic playoff victories. Johnson played strong defense again, earning yet another All-Defensive Second Team call-up, and the Celtics embarked on a nail-biting playoff campaign.
In the 1987 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Celtics split the first six games against the Milwaukee Bucks 3-3. In the deciding Game 7, which the Celtics won, Johnson had a spectacular play with 1:30 left in the game: a Celtics ball threatened to fly out of bounds, but Johnson dived for it, whipped it backwards in mid-air against Bucks center Jack Sikma, and the ball ricocheted against Sikma before going out of bounds. The Celtics kept the ball and prevented a crucial turnover.
In the next round, the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics faced the Detroit Pistons. It was described as a grudge match between two intense rivals, featuring a great level of personal animosity, sharp rhetoric and several physical altercations. The center of this feud was Pistons pivot Bill Laimbeer, who got into brawls with Celtics players Bird and Parish. In Game 5 of this series, Johnson was involved in a crucial play: down by one point, Larry Bird stole an inbounds pass by Pistons point guard Isiah Thomas with six seconds left and passed it to a sprinting Johnson, who converted a difficult layup as time expired. This play caused Celtics broadcaster Johnny Most to shout out one of his most famous quotes: “Now there's a steal by Bird! Underneath to DJ who lays it in!!...Right at one second left! What a play by Bird!! Bird stole the inbounding pass, laid it up to DJ, and DJ laid it up and in, and Boston has a one-point lead with one second left! Oh, my, this place is going crazy!!!” According to Johnson, this play is his personal favorite of all-time.
Game 6 and Game 7 also featured a feud, this time between Pistons forward Dennis Rodman and Johnson. In Game 6, which the Pistons won, Rodman taunted Johnson in the closing seconds by waving his right hand over his head. When the Celtics took Game 7, Johnson went back at Rodman in the last moments of the game and mimicked his taunting gesture.
In the 1987 NBA Finals however, the Celtics succumbed to their rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, with 2-4 because Lakers playmaker and Finals MVP Magic Johnson was unstoppable.
In the next 1987-88 NBA season, the veteran Johnson averaged 12.6 points and 7.8 assists, but in the 1988 Playoffs, the aging Celtics were unable to beat the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The next two seasons were disappointing for the aging Celtics. In the 1988-89 NBA season, Johnson (who statistically declined to 10.0 points and 6.6 assists per game) and his team made the 1989 NBA Playoffs on a meagre 42-40 record, but immediately were eliminated in the first round. The following 1989-90 NBA season was Johnson's last. The now 35 year old playmaker relinquished his starting point guard role to younger John Bagley, but when Bagley dislocated his shoulder, Johnson played "rejuvenated" and was lovingly called "our glue man" by coach Jimmy Rodgers. In his last season, Johnson started in 65 of his 75 games, averaged 7.1 points and 6.5 assists, but the aging Celtics failed to survive the first round of the 1990 NBA Playoffs.
Johnson retired prior to the 1990-91 NBA season. On his retirement ceremony, his perennial Los Angeles Lakers opponent Magic Johnson telegraphed him and lauded him as "the greatest backcourt defender of all time". In addition, Celtics colleague and triple NBA Most Valuable Player award winner Larry Bird called Johnson the best teammate he ever had.
Source: Wikipedia
Final Outcome (points in parenthesis):
Total Votes: 29
Dennis Johnson (75)
JoJo White (50)
Kevin Garnett (36)
Reggie Lewis (20)
Ed Macauley (8 )
Cedric Maxwell (6)
Satch Sanders (4)
Danny Ainge (3)
K.C. Jones (2)
Frank Ramsey (1)
Ray Allen (1)
Topic: 25 Greatest Celtics of All-Time : #13 (Read 11313 times)