When you win 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons as Bill Russell did, you don't just earn a lot of hardware for yourself, you also help fill up the trophy cases of plenty of teammates.
The list below considers every player that was on the playoff roster for one or more of Russell's 11 championship teams (players that appeared in the regular season but not the postseason were ineligible). Editor's note: The players are ranked based on their careers as a whole, not just their time with Boston.
37) Rick Weitzman (1968)
Some of the players that won titles with Russell, like Bob Cousy and John Havlicek, were Hall of Fame players in their own right. Some, like Weitzman, wouldn't even be footnotes if they didn't have the good fortune of happening to play for the Celtics in Russell's era. Weitzman was a Boston native and played his college ball at Northeastern within the city proper. He was the Celtics' eighth selection of the 1967 Draft, #110 overall, but while most of the players picked ahead of him, like Neville Shedd, Ed Hummer, and Andrew Anderson, failed to make the team, Weitzman was one of three rookies on the final roster. Playing shooting guard, he appeared in just 25 regular season games, scoring a grand total of 33 points (good for 1.3 per game). But not only did Weitzman get included on the postseason roster, he made a garbage time appearance in the clinching game six of the NBA Finals against Los Angeles, scoring the final two points of the series in a 124-109 Celtics win. Hoping to return for the '68-'69 season, he was instead forced to retire after suffering a knee injury during training camp. After spending over a decade teaching high school English, Weitzman returned to the franchise in 1980, first as a radio broadcaster, and later as a scout.
36) Dan Swartz (1963)
The swing man positions of the mid '60s Celtics ran pretty deep, with Sam Jones and John Havlicek buttressed by Satch Sanders, Frank Ramsey, and Jim Loscutoff. But there was still room for a scoring forward on the Boston roster in '62-'63, and that spot went to Swartz. He had actually been drafted by the team six years earlier, in the fourth round out of Morehead State. The Celtics cut Swartz during the preseason, and he wound up in something called the National Industrial Basketball League (he was league MVP in '59-'60, for whatever that's worth). He then played a couple seasons in the newly formed ABL, including one year under Celtics great Bill Sharman with the Los Angeles Jets. After that league folded, Swartz got another shot with Boston, and this time made the roster. He averaged 4.5 points per game in 39 regular season games, but appeared in just one playoff game, logging four scoreless minutes in a Conference Finals game two win over Cincinnati. But it was enough to earn Swartz a championship, and a spot on this list. After his one season of glory in the NBA, he spent a couple years in the Eastern Professional Basketball League (which later became the CBA) before returning to his native Kentucky, where he took up tobacco farming and served a term as county sheriff. His son, Chris, was a star quarterback at Morehead State in late '80s, and both father and son are enshrined in the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.
35) Johnny Jones (1968)
34) Mal Graham (1968, 1969)
With 13 players on his roster, but only 12 slots available to offer, Bill Russell had a tough decision to make in his capacity as coach heading into the '67-'68 season. He lined up his four rookies in practice and informed them that he was staging a game of two-on-two. Whichever three of the four of them impressed the veteran player-coach the most would make the cut. The four players were Rick Weitzman, a shooting guard from Northeastern, Neville Shedd, a member of the famous all-black Texas Western 1966 NCAA champions squad, Johnny Jones, product of a tiny school in Los Angeles, and Mal Graham, a point guard from NYU. First-hand accounts have described the game as possibly the most intense two-on-two battle ever staged, with the players understanding they were literally playing for their livelihood. Russell apparently saw something he didn't like in Shedd, who was the final cut, as Weitzman, Jones, and Graham got to ride the wave of the NBA's all-time greatest dynasty to title rings of their own. Jones, a small forward, struggled to break through the rotation at a deep position, stuck behind Satch Sanders and Don Nelson. He did manage to appear in 51 games, averaging 4.2 points per game, and some garbage time during the playoffs, including the clinching game six of the NBA Finals against Los Angeles. Selected by the Bucks in the 1968 Expansion Draft, Jones was unable to make the new franchise's roster and spent the '68-'69 season in the ABA with the Kentucky Colonels, which marked the end of his pro career. While Jones was an unsigned free agent and Weitzman a late-round pick, Graham was Boston's first round choice in 1967. But he didn't get off on the right foot with Red Auerbach, enraging the team's legendary executive by bringing an agent to his rookie contract negotiation. But with K.C. Jones having just retired, Graham was considered a viable piece of the Celtics' post-Russell future, and he logged some decent minutes at point guard in his rookie season (especially when Larry Siegfried missed some time with an injury). Expecting Graham to be a bigger part of the offense in '68-'69, the Celtics were instead disappointed by his sluggish and lackadaisical play. He appeared in just 22 regular season games, and logged three total playoff minutes, as the Celtics won their final title of the Russell era. As the season wound down, Graham was hospitalized for exhaustion, where it was found that a rare disease called sarcoidosis was causing his debilitation on the court. He retired after the season and settled in Boston, where he became a lawyer and later a district court judge.
33) Rich Johnson (1969)
Red Auerbach was caught between a rock and a hard place as the '60s wound down. The rock was his star, Bill Russell, whose imprimatur was inherently required on all roster decisions, forcing Auerbach to attempt to keep the team stocked with worthwhile veterans. The hard place was the future after Russell, where Auerbach knew that he needed an infusion of young talent to rebuild around his younger star, John Havlicek. He ultimately kowtowed to Russell, typically spending high draft picks on guys willing to sit on the bench and contribute little things when called upon. That's where players like Johnson, a fourth round pick out of Grambling in 1968, found their place in NBA history. After losing Wayne Embry to Milwaukee in the expansion draft, Auerbach needed a couple warm bodies to fill out the center position on the depth chart. He drafted Johnson for just that purpose, but when Russell was unimpressed with the youngster, Auerbach traded for a veteran solution in Jim "Bad News" Barnes, by way of the Bulls. But fate intervened in an inscrutable manner for Johnson, when Barnes was soon injured on the tarmac at O'Hare when he ventured a little too close to a jet while switching planes, and was blasted 50 feet by the exhaust. Barnes suffered a concussion and hearing loss, and though he soon returned to the Celtics lineup, he wasn't the same player anymore and eventually fell out of Russell's rotation. That's how Johnson saw playing time in two playoff battles, one against Philadelphia and one against New York, as the Celtics eked out their final championship with Russell. He was a much bigger part of the team's plans in '69-'70, backing up new starting center Hank Finkel. But after Boston drafted Dave Cowens in 1970, Johnson left the team and joined the ABA, where he lasted one season split between the Miami Floridians, Carolina Cougars, and Pittsburgh Condors.
32) Bennie Swain (1959)
If you're going to play just one season as a backup in the NBA, you might as play behind Bill Russell at center and win a championship. Such was the case for Swain, a first round pick from Texas Southern in 1958. He led the NCAA in scoring his senior year, but averaged just 4.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game for Boston in his singular NBA season. As was often the case, minutes got limited as the rotation tightened in the postseason, and Swain's court time decreased even more. He did make appearances in five out of 11 playoff games in 1959, but played just 27 minutes total, with 1.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He appeared on the floor in the first two games of Boston's NBA Finals sweep over the Lakers, but didn't log a point or rebound in either contest. While prepping that summer for the '59-'60 season, Swain suffered a debilitating knee injury that ended his career just as it was getting started. It was a disappointing loss for Red Auerbach, who saw Swain as a potential long-term piece backing up Russell, and was forced to immediately scramble and draft John Richter to replace him. Swain made a go at a comeback, playing in several semi-pro leagues before finally hanging up his sneakers and becoming a high school science teacher and basketball coach. He remained a Celtics fan for life, and passed away in 2008 right after watching the team win their first championship in 22 years.
31) John Richter (1960)
Possessing soft hands and an unstoppable hook shot, Richter was a force of nature for N.C. State in the late '50s, and was an All-American his senior year. After Bennie Swain's unfortunate injury in the summer of 1959, Red Auerbach needed a new backup center to take some pressure off Bill Russell (especially with Wilt Chamberlain now entering the league). Thus, he used his first round pick on Richter, a man he knew would never be anything but a bench player. Lasting just one relatively uneventful season in the NBA, Richter's career stands as the ultimate testament to Auerbach not quite being infallible when it came to scouting and selecting talent. Not that Richter was a terrible player, but he certainly didn't meet the expectations that one would place on a first round back-up. He contributed 4.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game during the regular season in '59-'60, then played in several NBA Finals games, as a burly body to contend with the Hawks' stacked front-line of Bob Pettit, Clyde Lovellette, and Bob Ferry. When the Celtics drafted Satch Sanders in 1960 to fill in more depth in the front court, Richter was unable to make the '60-'61 roster and returned home to his native Philadelphia to continue his career with the Sunbury Mercuries of the Eastern Basketball Association.
30) John Thompson (1965, 1966)
Speaking of Bill Russell's backups, Thompson so ably filled for the role for two seasons that he earned the nickname "The Caddy." Long before he became well-known as the effusively sweaty long-time head coach at Georgetown, mentoring Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson amongst others, Thompson was a solid player in his own right. He left Providence in 1964 as the school's all-time scoring leader and the Celtics drafted him in the third round. Their first round pick was another center, Mel Counts, so Thompson was often shifted to power forward, where there was no real consistent backup at the time behind Satch Sanders. He averaged 3.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in '64-'65, and actually bested his stats in the playoffs, though he only appeared in three games. All three of those games were blowouts one way or the other in the NBA Finals against the Lakers, including the series-clinching 129-96 win in game five. In '65-'66 the Celtics imported veteran Woody Sauldsberry at PF, and Counts improved as a backup center, so Thompson saw his playing time decrease. He did appear in three playoff games again, as the Celtics won their final championship with Red Auerbach as coach. Thompson was drafted by the expansion Bulls that spring, but couldn't make their final roster and started his coaching career immediately with a high school gig in Washington, D.C.
29) Gene Guarilia (1960, 1962)
Craggy yet astute, Guarilia came to the Celtics in 1959 ready to contribute immediately as a role player. The George Washington graduate lasted four seasons, all title seasons with the Celtics, though he only made playoff appearances in two of them. He was Boston's second round pick in 1959, and like their first pick, John Richter, never panned out as more than an end-of-rotation stopgap (the other four Celtics draft picks that year never played a single game in the NBA). Measuring in at 6'5" and 220 pounds, Guarilia was built to last, and though he saw the team's lowest amount of playing time in his rookie year he did make appearances in seven of their 13 playoff tilts, including the last three NBA Finals match-ups against St. Louis. Injuries kept Guarilia on the sidelines for most of '60-'61, but he returned again as a deep bench force the next season. He averaged just 1.2 points and 0.8 rebounds per game during Boston's '62 playoff run, but Guarilia secured his place in Celtics lore in game seven of the NBA Finals. He hadn't played a single minute in the first six games against Los Angeles, but in game seven, with Celtics forwards Tom Heinsohn, Jim Loscutoff, Frank Ramsey, and Satch Sanders all having fouled out, Guarilia was called upon in overtime to take the floor. Lakers star Elgin Baylor had been unstoppable, scoring 41 total in the game, but for his brief time on the floor Guarilia shut down the dynamic forward, and eventually forced him to foul out. Boston won the game 110-107, and when reporters flocked to Bill Russell afterwards, he graciously redirected them to the team's unsung hero, Guarilia. Leg injuries cut Guarilia's '62-'63 season short, and forced him to retire at age 25. He returned to his hometown in Pennsylvania to coach high school ball for 15 years and teach physical education for many more after. In 2015, his school dedicated its arena to Guarilia by inscribing his name and pro jersey number into the court, alongside a pair of Celtics shamrocks.
28) Ron Bonham (1965, 1966)
In the same two seasons that John Thompson was winning championships with Boston mostly riding the pine as a center, the similarly named Ron Bonham accomplished the same feat at the wing positions. A high school legend in Indiana back when that designation carried plenty of weight, he spurned the local schools to study at the feet of Oscar Robertson at Cincinnati. Alongside fellow future Celtics role player Tom Thacker, Bonham led the team to its second straight NCAA championship in 1962. The Celtics selected him in the second round in 1964, in between Mel Counts and Thompson, and the top three picks all managed to just barely make the team as rookies. Bonham saw the least amount of playing time of the trio, but outscored his fellow novices at a clip of 7.4 points per game, thanks to an smooth jumper that was reliable off the bench. Bonham made three appearances in the 1965 NBA Finals, all in games that were decided by 20 points or more and necessitated a late-game emptying of the benches. After Don Nelson was added to the roster as a combo forward, Bonham saw even less playing time in '65-'66. But when Satch Sanders was injured during a Conference Finals game against Philadelphia, Bonham seized the opportunity, scoring 10 points in relief duty in a Boston win. Chicago took Bonham in the 1966 Expansion Draft, but cut him before the season began. He spent one unproductive season with the Indiana Pacers in the ABA, who were hoping to capitalize on the hagiography of Bonham and other local high school heroes. Upon retiring from basketball in 1968, he returned to his hometown of Muncie and spent 38 years working as a county commissioner and parks superintendent.
27) Tom Thacker (1968)
The answer to the trivia question: who is the only player to win NCAA, NBA, and ABA championships? Thacker's collegiate titles came back-to-back with Cincinnati, in 1961 and in 1962 as a teammate with fellow future Celtic Ron Bonham (they made it back to the Final Four in '63, but were upset by Loyola in the championship game). Thacker was thought of so highly by the local Cincinnati Royals that they used a territorial selection on him in the 1963 Draft. Unfortunately, the pro game didn't come nearly as easy to Thacker as it did at the amateur level, and after three disappointing seasons he retired rather than play for the Bulls, who had selected him in the expansion draft. After losing a backup shooting guard of his own in that expansion draft, Jim Barnett to the Rockets, Auerbach lured Thacker back to the NBA for the '67-'68 season. He wound up being an integral part of the Celtics bench that year, posting NBA career highs in minutes played, points, and rebounds. Though Thacker averaged the least amount of minutes on the roster during the playoffs, he did see action in 17 of their 19 games, including game seven of the NBA Finals victory over Los Angeles. Thacker likely would have been part of Boston's plans in '68-'69, but once again he was taken in an expansion draft, this time by Milwaukee. Not wanting to start over with a neophyte franchise, Thacker instead signed with the Indiana Pacers, and contributed off the bench for the 1970 ABA champs. He returned to his alma mater in 1974, becoming the first black coach in the school's history when he helmed the Cincinnati women's team for four seasons.
26) Dick Hemric (1957)
He set the ACC career scoring and rebounding records while at Wake Forest, and held them both for over half of century, so how did he fall to the second round of the 1955 NBA Draft? Well, they didn't call Hemric "Old Oak Legs" just for the hell of it. He got the nickname thanks to his utter lack of mobility, and coupled with being an undersized power forward at 6'6", this made him best suited as a role playing enforcer. He joined the Celtics the year before Bill Russell, and put up decent stats in his rookie year, backing up Jim Loscutoff and Jack Nichols at the forward positions. When not just Russell but Frank Ramsey were added to the roster in '56-'57, Hemric found playing time harder to come by, and mostly entered games just to throw his body around and wear down opposing players for short stretches. Unlike his nine teammates that made the playoff roster and appeared in all 10 postseason games, Hemric took the floor in just two for a total of 19 minutes (during which he managed to grab nine rebounds). He was the only regular player on the '56-'57 team that didn't return in '57-'58, losing his roster spot to rookie Sam Jones. That marked the end of Hemric's pro career and he spent much of the rest of his life working for the Goodyear Tire Company in Akron, Ohio before passing away in 2017. In 2002, he was one of only two Celtics players named to the ACC 50th Anniversary Team (Charlie Scott was the other).
25) Gary Phillips (1962)
The 1962 NBA Finals are still regarded by many as the greatest in NBA history. It was the Lakers' first Finals appearance since moving to Los Angeles, and obvious that this series portended that they and the Celtics would meet plenty more times in the years ahead to decide championships. It featured four legendary players at the height of their dynamism in Bill Russell, Sam Jones, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor. It also featured clutch performances from regular role players like Rudy LaRusso and Frank Ramsey to deeper bench guys like Gene Guarilia. The series went the full seven games, with the Celtics winning the deciding contest in overtime. As for Phillips, his mark on the series constituted two points in one appearance, a game four win for Boston. Despite being their first pick in the 1961 Draft, the combo guard from Houston wasn't expected to contribute much his rookie year. He did see playing time in 67 regular season games, averaging 4.0 points per game. After the Celtics managed to land John Havlicek in the 1964 Draft, Red Auerbach knew Phillips would be further phased out of the rotation, and granted a request for trade to the Warriors. Phillips averaged 7.3 points per game in four years with San Francisco, and returned to the NBA Finals in 1964, losing to his former Celtics teammates in five games. A torn ligament in his ankle forced him to retire in 1966, and he became a successful real estate agent back in Houston.
24) Gene Conley (1959, 1960, 1961)
While Tom Thacker is the only player to win NCAA, NBA, and ABA championships, Conley holds his own impressive distinction as the only player to win MLB and NBA titles. After also starring in track in high school, he scaled back to just the basketball and baseball while attending Washington State, and received contract offers from both the Minneapolis Lakers and Boston Braves upon graduating. Because baseball gave him an immediate opportunity, he chose to join Boston's minor league affiliate in Hartford and was soon the most dominant pitcher in the Eastern League. But he still longed to add pro basketball to his resume as well, and spent a year in the ABL before getting drafted by the Celtics in 1952. Conley's plans to play for both Boston sports teams were ruined when the Braves moved to Milwaukee before the start of the 1953 season. So he left the Celtics after his uneventful rookie year, returning six years later after four MLB All-Star appearances and a relief pitching appearance in the Braves' 1957 World Series title. Despite being 28 years old and out of the game for so long, Conley proved to be a viable scoring and rebounding option off the bench for Boston for the next three years, especially '59-'60, with 6.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. He was eventually taken by the Chicago Packers in the 1961 Expansion Draft, who dealt him to the Knicks, where Conley played out two more seasons before finally retiring from all sports. Though he never went down as a legend in either sport, Conley is the only person who can lay claim to having been a teammate of both Bill Russell and Hank Aaron.
23) Em Bryant (1969)
Just two years of Bryant's career were spent in Boston, and he averaged just 6.7 points per game while there, but for one magical night during the 1969 NBA Finals his scoring helped carry Bill Russell to his 11th and final championship. Bryant never played a minute of basketball in high school, dropping out in his sophomore year and eventually enlisting in the U.S. Air Force. He did play for a military amateur team while stationed in Panama, and decided to give college basketball a try. After one year scoring in bunches at a junior college, Bryant signed up with DePaul and became a star, displaying such athleticism that he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys despite never playing football. He opted to stick with the NBA, and spent several years backing up Walt Frazier on the Knicks. He was taken by Phoenix in the 1968 Expansion Draft, but the Celtics traded for Bryant immediately afterwards. Following K.C. Jones' retirement in 1967, the point guard position was a revolving door in Boston for the final two years of the Russell dynasty. It was filled at times by Larry Siegfried, Mal Graham, Tom Thacker, and even Sam Jones, when Russell refused to trust anyone else. By the end of the '68-'69 season, the starting spot was essentially Bryant's, and though he was mainly a defensive specialist like Jones, he also had the occasional scoring outburst. He saved the best for last, scoring 18 and 20 respectively in games six and seven of the NBA Finals, both Celtics wins to erase a 3-2 series deficit against the Lakers. Before those games, Bryant hadn't scored more than 17 points in a single game all season. He hung around with Boston for '69-'70, but then was taken in another expansion draft, this time by Buffalo, with whom he spent the last two years of his career.
22) Johnny McCarthy (1964)
Keeping up the theme of trivia answers, there have been only three players to record a triple-double in their NBA playoff debut. LeBron James was the latest in 2006, and before him Magic Johnson did it in 1980 (Ben Simmons almost became the fourth in 2018). But the original was McCarthy, who recorded 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists for the Hawks in a Conference Finals opener against the Lakers in 1960. After growing up in Buffalo then playing college ball at Canisius, McCarthy was natural fit on the local Rochester Royals, who drafted him in 1956, but moved to Cincinnati just two years later. He was then traded to St. Louis in 1959, where he was a key bench scorer for three seasons, as the team lost back-to-back NBA Finals against Boston. After taking a year off to play for the Pittsburgh Rens of the ABL, McCarthy returned to the NBA with the Celtics for the '63-'64 season. It was the team's first season without Bob Cousy, and they needed a PG to slot in behind K.C. Jones. McCarthy fit the bill perfectly, though his playing time decreased as the season progressed, and he wound up playing in just one playoff game, for eight total minutes. That's enough to put him on this list though, as Boston won the championship over San Francisco. McCarthy eventually became a head coach, taking over for Dolph Schayes on the Buffalo Braves in the '71-'72 season.
21) Jim Loscutoff (1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964)
One of the most popular players of the Bill Russell Celtics era, both in the stands and the locker room, thanks to his endless defensive effort, Loscutoff was a member of six Boston title teams, but played in 20+ minutes per game for only two of them. Though it's the more economical nickname "Loscy" that hangs from the rafters in Boston (in lieu of retiring his #18, which Dave Cowens also later donned, the Celtics retired a jersey with "Loscy" in place of any number) it was the earlier nickname of "Jungle Jim" that better described his exploits on the court. Though the idea of an "enforcer" has usually been confined to hockey, it has a long tradition in basketball, especially in the NBA's earliest days, and Loscutoff is one of the true paradigms of the archetype. He never compiled impressive stats but Loscutoff was the guy Red Auerbach sent out there to protect Russell by deterring physical opponents like Bob Pettit, Red Kerr, and Wilt Chamberlain. It was a bit of a curious career path for a scoring leader at Oregon, whom the Celtics took #3 overall in 1955, but it's a testament to Auerbach's ability to spot and mold team-centered talent that fit roles and stepped up in the clutch when needed. Never was this more true than in game seven of the 1957 NBA Finals, a back-and-forth contest with St. Louis that went to double overtime. With just seconds left on the clock and the game tied, Loscutoff, with just one point in the box score at that point, was fouled and put on the line. He calmly sank both free throws, and Boston celebrated their first championship.
20) Jack Nichols (1957)
Pro basketball, dentistry, or the marine corps? That's not your typical career decision, but it's the one Nichols had after graduating from Washington as an All-American. He chose to do all three, spending nine seasons in the NBA, taking a break in-between to serve as a Marines officer, and interspersing his time for games and practices with attendance of dental school. Nichols was drafted in the first round by Red Auerbach in 1948, but on the Washington Capitols not the Celtics. He started in the BAA Finals as a rookie power forward, when Washington lost to George Mikan's Lakers. He lasted half a season longer with the club than Auerbach did, getting traded to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, who soon became the Milwaukee Hawks. Despite averaging a double-double in '50-'51, Nichols took the '51-'52 season off to serve in Korea. He played two seasons in Milwaukee before getting traded to the Celtics in 1953, reuniting with Auerbach just as he was building his new team into a consistent contender. By the time Bill Russell joined the squad during the '56-'57 season, Nichols was about to turn 31 but still supplied solid scoring and rebounding off the bench as Boston won its first championship. By the time the Celtics lost the 1958 NBA Finals to St. Louis, Nichols had completed his doctorate at nearby Tufts University, and retired from basketball to devote himself full time to dentistry. But he did get one notable opportunity to put his training to use before fully finishing his studies. During game four of the 1957 Finals, Bob Cousy was hit so hard in the mouth that a tooth popped out. Nichols immediately sprung into action, attending to Cousy on the court. The early training served him well later in life, when he became the team dentist for the Seattle SuperSonics.
19) Don Chaney (1969)
There's a stark contrast on this list between guys like Jim Loscutoff, whose career was muted statistically but whose performances were vital to six Boston titles, with guys like Chaney, who was a minor bench warmer for just one Celtics championship in the Bill Russell era, but whose career was ultimately more impressive on paper. Chaney holds two unique distinctions in Celtics lore: he's one of only three players to win titles with the team in both the '60s and '70s (John Havlicek and Don Nelson are the others), and he's the only player to suit up with both Bill Russell and Larry Bird. Chaney played alongside plenty of other legends in his career, running with Elvin Hayes at Houston University, and later Moses Malone with the Spirits of St. Louis, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the Lakers. In between the shooting guard was a member of Russell's final title run in 1969, averaging just 3.6 minutes per game in those playoffs, and the Celtics' championship run in 1974, by then a leading defensive stopper and key scorer. Carrying on the legacy of great Celtics defenders through the '70s, Chaney was named 2nd-Team All-Defensive five times during the decade. After one season in the ABA with St. Louis and one-plus season with the Lakers, Chaney returned to Boston and retired as a Celtic in 1980. He immediately became a scout for the franchise and eventually transitioned into coaching, becoming the head coach for the Clippers in 1984.
18) Larry Siegfried (1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969)
When John Havlicek started playing at Ohio State in 1959, the team was led by All-American Jerry Lucas and a brash guard named Larry Siegfried. The dynamic trio carried the Buckeyes to the 1960 national title, and returned to the Final Four in 1961. Despite being a highly touted prospect who went third overall to the Royals in the 1961 NBA Draft, Siegried's career had stalled completely by 1963. Uninterested in playing for Cincinnati, he returned to his native Cleveland and signed with the Pipers of the ABL (who were owned by George Steinbrenner and coached by Celtics legend Bill Sharman). The ABL lasted just two seasons, and after being subsequently signed and cut by the St. Louis Hawks, Siegfried's career was officially rudderless. He took a job as a high school coach until his old classmate Havlicek, now a budding star with the Celtics, convinced Red Auerbach to give Siegfried a look as a backup guard in the wake of Bob Cousy's retirement. His first two seasons in Boston were relatively quiet affairs, though they both ended in championships. By the '65-'66 season he was a key contributer off the bench at both guard positions, especially with his defensive intensity that had also been so crucial to Ohio State's success (announcer Johnny Most would often exclaim "Ziggy's in his shirt tonight" when Siegfried shut down opposing players). He could also supply a 20-point game here-and-there when Auerbach or Bill Russell's script called for it. Siegfried was there for the last five titles of the Russell era and even extended his career further, playing for the Celtics in '69-'70, and then short stints with the Rockets and Hawks. He spent his retirement back in a small town in his native Ohio, working as a prison counselor and giving an occasional motivational speech.
17) Mel Counts (1965, 1966)
Considered one of the NBA's biggest all-time busts or a conclusive innovator, depending on who you ask, Counts was also the rare player who straddled the divide between Boston and Los Angeles in the '60s. He played in two NBA Finals titles for the Celtics over the Lakers, in 1965 and 1966, then suited up for the other side, losing heart breakers in 1968 and 1969. Traded from L.A. to Phoenix in 1970 for Gail Goodrich, Counts would never return to the glory of winning championships in his first two seasons, nor would he ever fulfill his promise of greatness when the Celtics took him #7 overall in 1964. A seven-footer back when that was a rare thing, Counts was an All-American at Oregon State and a member of the 1964 U.S. Olympic team. With Clyde Lovellette retiring, Red Auerbach was determined to find a new backup center for Bill Russell in the 1964 Draft. He nabbed Counts with the last pick of the first round, one spot ahead of New York taking Willis Reed. The expectations for Counts were simple: become a capable surrogate for Russell, then take over the legend's job when he chooses to retire. He delivered on the first promise, adding solid minutes off the bench as the Celtics won the 1965 and 1966 titles, but Auerbach was unimpressed with his overall development and traded him to Baltimore for Bailey Howell. He was soon dealt to Los Angeles, where Counts was the starter in '67-'68 before hitting the bench behind another legend, Wilt Chamberlain. It's arguable that Counts then contributed to another Celtics title in 1969, when he entered game seven late to spell an injured Chamberlain, but coach Butch Van Breda Kolff inexplicably left Counts on the floor even after Wilt professed himself ready to return to action. Despite his bust label, Counts was revolutionary as one of the first seven-footers with a short soft jumper, and future stars like Patrick Ewing and Al Horford owe him gratitude for that weapon in their arsenal.
16) K.C. Jones (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966)
After grabbing his real prize, Bill Russell, in the first round of the 1956 Draft, Red Auerbach decided to appease Russell by also taking his San Francisco teammate and friend, Jones, in the second round. Jones joined Russell on the 1956 U.S. Olympic team in Melbourne, then served his two-year army commitment before finally joining the Celtics for the '58-'59 season. Auerbach had a solid championship-proven rotation already at guard, with Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, and Frank Ramsey, so minutes were hard for Jones to come by early on. He eventually endeared himself to Auerbach in the most linear way possible, through hard work, toughness, and a willingness to take on any job. He had actually tried out for the Los Angeles Rams as defensive back right after his discharge from the army, and supposedly would have made the team if not for an injury during training camp. That tenacity from football served Jones well on the court, as he made his bones as a defensive stopper and hustle guy. Though he never averaged double-digit points, or more than 6.3 assists per game, he became a regular in the Celtics rotation, and eventually took the starting point guard job after Cousy's retirement. The Celtics won eight straight championships in Jones' first eight years, a run still unmatched in the annals of major U.S. pro sports. He probably could have won more rings, but starting his career at age 26 put a succinct expiration date on it. After retiring in 1967 he immediately became the head coach at Brandeis University, eventually becoming an assistant on the Lakers, then head coach of the Bullets, leading them to the 1975 Finals, then eventually making his way back to Boston, helming the Celtics for five years in the '80s, winning two championships.
15) Willie Naulls (1964, 1965, 1966)
Long before Lew Alcindor, Marques Johnson, and Bill Walton, the first big star under John Wooden at UCLA was Naulls. Not quite the all-encompassing powerhouse they would later become, the Bruins made just one NCAA tournament in Naulls' time there, and were summarily dismissed in the first round in 1956 by Bill Russell's San Francisco, which was en route to a second straight title. Naulls was drafted by the Hawks, and would have squared off against the Celtics in the 1957 NBA Finals, but was traded to the Knicks midway through the season. He spent several years as a high-scoring star on terrible New York teams, at one point becoming the NBA's first black team captain (Russell would become the second just a year later). In six seasons with the Knicks despite making four All-Star teams, Naulls saw postseason action just once, a first-round sweep at the hands of Syracuse in 1959. Fate intervened before the '63-'64 season when he was sold to the Celtics, who needed veteran depth at forward. He was a perfect fit off the bench, able to play both forward slots and give a much-needed scoring boost without negatively affecting the team's defensive integrity. He also occasionally filled in as a starter, and one night early in the '64-'65 season, with Tom Heinsohn injured, Naulls became a member of the first all-black starting five in NBA history, joining Russell, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, and Satch Sanders for the opening tip. Naulls had an 18-point performance in game three of the 1964 NBA Finals (during a loss to San Francisco) and contributed mightily to all three titles he won. After his three seasons in Boston, Naulls retired from basketball. He eventually founded his own ministry in California, which specializes in youth enrichment and development, largely through athletics.
14) Wayne Embry (1968)
Like many of the players on this list, Embry came to the Celtics in acceptance of a role player position late in his career, hoping to win a championship after years of being a star player for lesser teams. Drafted by the Hawks, but traded immediately to the Royals, he was a five-time All-Star in eight seasons with Cincinnati. In his prime, the undersized center was the third scoring option behind Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman (later replaced by Jerry Lucas), including in 1963, 1964, and 1966, when Embry matched up against Bill Russell as the Royals lost tough Conference Finals series to Boston. Embry's best days were certainly behind him when he was traded to the Celtics for a third round pick right before the '66-'67 season. He was even considering retiring to take a sales manager job for Pepsi when his old rival Russell called up and asked him to reconsider playing one more season. That one season ended in disappointment, as Boston fell to the 76ers in the Conference Finals, so Embry was coaxed into playing one more season one more time. His stats in '67-'68 were relatively minimal, but his toughness, especially in setting picks, was immeasurable, as the Celtics won the championship. Like Tom Thacker and Johnny Jones, Embry was taken by Milwaukee in the 1968 Expansion Draft, and was named team captain, putting up one turn-back-the-clock season for the Bucks before finally retiring. Citing Red Auerbach as an influence and inspiration, Embry immediately moved into the Milwaukee front office, and in 1972 became the first black general manager in league history.
13) Carl Braun (1962)
Before he ever suited up for the Celtics, Braun had a successful 12 seasons with the Knicks to his name, that included five All-Star appearances, two 2nd-Team All-NBA designations, and a career high 16.5 points per game in '57-'58. It didn't include a title, however, as his Knicks teams made seven playoffs, but only one NBA Finals, a five game loss to the Lakers in 1953 (Braun missed the '50-'51 and '51-'52 Knicks seasons that also ended in NBA Finals losses due to military service). Even though he was the franchise's first major superstar and all-time leading scorer at the time, the Knicks waived Braun in 1961. As was often his wont, Red Auerbach snatched the supposedly washed-up combo guard off the cutting room floor. Then 34 years old, Braun's role on the Celtics was minor, mostly as a warm body to fill in at point guard when Bob Cousy and K.C. Jones needed a spell. Braun appeared in six playoff games, averaged 4.2 points per game, and walked away with a championship when Boston defeated the Lakers in a thrilling seven-game Finals series. Box scores prove that he did take the floor at some point during that legendary game seven overtime thriller, though he did not score a point while he was out there, missing all three field goals he attempted. He retired after that game and turned to stock broking. Before starring for the Knicks, Braun also spent some time pitching in the minors for the Yankees.
12) Don Nelson (1966, 1968, 1969)
Most of the Lakers' woes during the '60s were simply attributed to the bad luck of peaking during Bill Russell's dominance, but every now and then something obviously self-inflicted arose. One such case was with Nelson, a player whose potential was lost on the Lakers when they signed him in 1963, after the Chicago Zephyrs had already drafted and given up on him. He was cut by Los Angeles after two seasons, and the former All-American seemed to already be finished when Red Auerbach snatched him out of the bargain bin in 1965. To be fair to the Lakers (and Zephyrs, who later became the Bullets), players like Nelson, a sluggish forward, were becoming a dime-a-dozen by the mid '60s. He succeeded the same way most Celtics players from that timeframe did, through hard work, intellect, and a willingness to be a jack-of-all-trades. After averaging 5.1 points per game his first three seasons with the Zephyrs and Lakers, Nelson put up 10.2 in his first year with Boston, with Auerbach wisely accentuating his accuracy and efficient scoring off the bench. He eventually became as important as anybody not named John Havlicek to Boston's last three titles with Russell, then hung around long enough to win two more championships with the team in 1974 and 1976. In fact, it was Nelson who was responsible for the final basket in the Russell era, a jump shot that clinched game seven of the 1969 NBA Finals against the Lakers, the team that considered Nelson to be expendable all those years ago. He became head coach in Milwaukee immediately after retiring as a player, kicking off over three decades on the sidelines that landed him in the Hall of Fame.
11) Andy Phillip (1957)
About a decade before Wayne Embry was traded to the Celtics in his twilight years to chase an elusive title, one of the NBA's first superstars extended his career to join the team just as the dynasty was getting started. Phillip was already 25 years old when he left college at Illinois in 1947 to join the fledging BAA. He was drafted by the Chicago Stags and quickly became one of the league's top guards, leading the NBA in assists for the '49-'50 season before the Stags were forced to fold. A draft was held to disperse their players, and Red Auerbach was supposedly hot after Phillip. The Warriors managed to nab him, however, and Auerbach instead settled for another ball handling guard named Bob Cousy. Six years, five All-Star Games, two Finals appearances (1955 and 1956 with the Pistons), and two more assist titles later, Phillip was cut by Fort Wayne and Auerbach got his chance to add him to the roster. He was only a minor contributer during the '56-'57 season, as Cousy was given a lion's share of available minutes, but Phillip earned a championship ring that spring, and returned for one last season, retiring after the Celtics dropped the 1958 NBA Finals to St. Louis. He then took over as coach of the rival Hawks for the '58-'59 season, but stepped down just two weeks in. In 1961 Phillip became the first member of a Celtics championship team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
10) Satch Sanders (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969)
There is, perhaps, no one more emblematic than Sanders of the Bill Russell era Celtics' business plan of workmanlike dedication to individual roles in a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The man born Tom Sanders but mostly known as "Satch" due to his resemblance to Satchel Paige, was also called "The Quiet Man" by his teammates and coaches. That's because he liked to let his game do the talking, mostly on the defensive end. Aside from Russell, Sanders was probably the best all-around defender the Celtics had, due in large part to his versatility. He would often find himself covering a power forward like Jerry Lucas one night, a small forward like Rick Barry the next, and then a center like Willis Reed afterwards for good measure. This defensive adroitness especially came in handy in the postseason, when Boston, already flush with scorers, just needed someone to exert full effort chasing around Elgin Baylor or Chet Walker. If the NBA All-Defensive team existed in the '60s, it would be dominated by three Celtics in particular in Russell, Sanders, and K.C. Jones. When it was finally introduced for the '68-'69 season, Sanders was a 2nd-Team selection, even as his aging body was beginning to break down. He also added plenty of rebounding and scoring when called upon, averaging 11.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in his five year prime, starting in '61-'62. He won eight championships, third all-time only to Russell and Sam Jones, and lasted several more years with Boston after Russell's retirement, finally hanging it up himself in 1973. After becoming the first black coach of any Ivy League team at Harvard, Sanders had a brief run as Celtics coach, taking over for Tom Heinsohn in 1977. He eventually went to work for the NBA executive office, founding and running the league's first rookie transition camp for several years in the early '80s.
9) Arnie Risen (1957)
As a member of the Rochester Royals in the late '40s and early '50s, Risen is mainly remembered as George Mikan's biggest rival, kind of the Wilt Chamberlain to his Bill Russell, despite standing only 6'9". By the time he joined the Celtics in 1955, he was the greatest star in Royals history, having led the team to the 1951 championship, and being named to four All-Star teams. After averaging a double-double in each of the first five seasons the NBA officially counted rebounds, Risen's stats dropped significantly in his time with the Celtics, when the 30-something center became more of a specialized bench enforcer than a team centerpiece. Risen's first season in Boston was spent backing up Ed Macauley, then in '56-'57 he kept the seat warm at center for a couple months while Russell played in the Olympics in Melbourne. He settled into a reliable reserve role for Russell's first two seasons, taking home a championship ring in 1957 in the process. When Russell was injured during the 1958 NBA Finals against St. Louis, it was Risen that took over again at center, showing some of his old prowess as Boston came up just short of winning the championship despite Russell's absence. After retiring in 1958, Risen eventually became one of the first vocal proponents of retired NBA players' rights, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998.
8) Frank Ramsey (1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964)
In their first NBA Finals in franchise history in 1957, the Celtics went to double overtime with the Hawks in game seven. At the time, St. Louis seemed to be the future of the NBA, led by stars Bob Pettit and Cliff Hagan. They also had a reliable veteran center in Ed Macauley, whom many thought Red Auerbach had unwisely dumped in a trade for an unproven rookie named Bill Russell. With the game tied 123-123, Boston had one last chance to win it in double overtime. The ball made its way inside to Ramsey, who hit a jumper at the buzzer to deliver the title to Boston. Considering the way they dominated the next 12 years, it's probably presumptuous to call that moment a pivotal one in NBA history. Let's stick with monumental, as it portended the rise of the Celtics, not the Hawks, as the NBA's new (and eventually greatest) dynasty. Ramsey didn't start that game, and in fact spent most of his career coming off the bench, as he was molded by Auerbach into a new concept: a prototypical sixth man. Though he was often only the team's fifth leading scorer, Ramsey's sweet scoring touch was his biggest asset along with his court sense, and he lasted nine seasons with Boston, winning championships in seven of them. Similar to fellow early '60s mainstays Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman, Ramsey was a chess piece that Auerbach had already acquired and placed before he netted Russell in 1956. Drafted #5 overall by the Celtics in 1953 after a star career at Kentucky, he was slated to be the starting small forward of the future, but after missing the '55-'56 season due to military service, he came back to find his position filled by Jim Loscutoff. Ramsey instead assumed his revolutionary role as the first guy off the bench, and it served both his legacy and that of the team quite well. Auerbach supposedly was so impressed with his basketball knowledge and instincts that he asked Ramsey to replace him as head coach in 1966. He turned down the offer but eventually did try his hand at coaching with the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA.
7) Clyde Lovellette (1963, 1964)
One of the few holdovers from the pre-shot clock era that actually continued to thrive in the more dynamic late '50s, Lovellette bridged the divide in the Celtics-Hawks rivalry, playing for St. Louis in the 1960 and 1961 NBA Finals as a starting center, battling Bill Russell, then for Boston in 1963 and 1964, coming off the bench to spell his former sparring partner. He actually got his start backing up another legendary big man in George Mikan on the Lakers, but Lovellette wasn't particularly happy about the Lakers drafting him in 1952 just to play second fiddle. Even as he became one of the league's premier stars of the mid '50s, he was unfairly shouldering much of the blame for the Lakers' slow slide into mediocrity after Mikan's retirement. The Hawks actually sold Lovellette to the Celtics during a rebuilding process in 1962, and at age 33 he was more than willing at that point to take a conciliatory role behind a legend. After averaging 20+ points per game for three straight years with St. Louis, Lovellette didn't give the Celtics much statistically, just 6.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, but he played his part and took home two championships. He still holds the distinction as the only player to lead the NCAA in scoring and win the championship the same year, in 1952 with Kansas. Lovellette is likely also the only player to ever fight Russell on the court, during a 1960 game while playing with the Hawks, and then later become his teammate.
6) Bailey Howell (1968, 1969)
With Bob Cousy, Frank Ramsey, and Bill Sharman gone, plus Bill Russell and Sam Jones aging and possibly disengaging, Red Auerbach knew in 1966 he had to make a move to keep the roster fresh. As they piled up championships leading to low picks, and other teams were hiring savvier general managers, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Boston to build through the draft, with only John Havlicek and Satch Sanders standing out as contributers selected in the '60s. Auerbach responded by trading his top pick from 1964, center Mel Counts, for a veteran combo forward on the Bullets named Bailey Howell. Howell had actually been a star center at Mississippi State, and he still holds the SEC rebounding record. He shifted to the forward positions in the NBA, but retained his rebounding intensity, averaging a 20+ points and 10+ rebounds in three different seasons early in his career with the Pistons. After becoming used to carrying lesser-talented teams for years in Detroit and Baltimore, it was a welcome change for Howell joining the Celtics in 1966. He was the team's third leading scorer in the 1968 playoffs, after Havlicek and Jones, and scored 30 points in Boston's clinching game seven of the NBA Finals against Los Angeles. His scoring and rebounding contributions were a little lighter in '68-'69, but there's no doubt the Celtics would not have scratched-and-clawed their way to that final Russell title without Howell. After sticking around for the first post-Russell season in Boston, Howell also spent a year with the Sixers before retiring in 1971. He returned to his home state of Mississippi, where he's still revered, and the yearly award for best collegiate player in the state is named after him.
5) Bill Sharman (1957, 1959, 1960, 1961)
The most overlooked star of the Celtics championship dynasty didn't get his start in the NBA until age 24, after several years languishing in the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system. Sharman first played for the Washington Capitols, and when that franchise folded in 1951, he was dealt to Boston via the Pistons. Though he would often claim that baseball was his first love, Sharman became one of basketball's most important players as he defined the modern concept of the shooting guard. The very idea of a playmaking point guard seamlessly matching up with a sharpshooting shooting guard started with Sharman and Bob Cousy on the Celtics in the '50s. Before Bill Russell came along they were the unquestioned team leaders. Sharman led the NBA in free throw percentage seven times in his career, and finished top ten in scoring every season between '52-'53 and '58-'59. He was also 1st-Team All-NBA four times, 2nd-Team All-NBA three times and an All-Star on eight occasions. Based on his understanding that aiming for the back of the rim was a better bet than the front, Sharman became the first guard to shot 40%+ from the field, doing so in '52-'53 and then consistently for the rest of his career. He was already 30 years old by the time Russell joined the team, but Sharman hung around long enough to win four championships, and his play arguably only suffered slightly in his final season, '60-'61. As a guy obsessed with honing precision through practice, it was no surprise that Sharman quickly transitioned into coaching. It had to take his former teammates aback though when Sharman accepted the head coaching position with the long-time rival Lakers in 1971 (Sharman did attend high school in central California, and played his college ball at USC). Presiding over Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, Sharman coached the team to its first championship since moving to Los Angeles (he also took home an ABA title as coach of the Los Angeles Stars in 1971).
4) Tom Heinsohn (1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965)
Has a pro team ever had a draft more fruitful in terms of championships than the Celtics in 1956? They drafted three Hall of Famers that day - Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, and Heinsohn - which carried them to 11 titles over the next 13 years. Taken as a territorial pick after playing at Holy Cross, Heinsohn actually beat out Russell for the Rookie of the Year award, and led the team in scoring (and was second to Russell in rebounding) during the '56-'57 playoffs, as Boston won its first title. In fact, Heinsohn was the team's leading scorer quite often, in a prime that ended prematurely due to his almost perverse aversion to health and wellness. Just as players like Russell were modernizing the basketball player ideal with diet and exercise, Heinsohn stuck with his cheeseburgers and chain smoking, and by age 28 was essentially washed up. That didn't stop him from staying effective on the court, though his career steeply and linearly declined in his last four seasons. But was a prime it was. It's easy to dismiss his legacy as inflated by his association with Russell, which is a fair argument, but despite his apathetic approach to fitness, he was no slouch on the court himself. Heinsohn was Boston's leading playoffs scorer in the 1957, 1960, 1961, and 1963 title runs, and almost always finished second in rebounding behind Russell. He was also named to six All-Star teams and was 2nd-Team All-NBA four times. One year after his 1965 retirement Heinsohn was offered the head coaching job by Red Auerbach, but turned it down in deference to Russell. Heinsohn wouldn't stay away for long though, taking over the clipboard in 1969 after Russell retired as a player-coach, and guiding the Celtics into their next great era, winning titles in 1974 and 1976. After stepping down from coaching in 1979, Heinsohn transitioned immediately into television, becoming Boston's distinctive color commentator, handing out "Tommy Points" for 40 years and counting.
3) Sam Jones (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969)
Only Bill Russell himself has won more championships than Jones, and it's no coincidence that Jones was an integral part of all of them. With a regal demeanor and a humble Southern upbringing, he seemed to connect with Russell like no other teammate, on and off the court. Even though he may have been the most athletic player in the league, pound-for-pound, Jones always preferred to shy away from the spotlight. But when it came down to the clutch, and the Celtics needed a basket, his number was called more often than not. For all his accomplishments, Russell is not typically remembered for many individual postseason moments, and that's because most of the biggest ones were reserved for Jones. One such occurence was the 1962 Eastern Conference Finals against Wilt Chamberlain and the Sixers, when Jones' jumper with two seconds left in game seven clinched the Celtics' berth into the NBA Finals. Another came at the end of his career, in game four of the 1969 NBA Finals, when he again hit a game-winning jumper to tie the series 2-2. Like Russell (when healthy), Jones finished his career with a perfect record in game sevens, 9-0, and averaged a remarkable 27.1 points per game in those do-or-die contests. Not that his regular seasons were spent in storage, waiting for prime time to contribute. On the contrary, Jones was undeniably the best shooting guard of his era, taking the mantle from teammate Bill Sharman, and was named to five All-Star Games and 2nd-Team All-NBA three times (the 1st-Team All-NBA guard positions in the '60s were dominated by point guards Jerry West and Oscar Robertson). As is usually the case, Russell himself put it best when he called Jones the greatest athlete he ever played with, and recalled that in eight championship runs, he asked Jones to take six season-altering shots, and not a single one was missed. After retiring with Russell in 1969, Jones made a brief foray into coaching, but quit after one season as an assistant in New Orleans after squabbling with ownership. He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1984, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, and in 1969 became the first black athlete inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame (for his time starring at North Carolina Central).
2) John Havlicek (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969)
It seems like a weird thing to say about one of the 25 greatest players of all-time, but it's sometimes easy to overlook Havlicek. He wasn't Bill Russell's running mate through the whole decade like Sam Jones, he wasn't a dynamic play maker like Bob Cousy, and he wasn't a full-on Boston institution like Tommy Heinsohn. Drafted by the Celtics in 1962, the former Ohio State star spent an awe-inspiringly consistent 16 seasons with the club, winning six titles in the Russell era and two more in the '70s. From the moment his playing time increased in '63-'64 in the wake of Cousy's retirement, it was obvious that Havlicek was a special talent. He could essentially do anything on the floor, like a Russell in miniature, be it as a scorer, passer, rebounder, defensive stopper, or just general hustler. Havlicek came off the bench through most of the '60s, with Red Auerbach refining the sixth man role he had created with Frank Ramsey. Despite not starting he was often the Celtics' leading scorer, especially late in the decade. His series clinching steal in game six of the 1965 Conference Finals against Philadelphia is legendary (immortalized by announcer Johnny Most exclaiming "Havlicek stole the ball!"), as was his performance in the 1969 NBA Finals, essentially putting the team on his back as the worn-down Russell and Jones were battling just to stay above water. Russell may have called Jones the best athlete he ever played with, but he left even higher praise for Havlicek, calling him the best all-around player he ever called a teammate.
1) Bob Cousy (1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963)
An All-Star in all 13 seasons he played in the NBA (not counting his ill-fated comeback in 1969), Cousy carried the Celtics in the years before Bill Russell arrived, then rode his star teammate's wave to seven titles. Boston reached the Conference Finals three straight years with Cousy as their best player, but never further. Russell's rookie year was not only Cousy's first championship, but also his MVP award season. The Cooz's accomplishments beyond that are legion. He led the league in assists eight straight seasons, was 1st-Team All-NBA 10 straight seasons and was an elite defender to boot. He was the first player to average eight-plus assists for a season (in '55-'56) and almost won the scoring title in '53-'54. With a flashy, dynamic style that would seem to run anathema to the Russell/Red Auerbach ethos, it was Cousy's speed and expert ball handling in space that Boston would use to full advantage. Russell's rebounding and outlets were the foundation of their fast breaks, but Cousy's dribbling and decision making was the surface. Even at age 33, Cousy was running maybe the most powerful offense/defense combo in NBA history during the '61-'62 season, as Boston averaged 121.1 points per game while simultaneously leading the league in defensive efficiency. He was really the secondary heart and soul of the early title teams as well, an intense perfectionist and student of the game, willing to antagonize or plaudit teammates as needed to make the team engine run smoothly. They called it the "Boston Tear Party" when Cousy returned to the Garden in 1964 for his retirement ceremony, as his emotions ran heavy while his #14 was lifted to the rafters. As the certified team leader when the Celtics drafted Russell in 1956, Cousy has recently lamented that he didn't do more to help Russell feel more welcome amidst the racism of Boston fans, going so far as to publicly apologize for not speaking out at the time.
An All-Star in all 13 seasons he played in the NBA (not counting his ill-fated comeback in 1969), Cousy carried the Celtics in the years before Bill Russell arrived, then rode his star teammate's wave to seven titles. Boston reached the Conference Finals three straight years with Cousy as their best player, but never further. Russell's rookie year was not only Cousy's first championship, but also his MVP award season. The Cooz's accomplishments beyond that are legion. He led the league in assists eight straight seasons, was 1st-Team All-NBA 10 straight seasons and was an elite defender to boot. He was the first player to average eight-plus assists for a season (in '55-'56) and almost won the scoring title in '53-'54. With a flashy, dynamic style that would seem to run anathema to the Russell/Red Auerbach ethos, it was Cousy's speed and expert ball handling in space that Boston would use to full advantage. Russell's rebounding and outlets were the foundation of their fast breaks, but Cousy's dribbling and decision making was the surface. Even at age 33, Cousy was running maybe the most powerful offense/defense combo in NBA history during the '61-'62 season, as Boston averaged 121.1 points per game while simultaneously leading the league in defensive efficiency. He was really the secondary heart and soul of the early title teams as well, an intense perfectionist and student of the game, willing to antagonize or plaudit teammates as needed to make the team engine run smoothly. They called it the "Boston Tear Party" when Cousy returned to the Garden in 1964 for his retirement ceremony, as his emotions ran heavy while his #14 was lifted to the rafters. As the certified team leader when the Celtics drafted Russell in 1956, Cousy has recently lamented that he didn't do more to help Russell feel more welcome amidst the racism of Boston fans, going so far as to publicly apologize for not speaking out at the time.