25 Greatest Celtics of All-Time : #23

[paintitgreen]

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.

I feel like Ainge is getting shafted here.  He deserves more credit for taking this team out of the trenches and turning them into a champion for the first time in over 20 years.   A LOT more credit.

Ainge gets my vote easily

agreed. considering the parameters of the ranking, he should've been top 20.

I take the word "can" as indicative of an optional instruction. I opted to ignore off court contributions since I don't feel like giving bonus points to guys who had the opportunity to coach or manage the team after playing unless I can include non-players who made significant off-court contributions. And since the rules specifically said, in mandatory fashion, "Only former or current players are eligible" I couldn't include Red and Brown and Most. So I, like some others I think, decided to consider only the players' playing careers, focused on their time with the Celtics. So I'd have put Ainge 24th based on his time playing with the Celtics, as part of probably the best starting 5 we ever had. However...

howell (6yrs with c's....hall of fame)
chaney (better than kc)
ainge

how you can put toine or nelson over howell is because of age

I knew very little about Bailey Howell and hadn't ever looked into his numbers. Now that I see what he did, I realize what a great player he was in Boston. I mean, averaging right around 20 points a game for 3 straight years, during 2 of which we won titles, is a huge contribution. I guess what's gone against him thus far is that he only played 4 years in Boston. But he was a FAR bigger part of the Celtics championship teams of 68 and 69 than Nelson was.

I can see Nelson getting in ahead of him based on longevity (in my mind, kind of like Havlicek getting 3rd ahead of Cousy and Cowens based on far more years played despite the fact that those other two, unlike Hondo, were league MVPs in Boston) - 11 seasons in Boston, 5 titles - but there's no way Ainge did more as a player than Howell now that I see what Howell did. I would take back my vote this round if I could, but I already made it. Howell will definitely be on my next list though, and thanks for the heads up, hardly. I know other people have mentioned him, but you putting him first and throwing that quote out made me want to find out more about Howell. And I'm glad I did. That's why I enjoy this exercise - I feel like I've become a more knowledgeable Celtics fan through it.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/howelba01.html

[Edgar]

To play devls advocate he only have ONE all star game in Boston (first year)
and all his carrer here was downhill in production.
seems like a player picked in the downside of his carreer

and with .852 hall of fame probability you have to guess how much of that belongs to celticsness

well Toine is .153  , but hes still active.

and play ALL his prime life as a celtic where he lost all his good years.

[Edgar]

To play devls advocate he only have ONE all star game in Boston (first year)
and all his carrer here was downhill in production.
seems like a player picked in the downside of his carreer

and with .852 hall of fame probability you have to guess how much of that belongs to celticsness

well Toine is .153  , but hes still active.

and play ALL his prime life as a celtic where he lost all his good years.

their MVP ranks for a year are almost identical

MVP Award Shares

1997-98 NBA  (12)


MVP Award Shares

1960-61 NBA  (8 )

[slamtheking]

Radja
Palacio
Walker

Holy Christmas Dino made the list.  And here I was just joking about it in the last voting cycle.  Wow, even Milt got some love 

[slamtheking]

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.

I feel like Ainge is getting shafted here.  He deserves more credit for taking this team out of the trenches and turning them into a champion for the first time in over 20 years.   A LOT more credit.

Ainge gets my vote easily

agreed. considering the parameters of the ranking, he should've been top 20.

I take the word "can" as indicative of an optional instruction. I opted to ignore off court contributions since I don't feel like giving bonus points to guys who had the opportunity to coach or manage the team after playing unless I can include non-players who made significant off-court contributions. And since the rules specifically said, in mandatory fashion, "Only former or current players are eligible" I couldn't include Red and Brown and Most. So I, like some others I think, decided to consider only the players' playing careers, focused on their time with the Celtics. So I'd have put Ainge 24th based on his time playing with the Celtics, as part of probably the best starting 5 we ever had. However...

I came at this from almost the same approach.  On court contributions were my primary barometer but this late in the selection process I figure Danny should benefit from some of his GM work to get him on the list.  Without considering his GM work, he doesn't make the top 25 IMHO.

[Gemini]

Ainge
Walker
Nelson

[Edgar]

Radja
Palacio
Walker

Holy Christmas Dino made the list.  And here I was just joking about it in the last voting cycle.  Wow, even Milt got some love 

this is just pulling a toine.

I love it

[Casperian]

Ainge
Allen
Chaney

New poll tomorrow.