Yes, we know that this is taking a while!
As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2023 revision of our top 50 Boston Celtics.
As for all of our top 50 players in basketball, we look at the following:
1. Advanced Statistics.
2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Basketball Association.
3. Playoff accomplishments.
4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.
Last year, Boston made history by winning their 18th NBA Championship, giving them the sole lead. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown led the Celtics from beginning to end, giving us some significant list jumps, though no new entrants. That will likely change next year.
As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes:
1. Bill Russell
2. Larry Bird
3. John Havlicek
4. Bob Cousy
5. Paul Pierce
You can find the entire list here.
Jayson Tatum, who added another First Team All-NBA, moved from #15 to #12.
Al Horford inched up three spots to #19.
Jaylen Brown, who won the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVP vaulted to #21 from #27.
We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.
Yes, we know that this is taking a while!
As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity. As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Boston Celtics.
As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:
1. Advanced Statistics.
2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Basketball Association.
3. Playoff accomplishments.
4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.
Last year, Boston made it to their second Eastern Conference Final, and they are legit contenders to make it there again. There were some significant jumps on the list based on last season.
As always, we present our top five, which was not affected by the last season:
1. Bill Russell
2. Larry Bird
4. Bob Cousy
5. Paul Pierce
You can find the entire list here.
Jayson Tatum only went up two spots to #15, despite a second consecutive First Team All-NBA, but that is more due to the incredible players the franchise has had.
Veteran Center, Al Horford, went up two spots to #22.
Jaylen Brown, who was named a Third Team All-NBA player last year, advanced five spots to #27.
Marcus Smart, who is now with Memphis did not jump from #29. This is not a reflection on Smart’s season, but more of a commentary on how loaded this list is and how hard it is to jump.
We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.
There aren’t too many times where a player becomes a Hall of Famer in a career with a team who never wanted him in the first place.
Serious. The Celtics had the number 1 pick in the 1950 Draft, and they passed on Cousy, who was a local kid and a star at Holy Cross. The Tri-Cities Blackhawks chose the Point Guard at number 3, but Cousy refused to report, and the NBA brokered him to the Chicago Stags, who subsequently folded. Three Stags were made available for dispersal, Max Zaslofsky, Andy Phillip and Cousy, and the Celtics landed Cousy…who again they didn’t want.