Boston Celtics: Creating the all-time one-year starting five
By Mark Nilon
Point Guard: Gary Payton (2004-05)
Similar to LSL, on this roster the starting point guard will be Hall of Famer Gary Payton. Traded to the Boston Celtics from the Los Angeles Lakers right before the start of the 2004-05 season, the, then, 36 year old point guard initially was publicly displeased that he landed with the shamrocks, but went on to report to camp and, by opening night, was the team’s starting point guard.
Though not the same player he once was in his prime, Payton did actually wind up having a decent statistical season with the C’s. Through 77 games — was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in February, only to be waived by the team and found his way back to Beantown as a free agent soon after– the point guard put up averages of 11.3 points, 6.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game on 47 percent shooting from the field and 33 percent shooting from deep.
By season’s end he would go on to rank third on the team in win-shares and fourth in defensive win-shares and box plus/ minus.
With him in tow the team would rank first in the Atlantic Division with a record of 43-37 and would go on to lose in seven games to the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
He would later go on to sign with the Miami Heat that offseason, where his ring-chasing journey would end as he’d go on to attain that highly coveted NBA Championship and, by the end of the 2006-07 season, would call it quits on his incredibly impressive NBA career.