Boston Celtics: 17 former C’s make ESPN’s top-74 players list

ESPN recently released the entirety of the list of the top-74 NBA players of all-time. As was expected, players whom have suited up for the Boston Celtics engulfed these rankings.

Though there hasn’t been a single lick of NBA basketball played since the March 11th COVID-19 induced hiatus, that doesn’t mean we Boston Celtics fans have been void of news pertaining to their favorite basketball team.

Recently, ESPN’s NBA experts came together and compiled a fun list ranking the league’s 74 greatest players of all-time. As expected, being they are the winningest team in history, there were numerous former C’s that made their way onto the list.

ESPN broke up the publishing of said list into three parts — nos. 74-41, nos. 40-11 and then the top 10, which was released on Wednesday. While we will not give you a complete rundown of the list — for, frankly, you should just see their in-depth selections yourselves — we will provide you with each former Boston Celtics player listed, and where they ranked:

Top 74 – 41

74. Artis Gilmore

• Member of Celtics: 1988
  • Career Averages: 18.8 PPG, 12.3 RPG, 2.3 APG, 2.4 BPG

68. Pete Maravich

• Member of Celtics: 1980
  • Career Averages: 24.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 5.4 APG

66. Dave Cowens

• Member of Celtics: 1970-80
  • Career Averages: 17.6 PPG, 13.6 RPG, 3.8 APG

61. Robert Parish

• Member of Celtics: 1980-94
  • Career Averages: 14.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 1.5 BPG

59. Bob McAdoo

• Member of Celtics: 1979
  • Career Averages: 22.1 PPG, 9.4 RPG

56. Ray Allen

• Member of Celtics: 2007-12
  • Career Averages: 18.9 PGG, 4.1 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.1 SPG

54. Paul Pierce

• Member of Celtics: 1998-2013
  • Career Averages: 19.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.3 SPG

53. Gary Payton

• Member of Celtics: 2004-05
  • Career Averages: 16.3 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 6.7 APG, 1.8 SPG

48. Bill Walton

• Member of Celtics: 1985-87
  • Career Averages: 13.3 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 3.4 APG, 2.2 BPG

46. Dominique Wilkins

• Member of Celtics: 1994-95
  • Career Averages: 24.8 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.3 SPG

41. Bob Cousy

• Member of Celtics: 1950-63
  • Career Averages: 18.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 7.5 APG

Top 40 – 11

36. Kevin McHale

• Member of Celtics: 1980-93
  • Career Averages: 17.9 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 1.7 BPG, 55.4 FG%

33. John Havlicek

• Member of Celtics: 1962-78
  • Career Averages: 20.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.2 SPG

20. Kevin Garnett

• Member of Celtics: 2007-13
  • Career Averages: 17.8 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, 1.4 BPG

Top – 10

10. Shaquille O’Neal

• Member of Celtics: 2010-11
  • Career Averages: 23.7 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 2.3 BPG

7. Larry Bird

• Member of Celtics: 1979-92
  • Career Averages: 24.3 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 6.3 APG, 1.7 SPG

4. Bill Russell

• Member of Celtics: 1956-69
  • Career Averages: 15.1 PPG, 22.5 RPG, 4.3 APG

While numerous players included on this list only suited up for the C’s for short-stints, and many were past their prime, it is intriguing to see how many all-time talents the franchise has managed to lure in over their illustrious 74-year existence.

17 out of 74 (23%) of the game’s greats have donned the green & white of Celtics threads. Four of said players rank within the game’s top-20 of all time and two shamrock-lifers (Bird and Russell) rank in the top-10.