In the voting for the 8th best Celtic ever, CelticsBlog gave Tom Heinsohn a huge Tommy Point with a decisive victory. Tommy's 38% equaled Kevin Garnett (20%) and Sam Jones (18%) combined. Today's voting should be wide open as we examine the best of the remaining players from yesterday's vote. Continuing our pattern of highlighting great Celtics of the past, today we look at three players from the 70s and 80s.
Jo Jo White: Can we all agree that it's an absolute shame that Jo Jo isn't in the Hall of Fame? Jo Jo was a two-time champion, a seven-time all-star, a Finals MVP, and made two All-NBA teams. Jo Jo led the Celtics in scoring once and in assists four times, and is in the Celtics top ten all-time in points, assists, steals, FT%, and points per game. He's the team's all-time leader in consecutive games played, at 488. White was a team leader, a very good defender, a solid jump-shooter, and a bundle of energy who once played 60 minutes in a Finals game. In other words, Jo Jo was the epitome of Celtics pride; as former teammate Jim Ard once said, "Jo Jo – he was a strong man. People may not realize that about him. He was an ex-Marine, and he was always in such terrific shape. He could have been a superstar on other teams in the league, but he was all about winning."
Robert Parish: Robert Parish is commonly seen as the third member of the Big Three, but that shouldn't diminish his greatness as a player. In fact, lost in the haze of history, many forget that it was Parish who was seen as the bigger contributor between he and McHale early on. Parish was the Celtics second leading scorer in the 1981 championship season, and the following season he finished fourth in the MVP voting. In '84, Parish again was the team's second leading scorer and the leading rebounder, as he helped lead the Celtics to another title. He was an very good defender and an excellent rebounder, finishing in the top ten in offensive rebounding percentage nine times, defensive rebounding percentage seven times, and overall rebounding percentage nine times. He wasn't just defense and rebounds, though. He finished in the top ten in FG% six times, and as the never-hyperbolic Bill Walton tells us, "He's probably the best medium-range shooting big man in the history of the game." Due to his high-level play on both ends, he made nine all-star teams, and of course won three rings.
Dennis Johnson: It's easy to look at DJ's resume and assume that he doesn't belong in the discussion of first-tier Celtics greats. After all, he never averaged as many as 16 points or 7 assists while with the Celtics, and he only made one All-Star appearance with the Celts. To focus on stats and milestones in such a way would do a grave disservice to DJ, however. First, many don't realize that Johnson was a legitimately great player before coming to Boston; he had four all-star appearances and a Finals MVP on his resume'. He willingly sacrificed stats and individual glory to be a key piece in the Celtics' dynasty of the eighties. He was a lock down defender (shutting down Magic in the 1984 Finals), and was also clutch (it was his buzzer beater that beat the Lakers in Game 4 of the '85 Finals, and he was the recipient of Larry's famous steal against Isiah in the '87 Conference Finals, quickly putting up the layup to win). Despite playing alongside Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, Larry Bird famously called DJ "the best teammate" he ever had.
The tale of the tape (while with the Celtics):
Kevin Garnett:4 seasons, 1 title, 4-time All-Star, DPOY, 1-time All-NBA, 3-time All-Defense
Robert Parish: 14 seasons, 3 titles, 9-time All-Star, 2-time All-NBA
Sam Jones: 12 seasons, 10 titles, 5-time All-Star, 3-time All-NBA
Bill Sharman: 10 seasons, 4http://www.sbnation.com/admin/entries/new?community_id=175&entry_type=Story titles, 8-time All-Star, 7-time All-NBA
Jo Jo White: 10 seasons, 2 titles, 7-time All-Star, Finals MVP, 2-time All-NBA
Dennis Johnson: 7 seasons, 2 titles, 1-time All-Star, 4-time All-Defense
Ed Macauley: 6 seasons, 6-time All-Star, 4-time All-NBA
Reggie Lewis: 6 seasons, 1-time All-Star
Cedric Maxwell: 8 seasons, 2 titles, Finals MVP
Those remaining:
00 Robert Parish
3 Dennis Johnson
5 Kevin Garnett
5 Bill Walton6 Bill Russell
7 Tiny Archibald
8 Antoine Walker
9 Rajon Rondo
10 JoJo White
12 Don Chaney14 Bob Cousy15 Tom Heinsohn
16 Tom Sanders17 John Havlicek
18 Bailey Howell
LOSCY Jim Loscutoff18 Dave Cowens
19 Don Nelson
20 Ray Allen
21 Bill Sharman
22 Ed Macauley
23 Frank Ramsey
24 Sam Jones
25 KC Jones
31 Cedric Maxwell32 Kevin McHale
33 Larry Bird
34 Paul Pierce
35 Paul Silas
35 Reggie Lewis
40 Dino Radja
43 Kendrick Perkins
44 Danny Ainge