Pierce is my favorite, but it’s gotta be Hondo right?

Tom Heinsohn. Rookie of the year, multiple rings, second president of the Players Association, two time championship coach, three time hall of famer: player, coach, broadcaster.

Has to be hondo or cowens or Cousy

Cowens and Cousy were MVPs

Hondo had 8 rings and a Long stretch of being a star

Hondo has this locked for me. I don’t see a debate here at 3rd.

4th, 5th, and 6th is a debate between Cousy, Cowens, and Pierce. For legacy and importance to the game let alone the Celtics I personally would put Cousy at 4, Cowens at 5, then Pierce at 6 (but it’s close and see the arguments).

Next is probably Sam Jones.

Kelly Olynyk

Tatum is coming for that spot with the quickness

It’s Havlicek. No question.

I don’t see any case for it not being Havlicek. 4th place is Cousy, and then there’s a bit of a scrum for 5th. But Havlicek is the scoring leader, 8 rings, a top 30 player in NBA history. No reason it would not be him.

Sam Jones is a top ten Celtic. But since none of us saw him play, and he isn’t undeniable like Bill Russell, he has fallen out of the conversation.

His resume is astounding.

Based on what I was told by the Oldest Heads, Sam was a clutch player and shooter who wanted the ball. He hit a LOT of big shots that literally won titles. He was apparently a lot like Derrick White: quiet confidence and professionalism.

Think of how we’d rank such a player, now. Yeah.

russell, bird, hondo, cousy, mchale are my top 5

Havilcek is 3.

4 and 5 is wicked complicated. Kevin Garnett is, including his time in Minnesota, a top 25 player of all time. So he’s gotta be in? But “in Minnesota” is kind of an issue.

Bob Cousy, Paul Pierce, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and Dave Cowens have better Celtics resumes? They all did more in a Celtics uniform and all are top 75 players.

Six guys for two spots. It’s a battle.

Hondo for sure

Havlicek and McHale.

100% Hondo

Honestly 3rd is just as locked down as the first two

John Havlicek is probably the answer, but I’ll say Paul Pierce, Bob Cousy, and Kevin McHale are all in the conversation. Maybe Jayson Tatum in another few years

If we going talent it’s Garnett if we going franchise legend.. influence gotta be hondo

I think it’s Hondo for sure

Crazy longevity, great all around player, carried the team for a super long time, super reliable

Eventually it’ll probably be Tatum if he sticks around, but he doesn’t have anywhere near the accolades

Seems like a lot of you have forgotten about Sebastian Telfair

I’m surprised to one mentioned KG. Or is he not considered a Celtic?

Pierce but I’m biased as hell

Gotta be Hondo. Still the all time leading scorer for the C’s.

Hondo no doubt. For me it gets mukier after that, but I vote Pierce

It’s Hondo. Better question is who is #4?

Locks? Dude, I can’t decide the first three. Cousy? Russell? Bird? Hondo?

Brian Scalabrine

Tommy is in the Hall of Fame as a player and a coach and is one of the best home team announcers this side of Johnny Most and Chick Hearn— a full Celtics life; a true legend!

Hugo

Seems like Sam Jones came in clutch quite a bit, but hard to know as I haven’t watched any games from that era. Also has the coaching career plus factor.

Hondo has it but I feel like if Kevin Garnett played in Boston as long as Paul Pierce did I would have given it to him.

Isn’t a testament to the greatness of the Celtics organization? All of these names and each could fill the bill.

Hank Finkel, obviously :-).

Tatum

Kedrick Brown

Havlicek.

Whats the metric? Most points? Most championships? Most historic? Just most exciting to watch? Its a pretty broad definition of “best”.

Kg def the 3rd best player to play for the celts even though he’s not a top 5 Celtic all time

Larry Bird is the 3rd best Boston Celtics player of all time in my opinion. Ahead of him at number one is Bill Russell because of how many championships he won with our team and championships overall, and at number two in my opinion is John Havlicek who is the franchise’s all time leading scorer.

I think from a basketball IQ and objective talent and wonder, Rajon Rondo is to be considered. Not on an accomplishment level although the 2008 championship is on his Celtics resume. I think he’ll be a HoF coach when given the opportunity in a few years, believe it or not.

So many great players, Hondo is probably the answer. Honestly, the answer might already be Tatum, or certainly will be in just a few more years. But excluding active players, and besides Hondo, Heinsohn was a 6 time all star and ROY who put ¹⁹⁄₉, though he only shot 40% for his career. Sam Jones, Mr Clutch, 5 time all star, ¹⁷⁄₅. Kevin McHale, 7 time all star , 2 time 6 moy. Top ten all time PF. Robert Parish, Paul Pierce.

So yeah, probably Hondo, then some combo of Pierce/McHale/Parish/Jones/Heinsohn

It’s Hondo. Give it a few years though, and it’ll be Tatum

celtic is red celtics player is pierce or hondo or me (jt coming)

I’d say Hondo.

But I also just want to add that, nostalgia aside, the athleticism, size, strength, and talent of today’s players FAR surpasses the players of the 70’s and 80’s. And almost all the great players of the 60’s would get eaten up by today’s monsters.

Very biased at my age, but Paul Pierce. He was all we had for a long time and finally got some help and a ring and finals MVP. Growing up for me he was Boston basketball.

For me, Havlichek is the obvious #3… From there, I’m torn between Cousy & Cowens for #4… Probably Cousy… Where does Heinsohn fit in??

Hondo. But I fully support that Pierce is next to Legend in the rafters. Both came in and turned the team around after dark times

Do they have to have played in Boston their entire career? Because Shaquille O’Neil and Kevin Garnett are there if you consider their whole careers.

Russell, Larry, Havlicek.

Dino Radja obviously.
No I mean it’s Havlicek.

Havlicek

So first and second are definitively bill and larry i mean if tatum wins one more championship then I say him as for now probably Pierce or Havlicek. John has the added bonus of winning titals without Russell so maybe him over Pierce.

Jaylen Brown. Ffs.

It’s Tatum

Antoine Walker

As a player, Hondo boasts the best balance of individual accolades and contributions across vastly different Celtics squads. The counterargument would be that he never had a “peak” quite like Cousy or Cowens; nor did he have to serve as the team’s primary offensive option for years—like Pierce or Tatum—or act as the main defensive anchor, as KG did (since Hondo generally played alongside elite big men). 

That said, Hondo makes the strongest overall case—considering his longevity and high-level contributions on both ends of the court for his era—and he holds the second-most championship rings among Celtics, trailing only Russell. 

Determining the fourth spot is truly tricky; it depends heavily on how much weight you place on team longevity, individual awards, team success, a player’s peak, and whether you value a specialist who excels in one specific area versus an all-around player.

The truth here is the truth

If we can choose Red, then him. If not, probably Cousy/Hondo.

Question is, where do Pierce and Tatum go in the top 10? In or out?

Cousey. He was a great player and a cool dude. He lived a ten minute bike ride from my home as a kid in Worcester. He would let us shoot hoops at in his driveway and he would come out and play Horse with us.

Hondo got it locked down for me he’s one of the most underrated ever I think the YouTuber Clayton Crowley has a great video on him being the most underrated ever Celtics fans should check it out

Eric the creature Williams.

It’s havlicek

It’s havlicek

Hondo, no question. Cousy is 4th, no question. Then Pierce, THEN it gets jumbled between Cowens, Tatum, and McHale

Tatum, after Bird and Pierce.

Mchale and Reggie tied for me

• 1 Bill Russell
• 2 Red Auerbach
• 3 Larry Bird

I may not understand what 3rd best Celtic means but I think Mchale was the 3rd best basketball player so a little surprised no mention here

Larry Bird. Hondo is #2.

Probably Tatum.

I think it’s kinda an era tax with cowens because the 70s were a meme league with half the talent playing elsewhere.

Pierce doesn’t really have an argument over Tatum tbh. They both had a stretch with meh help and a low tier second option (walker/brown), and Tatum looked a lot better.

Completely different classes of player.

Honestly anyone who doesn’t have Tatum top 2 is just announcing to the sun that they are over the age of 45 lmao. Talent and accolades wise Tatum is clealry second best all time Celtic

It’s Tatum. Period. He’s their 3rd most talented player. You can’t compare titles from those eras to this one. Tatum will get an MVP and many more first team all NBAs. Prob another ring as well. 

Jaylen Brown

If we are talking pure skill. 1. Bird 2. Garnett 3. Hondo