5 best players in Boston Celtics history

1. Larry Bird

“The Hick From French Lick”, “Larry Legend”…however you want to refer to Bird, he’s my No. 1 on this list of great Celtics.

He entered the NBA in 1979, and immediately led the Celtics to a 32-win improvement over the previous season. His 1979 NCAA Championship Game rivalry with Earvin “Magic” Johnson carried virtually seamlessly into the pros, as the two were central figures in the Celtics-Lakers rivalry throughout the 1980’s that helped revive the league on and off the floor.

A lingering back issue shortened Bird’s career a bit, but he is the Celtics’ all-time leader in points per game (24.3) along with being third in total points (21,791), third in assists (5,695) and fourth in total rebounds (8,974) in franchise history.

Bird was a three-time Three-Point Shootout champion at All-Star Weekend, with six seasons among the top-10 in the league in makes from beyond the arc. He was also a remarkably proficient free-throw shooter, with a career regular season rate of 88.6 from the foul line.

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Bird made the most of what outwardly looked like limited physical gifts by being fundamentally prolific while filling the stat sheet, and he was an underrated trash talker that could back it up. The ultimate compliment to a past player is how modern advanced statistics regard him, and Bird ranks highly all-time by virtually all those measures.