The season begins tonight, and a few Celtics have some significant milestones ahead of them this season. Here are a few of them.
KEVIN GARNETT
KG is currently 12th in NBA history with 13,313 rebounds. He needs 436 to pass Hakeem Olajuwon and move into 11th. He needs 457 to pass Wes Unseld and move into 10th. KG’s lowest total rebounding output with the Celtics is 485, and that was in his injury-shortened 2009 season.
KG is currently 18th in NBA history with 24,270 points. He needs 99 to pass Allen Iverson and move into 17th place. He needs 546 to pass Patrick Ewing and move into 16th place. He needs 923 to pass Jerry West and move into 15th place. He needs 1010 to pass Reggie Miller and move into 14th place. KG’s lowest scoring output with the Celtics was 899 in ’09. He scored 947 in last year’s lockout-shortened season. He scored 1056 in ’11.
KG is currently 19th in NBA history with 1,664 steals. He needs 3 to move past Fat Lever into 18th place. He needs 52 to move past Ron Harper into 17th place. Kobe Bryant is in 16th place and likely to pass Magic Johnson. KG needs 61 steals to pass Magic, which would likely land him in 16th as Kobe moves up the list as well. KG had 56 steals last year, 95 the year before that.
PAUL PIERCE
Pierce is currently 25th in NBA history with 22,591 points. He is chasing a moving target in Ray Allen, who is 24th with 22,941. Pierce begins the season needing 351 to pass Allen and move into 24th. He needs 559 to pass Elgin Baylor and move into 23rd place. He needs 586 to pass Adrian Dantley and move into 22nd place. He needs 744 to pass Robert Parrish and move into 21st place. He needs 1166 to pass Charles Barkley and move into 20th place. Pierce’s lowest scoring output in the new Big-3 era was 1181 in last year’s lockout shortened season. He scored 1511 the year before that. One note… numbers 18 and 19 on the list are Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki, and both will add to their totals this year, so Pierce will very likely not move beyond 20 this season.
Pierce is currently 9th all time in 3-pointers made with 1,678. He is chasing Rashard Lewis, who is active and playing for Miami. Pierce currently needs 13 to pass Lewis. He needs 43 to pass Dale Ellis for 7th. He currently needs 84 to pass Peja Stojakovic to move into 6th place. Pierce’s lowest 3-point output in the new Big 3 era is 100 last season. He hit 111 the year before.
Pierce is currently 14th in NBA history in free throw’s made with 6,101. He needs 275 to move into 10th place, past Allen Iverson. Pierce has averaged about 400 made FT’s in each full season of the new Big 3 era.
Pierce’s next steal will be his 1,500th. He is currently 39th all time. Pierce has averaged a little more than 80 steals a season in each full season of the new Big-3 era. 80 steals this season would likely move Pierce into 27th. Larry Bird is currently 29th with 1,556. Doc Rivers is currently 28th with 1,563.
RAJON RONDO
Rondo is 136th in NBA history with 3523 assists. If he plays 80 games and averages 10 assists per game, he will have 800 assists this year. Using that as a rough guide, 4323 assists would be good enough for 81st all time. However, there are 10 active players ahead of Rondo that could throw that number off. Regardless, Rondo will move significantly up the list. For the record, Jerry West is 25th all time with 6,238, so Rondo has quite a ways to go before reaching the top 25.
JASON TERRY
JET is currently 4th all time with 1,788 3-pointers made. He currently needs 87 more 3’s to move past Jason Kidd, who is active and playing with the Knicks. So it’s entirely possible Terry will end the season still in 4th. He did hit 138 3’s last year, while Kidd hit 79… so it will be close.
Those are the most attainable milestones this upcoming season. Chances are good that by the time the season ends, there will be a few revisions to the NBA history book.
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