Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Congrats to Ray Allen, Dino Radja and Charlie Scott, who join the ranks of basketball's finest tonight 👏 #18HoopClass pic.twitter.com/hVqwyTfrP9
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 7, 2018
On Friday night in Springfield, MA., Ray Allen becomes the latest person associated with the Boston Celtics to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Allen joined with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett before the 2007/08 season to help Boston win its 17th NBA championship. Allen played 5 seasons in Boston before dramatically leaving via free-agency to join Lebron James and the Miami Heat. Allen averaged 16.7 points per game during his Celtics career. He currently is the NBA’s career record holder for 3-pointers made with 2,973.
Also being inducted to the Hall on Friday is another former Celtics – Dino Radja – for his contributions to international basketball. Radja played 4 seasons in Boston from 1993-1997, averaging 16.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Charlie Scott, who played for Boston from 1975-77, is also being inducted by the veteran’s committee.
NBC Sports Boston: The long list of Boston Celtics in the Basketball Hall of Fame
In their 72 seasons, the Celtics have had 37 players, five coaches and three contributors inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Not all of them were truly Celtics – for example, Pete Maravich, Shaquille O’Neal and Bob McAdoo each played fewer than 40 games in green and white. But so many real Boston legends – Russell, Bird, Heinsohn, Havlicek and almost all of those whose numbers hang in the Garden rafters – are enshrined in Springfield. That’s one of the reasons Boston is the NBA’s most renowned franchise.
Dino Radja was honored more for his international success than for his time in Boston, but he understood.
Once a Celtic, always a Celtic ☘️#18HoopClass https://t.co/CO31WxFT3f
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 8, 2018
Related links
MassLive: Boston Celtics’ Kyrie Irving, Danny Ainge, Larry Bird attend 2018 Basketball HOF induction of Ray Allen, more | Former Boston Celtics big Dino Radja thanks Celtics in Hall of Fame speech, ends with ‘Go Patriots’ | Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement 2018: 10 memorable moments
ESPN Boston: Ray Allen revels in 2008 Celtics at Hall of Fame induction: ‘Never in my wildest dreams’
NBC Sports Boston: Allen shouts out Garnett, Pierce in Hall of Fame speech
ESPN: Welcome to Springfield: The candidates we’d put in the Hall (including Celtics Danny Ainge, Chuck Cooper and coach Bill Fitch)
Globe: It’s time to let Ray Allen back into the Celtics fraternity | The old Celtics Ubuntu was back as Ray Allen joined hall of fame
Boston Sports Journal: Remembering Ray Allen’s 20 best moments as a Celtic
Yahoo: Hall of Fame highlights: Ray Allen praises Celtics teammates
On Page 2: Red and Charlie
Most of you reading this probably never saw Charlie Scott play. Many of you also probably saw his name and said, “who?” But the way Scott became a Celtic is one of those stories that made Red Auerbach a legend.
Scott was a two-time All-America selection in college, but before the NBA draft he committed to play in the rival American Basketball Association. No NBA team wanted to waste a pick on Scott, but Red had a plan: he took Scott in the seventh round (back then the draft went as many as 10 rounds), because Red was wise enough to recognize he had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
After two seasons in the ABA, Scott wanted to jump to the NBA and Phoenix – but the Celtics owned his NBA rights. Red squeezed the Suns, and in exchange for Scott the Cs received All-Star Paul Silas. A 6’7” power forward, Silas was a strong defender and top rebounder, the perfect match-up for All-Star Dave DeBusschere of the Knicks, Boston’s most fierce rival in the early ’70s.
Silas played four years in Boston, averaging double-figures in points and boards, and winning titles in 1974 and 1976. But the Silas acquisition wasn’t the end of the Charlie Scott story.
In the off-season of 1975, Auerbach traded away Paul Westphal, a guard who wasn’t starting in Boston but who was clearly too talented to be a bench player. The word was that Westphal would likely leave as soon as he became a free agent. Red dealt him before that happened … to Phoenix … for Charlie Scott.
Westphal went on to become All-NBA, but the Celtics didn’t lose the trade. Scott played 35 minutes per game and averaged 17.6 points in his first season in Boston. Ironically, the Celtics met the Suns in the 1976 Finals. Game 5, on a Friday night in Boston, was the epic triple-overtime battle that’s widely considered the best game in NBA history. Westphal was electric and almost carried the Suns to a dramatic victory. Scott fouled out in limited minutes.
The exhausted teams then flew to Phoenix for a Sunday afternoon game not even 36 hours later. With the quick turnaround, Scott was the freshest starter on either team – and he took advantage. In 42 minutes, he scored a game-high 25 while adding 11 rebounds, three assists and five steals. Boston closed out the series, won Banner 13, and Auerbach smoked yet another victory cigar.
Red being Red.
One more thing about Charlie Scott: His legacy is more than as a player, and he’s deserving of the Hall of Fame.
In 1967, Scott, a native of New York became the first black athlete to play at North Carolina and one of the first the south.
The way he carried himself as a student, a basketball player and person helped the paved the way for other players who followed.
On Friday, Charlie Scott will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for his remarkable playing career, but the honor brought attention to his status as a pioneer, one he’s naturally quite proud of.
“It was a responsibility I was taking on. I wanted to do the best I could because my measurement would be how others would be measured that came after me,” said Scott, who averaged 22.1 points in three seasons in Chapel Hill. “Every game I played in college was more of a relief than a joy. I understood the importance of it.”
And, finally… Whoa, Nellie
Don Nelson grew up in the Midwest, played at the University of Iowa, was drafted by the Chicago Packers (an actual NBA team), and later, after being cut by the Lakers, was signed as a free agent by Red Auerbach. In Boston, Nellie wore number 19, which is now in the rafters. He was awkwardly unathletic, but possessed a killer upfake and even led the league in FG percentage one season. He won five rings with the Celtics. And look at that picture – in the ’70s, when everyone had long hair, the young Nellie was friggin’ wholesome.
But times change. Nelson, who is in the Hall of Fame for being one of the NBA’s all-time winningest coaches, showed up in Springfield like this:
https://twitter.com/Sam_Vecenie/status/1038202754215206913
Maybe this article from last May will clarify:
Nellie did an interview with the New York Times published Monday in which he reveals he’s living in Hawaii, playing high-stakes poker games against Willie Nelson, Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson.
He also mentions finding out after 29 years that he fathered a child on a road trip with the Celtics and shares his memories of visiting wounded soldiers during the Vietnam war.
It’s a fantastic interview and you should absolutely read the whole thing, but what I want to highlight here is his newfound appreciation for marijuana. Willie Nelson recently got him to start smoking weed and now he’s got a medical card, which allows him to grow up to 10 plants on his farm. He’s even got his own strain, with a nickname and everything.
Sports Illustrated: Don Nelson Grows His Own Weed Called ‘Nellie Kush’
Frankly, the Don Nelson who was a champion in Boston could never play in today’s NBA. But he’s still keeping up with the youngbloods.
The Rest of the Links:
NBC Sports Boston: Blakely: Jayson Tatum the next Kevin Durant? Not yet, but he’s trending there | Daniel Theis on track to be ready for training camp
The Players Tribune: So I Broke My F*cking Nose
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