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Boston Celtics (17x NBA champions)

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Chuck Cooper: The first black NBA draft pick is going to the Hall of Fame

He broke the NBA’s color barrier 69 years ago. Now, the former Boston Celtic is finally getting his due.

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Before LeBron, Kobe and Michael, even before Magic, Kareem and Wilt, there was a time when black players couldn’t play in the NBA — hard to imagine since as recently as the 2015-16 season, more than 74% of the NBA was black. But in 1950, the NBA, a league that is now synonymous with black star power and athletic excellence, had never allowed a black player on a roster.

That all changed when the Boston Celtics picked Chuck Cooper in the second round of the 1950 NBA draft. He became the first African American drafted into the NBA.

Decades after leading the effort to integrate professional basketball, Cooper will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year.

Entire article: https://theundefeated.com/videos/ch...-nba-draft-pick-is-going-to-the-hall-of-fame/

 
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Bill Russell accepts Hall of Fame ring 44 years after induction

Bill Russell says he's finally ready to be a Hall of Famer.

The 11-time NBA champion, five-time MVP, Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA champ said on Twitter on Friday that he was presented with his Hall of Fame ring in a private ceremony that came four decades after he was first selected for the shrine in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Russell didn't attend his induction ceremony in 1975. He says he didn't deserve to be the first black player inducted. He tweeted, "I felt others before me should have that honor."



His tweet mentions Chuck Cooper, who in 1950 was the first African American player drafted by the NBA and who was inducted this year.

Russell says the ceremony was attended by his wife, along with close friends and Hall of Famers Bill Walton, Ann Meyers and Alonzo Mourning.

Entire article: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28088224/bill-russell-accepts-hall-fame-ring-44-years-induction
 
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Bob Ryan: Why 1986 Celtics Are The Greatest Team Of All Time

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The great Bob Ryan joined Toucher & Rich on Tuesday morning to discuss a variety of topics around the basketball world.

With the Golden State Warriors seemingly on the verge of a second straight title, the discussion’s been launched as to whether the team is the greatest of all time. It’s a question that can’t really be properly answered, so Ryan was instead asked if the current-day Warriors could succeed in any other era.

“It’s so funny, it would be as if you dropped in from an alien culture on another planet if you dropped this team into the 1986 NBA,” Ryan said. “It’s like an alien species. There were wild and crazy teams — for example, San Antonio with Doug Moe, or any team that Doug Moe coached was an up-tempo, offensively oriented team whether he was in Denver or San Antonio. There’s a certain similarity there — there were very potent offensive players on his teams — but the idea of the long-range carpet bombing to the extent that they use it with those guys [now], that didn’t exist in those days. So it was a completely different game. Still the concept of basketball 30 years ago was inside-out. The preference was you threw the ball inside to big guys, and either they scored or they threw it back out. But now it’s outside, outside, and farther outside. There have been games where I honestly, truly believe that they have never thrown the ball inside once to anyone asking them to score. And that is just so alien to the way the game was.

“So it’s truly an apples and oranges discussion.”

OK, but with the world’s foremost expert on the 1986 Celtics on the line, the question had to be asked: Were the ’86 Celtics or the current-day Warriors more impressive?

“It’s a bias, naturally. I lived with that team and admired that team and believe that it’s the best team at its best that there ever was,” Ryan said of the Celtics. “Because of the combinations, they could beat you every way. They could beat you inside with Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, and even Larry Bird posting up. And then they could beat you outside with Bird shooting and Danny Ainge and Jerry Sichting and Scott Wedman — they all were good shooters. And Dennis Johnson was a streaky shooter, but he could shoot and could make an occasional 3. And they could beat you that way. They could run; they ran well. They defended in the half court very well. They touched all the bases, they had that great bench.

“And they had that one trump card that I always like to cite as my reason why I believe it’s the best team of all time: There have been other great sixth men in history … but there was never, for that one year, a sixth man who affected the game in the way that Bill Walton did. He was a different kind of a sixth man. He gave them a dimension that no team had. He gave them the best one-two center punch in the history of the game, and that’s unarguable. I don’t think anyone would dare to contradict that statement that there never was a better one-two center punch in the league than Parish and Walton that year. That was a dimension that no team has. Now the game has changed so radically and everybody says the big men don’t matter anymore. I think those big men would make it matter. I just think they would impose their will on the Warriors, and that’s why it would be such a fascinating series.”

Entire article: https://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/06/07/bob-ryan-why-1986-celtics-are-the-greatest-team-of-all-time/
 
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Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Westphal diagnosed with brain cancer

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Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Westphal has been diagnosed with brain cancer, according to his close friend and sports columnist Mike Lupica.

Lupica, a columnist for the New York Daily News and MLB.com who previously worked for ESPN, tweeted Sunday that Westphal has been diagnosed with glioblastoma.

"I've been close friends with Paul Westphal ever since his 1972-73 rookie year with the Boston Celtics and had the pleasure of celebrating his wonderful career with him last September when he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame," Lupica wrote. "With his permission I am letting the basketball world know he has just been diagnosed with brain cancer. Specifically glioblastoma. Please pray for friend, No. 44."

Entire article: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29629411/hall-famer-paul-westphal-diagnosed-brain-cancer
 
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Boston Celtics president Danny Ainge retires, coach Brad Stevens takes over

The Boston Celtics announced Wednesday that Danny Ainge is retiring and coach Brad Stevens is being promoted to president of basketball operations.

The Celtics will start a search for a head coach to replace Stevens and said Ainge will work with the team on the transition through the offseason.

"It was my decision," Ainge said at a news conference Wednesday. "I don't know if there was a moment in time, but like I said earlier, I trust my instincts, and my instincts told me a couple months ago that it was time for me to move on, and that's what's best for us, that's what's best for the Celtics."

Ainge, 62, said he started thinking about the move when he had a mild heart attack in 2019, and he said the last couple of years have been tough because of the pandemic.

Entire article: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...y-ainge-step-brad-stevens-moving-front-office
 
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ScriptOhio said:
Chuck Cooper: The first black NBA draft pick is going to the Hall of Fame

He broke the NBA’s color barrier 69 years ago. Now, the former Boston Celtic is finally getting his due.

dm_190902_theundefeated_chuck_cooper_HOF.jpg


Before LeBron, Kobe and Michael, even before Magic, Kareem and Wilt, there was a time when black players couldn’t play in the NBA — hard to imagine since as recently as the 2015-16 season, more than 74% of the NBA was black. But in 1950, the NBA, a league that is now synonymous with black star power and athletic excellence, had never allowed a black player on a roster.

That all changed when the Boston Celtics picked Chuck Cooper in the second round of the 1950 NBA draft. He became the first African American drafted into the NBA.

Decades after leading the effort to integrate professional basketball, Cooper will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year.

Entire article: https://theundefeated.com/videos/ch...-nba-draft-pick-is-going-to-the-hall-of-fame/

Click to expand...


The Celtics were the first NBA team to draft a black player, and the first NBA team to have a black head coach, yet you have guys like Kyrie Irving telling black players not to go to the Celtics. Kyrie seems to have issues with people everywhere he goes, so perhaps his issues in Boston had nothing to do with him being black? Maybe it's just him?

David Ortiz is beloved in Boston. He became a star there after not doing much with the Twins. Fans support players they like, regardless of color. All one needs to do is look at the success of pro sports in the country. It's higher than ever and blacker than ever. That doesn't mean racists don't exist, but they are the minority.
 
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