Dana Barros signed with the Celtics as a Free Agent the year after he was named an All-Star and the Most Improved Player of the Year Award with the Sixers.  With all due respect to Barros, the Celtics didn’t get that player, though the Point Guard did get a hometown player who gave them solid efficiency (16.4 PER) and a 10.1 PPG.  Barros' first two seasons in Boston would see him average 12.8 Points, and in his third year, his PER was 18.6.  He would leave Boston as part of a four-team trade, but came back as an Assistant Coach in 2004 and would play in one game that year.

As of this writing, Marcus Smart is entering his ninth season in the NBA, all of which have been with the Boston Celtics.  The 2014 6^th Overall Pick from Oklahoma State, Smart was a good pickup for the Celtics and earned Second Team All-Rookie honors with 7.8 Points and 1.5 Steals per Game season.  Smart would later have two straight seasons where he averaged over 10 Points per Game (2016-17 & 2017-18), and while he dipped below that season, he was sixth in Steals per Game and first in Steal Percentage, which would secure him a First Team All-Defensive Selection.  He repeated his First Team All-Defensive honor in 2020, and his glove-like acumen secured Smart as the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year.  Smart had another good year in 2022-23, but the Celtics traded him after the year in a three-way deal to get Kristaps Porzingis.

Smart might not be the most efficient player, but he leaves everything he has on the court and was a worthy recipient of the 2019, 2022, and 2023 Hustle Award —the third player ever to win the trophy and the first three-time winner.  This is a player whose defense could gain him forever stardom in Boston lore.

Playing for the Boston Celtics for five and a half seasons, Tony Battie was never going to be confused with an elite player, but the Center was strong at the little details that did not appear on a stat sheet.  Averaging 6.8 Points and 5.9 Rebounds per Game, Battie was an expert screen setter and a master of floor placement, which was why the Celtics held onto him for so long, and he would have a 14-year NBA career.

A member of the 2008 NBA Championship Team, Kendrick Perkins arrived in Boston as part of a draft-day trade.  Kendrick, who was drafted late in the 1^st Round, would provide an above-average defense to the Celtics, and he would have two straight top-five Defensive Rating finishes (2007-08 & 2008-09).  Perkins would act as the team's enforcer if need be, and that toughness is hard to quantify, but we hope we did so appropriately on this list.