Paul Pierce had a good rookie season (1998-99), averaging just over 16 Points per Game, but it is unlikely that even the biggest diehard Celtic fan knew how good he would become.  Pierce would explode two years later with a 25 PPG year, which was followed by five straight All-Star seasons that included a pair of Third Team All-NBA Selections.  Nicknamed "The Truth", Pierce was an elite shooter and a more than competent court general, but the Celtics didn't have much around him. They couldn't escape the middle of the Eastern pack until the Boston management swung for the fences, landing Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, and this version of the "Big 3" would win it all in 2008, and Pierce would begin a second five-year All-Star run.  In those Finals, Pierce would win the MVP, which was so appropriate given how long he carried the team before he got the help he needed.

There aren’t too many times when a player becomes a Hall of Famer in a career with a team that never wanted him in the first place.

Serious.  The Celtics had the number 1 pick in the 1950 Draft, but they passed on Cousy, a local kid and star at Holy Cross.  The Tri-Cities Blackhawks chose the Point Guard at number 3, but Cousy refused to report, and the NBA brokered him to the Chicago Stags, who subsequently folded.  Three Stags were made available for dispersal: Max Zaslofsky, Andy Phillip, and Cousy, and the Celtics landed Cousy, who again they didn’t want.

Before we begin, just being nicknamed “Hondo” is enough for us to put John Havlicek in our top five!

Havlicek was the 7^th Overall Pick from the 1962 Draft, and he would go on to be the most tenured player in Celtics history with 16 seasons and 1,270 games under his belt.  He rarely missed games, led by example and was a lethal weapon on both ends of the court.  "Hondo" would develop into the game's first real swingman, moving effortlessly from guard to forward.  From 1965-66 to his retirement, he was a perennial All-Star and would average 20.8 Points per Game. This is no surprise, which if you look at his overall tenure he is the Celtic's all-time leading scorer.

While we said that anointing Bill Russell was a lock as our top Boston Celtic of all-time, Larry Bird gave us pause.

Before Bird's arrival in Boston, the franchise was in disarray after being without question the most dominant franchise in the league.  The city craved basketball greatness, and Bird gave them just that.  Bird was the 6^th overall pick in 1978 but joined a year later after staying at Indiana State for his senior year.  As expected, Bird was an automatic superstar winning the Rookie of the Year and being named to his first of what would be 12 All-Star Games.