On this day in Boston Celtics history, the Celtics raised champion point guard Dennis Johnson’s jersey to the rafters, honoring the two titles and seven seasons the San Pedro, California native played for Boston. A product of both Los Angeles Harbor College and Pepperdine — Johnson matriculated from the former, a junior college, to the latter — the point and shooting guard was taken with the 29th overall pick of the 1976 NBA draft by the (then) Seattle SuperSonics (now, Oklahoma City Thunder).
DJ — as he was often called as a nickname — would play for that team and the Phoenix Suns before being dealt to Boston in 1983, winning a title with the Sonics in 1979.
The Celtics acquired Johnson for Rick Robey and draft assets, quite a steal in retrospect.
The Californian retired at the end of the 1991 season when the Celtics did not offer him a new contract and began working with the team as a scout.
He would accept a position as one of the team’s assistant coaches in 1993, which he would remain until 1997.
Johnson would continue as an assistant or interim head coach or scout until his passing in 2007. As an additional, posthumous honor, he would be admitted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Rest in peace, DJ.
It was also on this date in 2003 that former Boston big man Kendrick Perkins played his first game as a Celtic.
It was in a 105-98 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Gund Arena and saw Perkins play a mere 28 seconds of garbage time, far too little time to record anything to his stat line.
Mercifully it was not indicative of his later career.
Happy birthday Charles Claxton! #Celtics pic.twitter.com/VowxeBnfd6
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) December 13, 2020
Today is also the birthday of Celtics short-timer Charles Claxton, father of current Brooklyn Nets big man Nick Claxton. He came into this world in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands in 1970.
The undrafted Georgia product played a total of three games for Boston in the 1996-96 NBA season 0.7 points and rebounds per game both.
Happy birthday Andre Turner! You only played for the good guys for about 19 days, so for the life of me, I couldn’t find a picture of you in Celtics gear. But I did find this. Clyde Drexel’s dunking OVER you when he was at Houston and you at Memphis state:#Celtics pic.twitter.com/VBs1hcXwmj
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) December 13, 2020
Claxton shares that birthday with former Celtics floor general Andre Turner, born this day in Memphis Tennessee in 1964.
Oddly enough, Turner also just played three games as a Celtic before being waived in 1986.
On this date in 1961, Hall of Fame big man Wilt Chamberlain hung 52 points and 30 rebounds on the Celtics at the old Boston Garden playing for the (then) Philadelphia (now, Golden State) Warriors.
As was often the case with Chamberlain, the Celtics still came away with the 123-113 win with only two other of his teammates scoring in double figures after Wilt’s dominant play took them out of the game.
In a 109-97 win over the (then) Seattle SuperSonics on this day in 1989, Boston Hall of Famer Larry Bird scored a triple-double nearly as impressive as Wilt’s big game.
The Hick From French Lick dropped 40 points, 11 boards, and 10 assists to get the win for the Celtics.
A triple-double of similar impact was had by Boston legend Antoine Walker on the same date in 2002 in a 115-100 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Employee No. 8 logged 33 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists to come 7 points shy of Bird’s feat on the same day 13 years earlier.
Finally, it was also on this date in 1965 that Boston signed big man Woody Sauldsberry as an unrestricted free agent in what would prove to be the last stop of his NBA career.
The Texas Southern product played 39 games with the team for the rest of the season, logging 4.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
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