Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics were founded in 1946 as a charter member of the Basketball Association of America, which would merge with the NBL to form the NBA in 1949. The early years were unremarkable on the court, but two foundational decisions changed everything. In 1950, the Celtics hired Red Auerbach as head coach - a brash, cigar-chomping tactician who would become the most successful coach in NBA history. That same year, they drafted Chuck Cooper, making him the first African American player drafted in NBA history.

In 1950, the Celtics also acquired point guard Bob Cousy, the flashy playmaker from Holy Cross whose no-look passes and behind-the-back dribbles revolutionized the guard position. Cousy became the face of early Celtics basketball, earning six consecutive assist titles and establishing the franchise's identity as a team built on creative, unselfish play.

Auerbach and Cousy made the Celtics competitive, but they lacked the dominant big man needed to win championships. That would change dramatically in 1956 with a trade that altered the course of basketball history.

In 1956, Red Auerbach engineered a trade to acquire Bill Russell from the St. Louis Hawks - a move that would produce the greatest dynasty in the history of North American professional sports. Russell, a 6-foot-10 center from the University of San Francisco, was not a prolific scorer but was the most dominant defensive player the game had ever seen. His shot-blocking, rebounding, and ability to anchor a fast-break offense transformed the Celtics into an unstoppable force.

From 1957 to 1969, the Celtics won eleven NBA championships in thirteen seasons, including an unprecedented eight consecutive titles from 1959 to 1966. Russell's supporting cast evolved over the years - from Cousy, Bill Sharman, and Tom Heinsohn in the early years to Sam Jones, John Havlicek, and K.C. Jones later - but Russell remained the constant, the player around whom everything revolved. When Auerbach retired from coaching in 1966, he named Russell as his successor, making him the first Black head coach of a major North American professional sports team.

Russell won two more championships as player-coach in 1968 and 1969 before retiring. The dynasty he built - eleven titles in thirteen years - remains the most dominant run in the history of team sports and established the Celtics as basketball's preeminent franchise.

After a brief downturn in the early 1970s - punctuated by Havlicek's continued excellence and Dave Cowens's 1974 and 1976 titles - the Celtics fell into disrepair by the late 1970s. The resurrection came via the 1978 draft, when Boston selected Larry Bird out of Indiana State with the sixth overall pick. Bird, a 6-foot-9 forward from tiny French Lick, Indiana, was a generational talent whose basketball IQ, shooting touch, passing vision, and relentless competitive fire transformed the franchise overnight.

Bird's rivalry with Magic Johnson - born in their iconic 1979 NCAA Championship Game matchup - carried into the NBA and is widely credited with saving a league that was struggling with declining ratings and cultural relevance. With Bird leading the way alongside Kevin McHale and Robert Parish (the greatest frontcourt in NBA history), the Celtics won three championships in 1981, 1984, and 1986. The 1985-86 Celtics, who went 67-15 in the regular season, are frequently cited as one of the two or three greatest teams ever assembled.

Bird won three consecutive MVP awards from 1984 to 1986 and became the defining player of the 1980s alongside Johnson. His playing career ended prematurely due to chronic back problems, but his impact on the Celtics and the NBA itself was immeasurable.

The post-Bird years were largely painful for the Celtics. The tragic death of Reggie Lewis in 1993 and Len Bias's overdose on draft night in 1986 robbed the franchise of two potential franchise cornerstones. The Celtics languished through most of the 1990s and early 2000s, though Paul Pierce - drafted tenth overall in 1998 - provided a genuine star around whom to rebuild.

The franchise's fortunes changed dramatically in the summer of 2007, when general manager Danny Ainge pulled off two blockbuster trades, acquiring Kevin Garnett from Minnesota and Ray Allen from Seattle to pair with Pierce. The "Big Three" immediately transformed the Celtics into championship contenders, and in their first season together, they bulldozed through the 2008 playoffs, defeating the Lakers in six games to win the franchise's 17th championship - the first in 22 years.

The Big Three era produced several more deep playoff runs, including a 2010 Finals loss to the Lakers in seven games, before age caught up with the trio. The Celtics traded Pierce and Garnett to Brooklyn in 2013 in a deal that netted a haul of draft picks that would fuel the next era of Celtics basketball.