The Boston Celtics have been one of the surprises of this NBA season. With Jayson Tatum now back in the fold and looking good, they look like a real championship contender. The Celtics might even have a chance to take the top spot in the East after it was reported today that Pistons star Cade Cunningham is going to miss an extended period with a collapsed lung. Boston currently sits just 3.5 games back of Detroit, and they have 13 games left to make up that ground.
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This year’s Celtics are very different than the team that won the 2024 title. They still have head coach Joe Mazzulla, and they still have Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White leading the way, but beyond that, the roster has been almost completely turned over. That ’24 team had Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford making major contributions, but now that trio has dispersed around the league.
Celtics legend Robert Parish was asked this week who he thought would win in a hypothetical battle between his ’86 Celtics and the ’24 title team. Unsurprisingly, he chose the squad he played on, but when asked why, he didn’t name-check Larry Bird or Kevin McHale. He went straight for Bill Walton, who at that point in his career had become a luxury addition to a team that already dominated much of the ’80s.
“Nobody had an answer for Bill Walton,” he said. “The NBA did not have an answer for Bill Walton, and that’s why we were successful, the ’86 team, and that’s why we are considered one of the all-time best teams. Bill Walton made the difference, no doubt. Hands down. Today’s Celtics, they could do nothing with William. Not a thing.”
Walton is considered by those who saw him play as one of the most talented players of all time. He was a three-time National Player of the Year at UCLA, helping lead the Bruins to two titles. He was the Finals MVP in 1977 and the regular season MVP in 1978 with the Trail Blazers.
Unfortunately, Walton’s career was derailed by injuries. He missed nearly four full seasons in his prime thanks to chronic foot problems, and by time he landed with the Celtics in 1985, he was essentially at the end of his career. He managed to stay on the court all season for that team though, helping them to 67 wins and their last championship until Kevin Garnett and company won one in 2008.
Legendary sportswriter Bob Ryan once said that the ’86 Celtics were the greatest team of all-time, and he agreed with Parish that Walton was the reason. “He was a different kind of a sixth man,” he said. “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.”
The 2024 Celtics are a beloved team for the way they finally got over the hump. Tatum and Brown are two of the most likable superstars in the game, and they’ve both remained with the Celtics throughout their entire careers to this point. That being said, the ’86 iteration would have just been too much for them. Walton, Bird, McHale, Parish, Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge. Listen to the Chief on this one.
