Celtics Trivia Game (2024)

[Curmudgeon]

No, the third was Billy Cunningham and the 4th was "Downtown" Freddie Brown.

[chakdaddy]

I feel like teams on the Ricky Pierce Eddie Johnson Dale Ellis trade circuit had a lot. Hornets, Bucks, Sonics, Suns

Actually guessing which team had 4 different 6MotY winners is hard, although we're building up some clues in this thread.

Here's another: Perhaps that team's least obvious winner is a guy who was originally drafted by the Clippers.

I think Pierce was drafted by San Diego but he's an obvious guess if you're been in a coma since 1990 like me. Seattle with Pierce, Schrempf...?

[Fencer reregistered]

I feel like teams on the Ricky Pierce Eddie Johnson Dale Ellis trade circuit had a lot. Hornets, Bucks, Sonics, Suns

Actually guessing which team had 4 different 6MotY winners is hard, although we're building up some clues in this thread.

Here's another: Perhaps that team's least obvious winner is a guy who was originally drafted by the Clippers.

I think Pierce was drafted by San Diego but he's an obvious guess if you're been in a coma since 1990 like me. Seattle with Pierce, Schrempf...?

You're way off with Seattle. I don't think they won ANY, unless you count Harden with the Thunder. Schrempf won 2x with the Pacers, while Pierce won 2x with the Bucks -- who were his third team, with San Diego having been his second.

[chakdaddy]

I'd better go back into a coma then

[Fencer reregistered]

I'd better go back into a coma then

That seems excessive.

I learned the answer from checking a list of 6MotY winners. Two are easy to remember because they were then-future Celtics -- Barbosa and Rodney Rogers. The one I'd never have thought of as a Sun was former Clippers #1 overall pick Danny Manning.

The other was Eddie Johnson.

By the way -- I noticed 8 different guys who were top 5 in their respective drafts who won 6MotY. That may not even be a complete list, but it suggests a trivia question: Who were they?

[Fencer reregistered]

I'd better go back into a coma then

That seems excessive.

I learned the answer from checking a list of 6MotY winners. Two are easy to remember because they were then-future Celtics -- Barbosa and Rodney Rogers. The one I'd never have thought of as a Sun was former Clippers #1 overall pick Danny Manning.

The other was Eddie Johnson.

By the way -- I noticed 8 different guys who were top 5 in their respective drafts who won 6MotY. That may not even be a complete list, but it suggests a trivia question: Who were they?

A number of those guys have been recently discussed in this thread.

[Fencer reregistered]

Open-ended question: What jobs or careers have been associated with Celtics players that had nothing to do with sports?

I have answers in mind for Cousy, Ramsey, Heinsohn, Russell, Cowens, McCarty and, of course, Chuck Connors.

I only count guys opening businesses if I think they could/would have done so even without their sports-celebrity status, although in most cases we can't be wholly sure. I don't count charities that depend on guys' NBA earnings and/or celebrity. Also excluded are Ray Allen's movie role as a basketball player, and Kevin McHale's appearances on Cheers playing himself.

[chakdaddy]

Non Celtics trivia:

What player was traded for someone and later replaced the same guy as a team's coach? Hint: one of the first NBA trades I remember.

[Fencer reregistered]

Which future HoFers first joined the Celtics as a free agent?

(Horford doesn't count; this is only about guys who already are in the Hall.)

Hint: One made the HoF only a a coach.

[Curmudgeon]

Open-ended question: What jobs or careers have been associated with Celtics players that had nothing to do with sports?

I have answers in mind for Cousy, Ramsey, Heinsohn, Russell, Cowens, McCarty and, of course, Chuck Connors.

Well, Ramsey was president of a bank, Heinsohn sold insurance ( and painted), Cowens drove a cab and McCarty was a musician. I don't know about Russell or Cousy.

[Curmudgeon]

Which future HoFers first joined the Celtics as a free agent?

(Horford doesn't count; this is only about guys who already are in the Hall.)

Hint: One made the HoF only a a coach.

Carl Braun, Dave Bing, Pete Maravich, Dominique Wilkins, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Don Nelson (coach).

[Fencer reregistered]

Which future HoFers first joined the Celtics as a free agent?

(Horford doesn't count; this is only about guys who already are in the Hall.)

Hint: One made the HoF only a a coach.

Carl Braun, Dave Bing, Pete Maravich, Dominique Wilkins, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Don Nelson (coach).

Longer list than mine!

However, when it comes to Payton, you were tripped up by a tricksy phrasing. He FIRST came to the Celtics in a trade. He only joined as a FA in the midseason transaction that inspired the Gary Payton rule.

[Curmudgeon]

Which future HoFers first joined the Celtics as a free agent?

(Horford doesn't count; this is only about guys who already are in the Hall.)

Hint: One made the HoF only a a coach.

Carl Braun, Dave Bing, Pete Maravich, Dominique Wilkins, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Don Nelson (coach).

Longer list than mine!

However, when it comes to Payton, you were tripped up by a tricksy phrasing. He FIRST came to the Celtics in a trade. He only joined as a FA in the midseason transaction that inspired the Gary Payton rule.

Yes, I forgot that sequence. They got Payton from the lakers for Chris Mihm, the immortal Marcus Banks and some other pieces. Then they traded him to Atlanta for Twoine and subseqnetly got him back as a free agent when Atlanta waived him.

[Fencer reregistered]

Changing subject a bit ...

With Mike Vrabel in the news, it might be fun to recall: What NFL playing records does he share or hold?

[Fencer reregistered]

Which awards or trophies are named after Celtic players?

We can make this more open-ended by not requiring the awards to be given by the NBA.

[Fencer reregistered]

Which awards or trophies are named after Celtic players?

We can make this more open-ended by not requiring the awards to be given by the NBA.

To be clear, the guessing opportunities I know of are:

-- The NBA has recently named trophies after 3 star Celtics players.
-- One of them has long had a collegiate trophy named after him as well.
-- Googling also turned up a minor regional trophy (not even basketball-specific) in the DC area named after a non-star Celtics player. I already don't remember what it's for, but perhaps you can at least guess who it's named after.

[Parliament10]

Who were the Celtics major 6th-Men, going back to when they originated it?

[Fencer reregistered]

Who were the Celtics major 6th-Men, going back to when they originated it?

Frank Ramsey is commonly thought of as the first.
John Havlicek is commonly thought of as the best.
Kevin McHale is also on any Mt. Rushmore.
Like McHale, Bill Walton and Malcolm Brogdon were 6MotY.
James Posey was very important in his one year.

Those are the clear cases IMO.

The greatest veteran Celtics bench player I haven't mentioned yet was Sam Jones, but he becamse a starter before Ramsey retired.

Various young players came briefly off the bench before they became major starters. Ditto the not so young Isaiah Thomas.

Marcus Smart could be debated.

Al Horford started more games this season than he came off the bench.

[chakdaddy]

Who were the Celtics major 6th-Men, going back to when they originated it?

Frank Ramsey is commonly thought of as the first.
John Havlicek is commonly thought of as the best.
Kevin McHale is also on any Mt. Rushmore.
Like McHale, Bill Walton and Malcolm Brogdon were 6MotY.
James Posey was very important in his one year.

Those are the clear cases IMO.

The greatest veteran Celtics bench player I haven't mentioned yet was Sam Jones, but he becamse a starter before Ramsey retired.

Various young players came briefly off the bench before they became major starters. Ditto the not so young Isaiah Thomas.

Marcus Smart could be debated.

Al Horford started more games this season than he came off the bench.

Horford is Walton like as a 6th man. Sam Jones was the greatest 7th man I guess.


I asked a question long back about players traded for each other and later replacing each other as coach. It was Mike Woodson and Larry Drew

[Fencer reregistered]

Which awards or trophies are named after Celtic players?

We can make this more open-ended by not requiring the awards to be given by the NBA.

To be clear, the guessing opportunities I know of are:

-- The NBA has recently named trophies after 3 star Celtics players.
-- One of them has long had a collegiate trophy named after him as well.
-- Googling also turned up a minor regional trophy (not even basketball-specific) in the DC area named after a non-star Celtics player. I already don't remember what it's for, but perhaps you can at least guess who it's named after.

The NBA trophies are Finals MVP, ECF MVP, and ECF winning team. The players the latter two are named after are still alive. The team trophy is named after the older of the two.