The Celtics have released a photo on instagram of the new plates that will go on the Celtics lockers this season. The season is getting closer and closer. I'm getting more and more excited for it to start. A neat feature of the locker plates is that they feature the names of all the Celtics that wore the numbers before. I love that they put the former players on the nameplates. Every time a player looks into his locker, he gets a sense of history. Of course, all of the numbers that the legends wore have been retired, but there are still plenty of great Celtics who have worn each of these numbers. The new guys have chosen some numbers with lots of history behind them.
For instance, Jason Terry will be wearing #4 this season. This was previously worn by Wyndol Gray (1947), Saul Mariaschin (1948), Tony Lavelli (1950), Sonny Hertzberg (1950-1951), Kenny Rollins (1953), Carl Braun (1962), Clyde Lovellette (1963). Gerry Ward (1965), Jim Paxson (1988-1990), Larry Robinson (1992), Sherman Douglas (1992), Alaa Abdelnaby (1993-1994), David Wesley (1995-1997), Chauncey Billups (1998), Popeye Jones (1999), Tony Battie (2000-2004), Chris Mihm (2004), Ryan Gomes (2006-2007), J.R. Giddens (2009-2010), Nate Robinson (2010-2011), Nenad Krstic (2011), and Marquis Daniels (2012).
See the other new players after the jump.
And another new player, Courtney Lee, who will be wearing #11, will see these names on his locker: Chuck Connors (1947-1948), Stan Noszka (1948), Chick Halbert (1949), Tony Lavelli (1950), Chuck Cooper (1951-1954), Mel Counts (1965-1966), Jim Barnett (1967), Mal Graham (1968-1969), Steve Kuberski (1970-1974), Charlie Scott (1976-1978)
Bob McAdoo (1979), Tracy Jackson (1982), Sam Vincent (1986-1987), Dirk Minniefield (1988)
Michael Smith (1990-1991), Stojko Vrankovic (1992), Dana Barros (1996-2000), Randy Brown (2001-2002), Shammond Williams (2003), Mark Bryant (2003), Marcus Banks (2004-2006), Glen Davis (2008-2011), and Sasha Pavlovic (2012). Now there's a number with some history. Courtney can say that he is wearing the same number as the Rifleman, the first player to shatter a backboard. Or, Chuck Cooper, the first black player drafted into the NBA. Or, the immortal Dirk Minniefield. Well, on second thought, maybe not.
Or, there's Jared Sullinger's #7 who has been worn by Warren Fenley (1947), Mel Riebe (1948-1949), Dermie O'Connell (1949-1950), Em Bryant (1969-1970), Art Williams (1971-1974), Ernie DiGregorio (1978), Tiny Archibald (1979-1983), Andre Turner (1987), Kelvin Upshaw (1989-1990), Dee Brown (1991-1998), Kenny Anderson (1998-2002), Tony Delk (2003), Chucky Atkins (2004), Al Jefferson (2005-2007), Tom Gugliotta (2005), Mikki Moore (2009), Marquis Daniels (2010), and Jermaine O'Neal (2011-2012).
Fab Melo's #13 has been worn by Red Wallace (1947), Gene Stump (1948-1949), Brady Walker (1950-1951), Kenny Sailors (1951), Bob Harris (1951-1954), Charles Smith (1990-1991), Rickey Green (1992), Todd Day (1996-1997), Dontae' Jones (1998), Damon Jones (1999), Mike James (2004), Dana Barros (2004), Delonte West (2005-2011), Gabe Pruitt (2008-2009), and Shelden Williams (2010).
Kris Joseph will be wearing #43, which has been worn by Earl Tatum (1979), Gerald Henderson (1980-1984), Conner Henry (1987-1988), Derek Smith (1991), Lorenzo Williams (1993), Tony Harris (1994-1995), Brett Szabo (1997), Chris Carr (2001), Grant Long (2003), and best of all, Kendrick Perkins (2004-2011).
Dionte Christmas chose #12, at least that's the number listed for him on Celtics.com. He wore #50 in Summer League, but with the departure of JaJuan Johnson, it looks like he switched over to #12. which has been worn by a whole lot of Celtics before him including Art Spector (1947-1950) Bob Donham (1951-1954), Togo Palazzi (1955-1957), Dan Swartz (1963), Willie Naulls (1964-1966), Ron Watts (1966-1967), Tom Thacker (1968), Don Chaney (1969-1980), Sidney Wicks (1977-1978), Jerry Sichting (1986-1988), Otis Birdsong (1989), A.J. Wynder (1991), Kevin Pritchard (1992), Bart Kofoed (1993), Chris Corchiani (1994), Dominique Wilkins (1995), Bruce Bowen (1998-1999), Chris Herren (2001), Bimbo Coles (2003), Ricky Davis (2004-2006), Allan Ray (2007), Bill Walker (2009-2010), Marcus Landry (2010), Von Wafer (2011), and JaJuan Johnson (2012).
And then there's Jason Collins, who chose #98, which has never been worn by any other Celtics. In fact, only 2 other Celtics have worn any numbers in the 90's: #93 by PJ Brown in 2008 and #99 which was worn by Roy Rogers in 1998. The last time a player wore a number in the 90's we won a championship. Think it's an omen?
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