Let’s all welcome Boston’s newest No. 5…
…by reviewing all the old ones.
So Kevin Garnett has chosen his new number to wear on his new team, and apparently it’s No. 5. Courtesy of NBA.com Stats Central, here is a list (in historical order, even) of every player who’s worn No. 5 for the Boston Celtics. (It’s worth noting, perhaps, that ESPN.com’s Marc Stein called this number choice, based on KG being picked 5th overall in the ‘95 Draft. I’d link to it, but I think it’s one of those Insider thingies. Oh yeah, I thought KG would pick No. 12. Oh well.) Anyway, here’s the all-time Celtic No. 5s:
Tony Kappen 1946-47
Moe Becker 1946-47
Dick Murphy 1946-47
Cecil Hankins 1947-48
Bill Roberts 1948-49
Ed Leede 1949-51
Lucian (Skip) Whittaker 1954-55
John Thompson 1964-66 (also wore #18)
Bill Walton 1985-88
John Bagley 1989-93
Jay Humphries 1994-95
Junior Burrough 1995-96
Michael Hawkins 1996-97
Ron Mercer 1997-99
Wayne Turner 1999-00
Jamel Thomas 1999-00
Jerome Moiso 2000-01
Roshown McLeod 2001-02
Kedrick Brown 2002-03 (also wore #42)
Michael Stewart 2003-05
Gerald Green 2005-present
Looking at that altogether undistinguished list (apologies to Bill Walton—and maybe Ron Mercer because I’m scared of him at the moment), it seems apparent that—without playing a game or even practicing with the team—KG is already the best No. 5 in the history of the Boston Celtics. They may as well retire the number for him now (along with Pierce’s No. 34 and maybe even Ainge’s 44 if this whole thing works out). I have high hopes that, within my lifetime, the Celtics will run out of single- and double-digit numbers, and will be forced to start wearing numbers with decimal points, triple digits and possibly even negative numbers. In fact, I’d love to see Big Baby kick things off by going straight for triple digits (wear your weight!).
I was going to look stuff up on some of the other 5s, but I looked up Skip Whittaker and found this, and all of a sudden I’m not all that interested in pursuing those guys anymore. (Although shockingly there’s someone out there who still cares about Jerome Moiso.)
20 Responses to “Let’s all welcome Boston’s newest No. 5…”
Jul.31 at 9:17 pm
slate says:
Irony of all ironies Bassy’s brother wore #5 for the Celtics.Thank goodness there’s still numbers to go around.
Jul.31 at 9:23 pm
Bobby Digital says:
first to say first
Jul.31 at 9:32 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
The Celtics should have retired the number 5 out of embarassment after the Jerome Moiso - Roshown McCleod - Kedrick Brown stretch. Yeesh.
Jul.31 at 10:10 pm
Walmeister says:
What’s wrong with sheep-dog trials, they’re great to watch if you think it’s frustrating to work with people… Plus it’s one of the only ways to say b*tch without the *
Jul.31 at 10:24 pm
Max Airington says:
Damn Bill Sharman…
Jul.31 at 10:49 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
If the player in question is better than the player for whom the number has already been retired, I say it comes outta the rafters. F*ck the Celtics and all of their retired numbers anyway.
Jul.31 at 11:27 pm
Ben Osborne says:
I saw the pic of KG holding up the number 5 and I don’t like the look of it. Is adidas behind this?
Jul.31 at 11:29 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Now that the number question has been settled, I wonder what Boston suburb KG will raze to build his estate on?
Aug.1 at 12:07 am
Young C says:
They didnt retire Ron Mercer’s number!?!?
Aug.1 at 12:31 am
Russ Bengtson says:
They did at the strip club.
Aug.1 at 12:42 am
Russ Bengtson says:
And since KG took Gerald Green’s number, GG should request No. 21 in Minnesota.
Aug.1 at 1:00 am
Nadav says:
it takes 5
Aug.1 at 1:30 am
Diogo says:
can’t they retired KG’s 21 in Minny already? No one else deserves it anyway.
.
Now, all we need to do is forward 3 months in time, and have ourselves a season.
Aug.1 at 6:30 am
Boing Dynasty says:
I care about Jerome Moiso, sort of.
Aug.1 at 11:57 am
SA says:
I’m impressed that Jamel Thomas played in the L. Or does that list include summer league/practice roster guys…
Aug.1 at 1:34 pm
Jesus Shuttlesworth says:
roshown mcclown works at mcdonalds
Aug.1 at 5:02 pm
Bronze Bomma says:
Kevin Garnett as Boston’s #5 makes sense … look who was Boston’s #6 : Bill Russell, the greatest champion the NBA ever saw. Garnett wants to be like Russell: lots of D, lots of good teammates, and hopefully lots of rings (actually just one would be good enough, but hey anything’s possible). KG is Boston’s next Bill Russell.
Aug.1 at 8:47 pm
Jzx says:
KG leaving hurts Minneapolis !!!!!! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20079534/?GT1=10252
Aug.3 at 3:58 am
weezy leezy says:
number 5? i give it about 5 minutes of game time for KG to realize he made the RIGHT choice. I’m a big Knicks fan in Providence, so now i got Starbury right over there, and i got Big Ticket right here too…oh i’ma be watchin
Aug.4 at 6:35 pm
BETCATS says:
card collectors are gay