Celtics on the right side of #'s 1, 5 and 11 of greatest trades of all-time

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/12-generous-trades-sports-history-article-1.2475909

Nice that we're currently in the middle of one of them at present time, watching it unfold, albeit slowly.  Won't be able to asses its total positivity on the franchise for anohter five years at least.  The gift that keeps on giving indeed.

And how appropriate for this article to come out now, smack in the middle of gift-giving season. The Nets are Santa Claus.

Of these 12 generous trades, 6 of them are basketball trades.

Of those 8 basketball trades, we claim #8, #2 and #1. The Lakers claim #3 and #4. There's 5 out of 6 of the biggest steals in NBA history going to just 2 franchises. Not surprisingly, they are also the two most winningest franchises in NBA history. The one trade that is not Celtic or Laker related was the trade of Dr. J from the Nets to the Sixers. That happened because the NY Knicks put the thumbscrews to the ABA Nets and forced them to pay a HUGE entrance fee to the NBA, which they had to pay because their league, the ABA, was going out of business, because they were in the Knicks' territory. Without that, the Nets would not have needed to sell off their team to foot to bill. In other words, it wasn't the cleverness or basketball acumen of the Sixers, nor the stupidity of the Nets (never to be ignored nor underestimated, especially since they could have asked the NBA league office if they could move the franchise away from NY and to another city where they wouldn't have to pay that exhorbitant fee) that made that trade happen.


bob


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Bob...and how many titles have the knicks won since?

beat

beat wrote:Bob...and how many titles have the knicks won since?

beat

beat,

The Knicks have won 2x, 1970 and 1973.


bob


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Boib

my comment was sort of meant to be that old KARMA thing, that since they forced the nets to sell Irving they haven't won a thing !!!!

I know they have won 2

beat

Who ever cared about the Ice Capades? At least they were good for something.

wideclyde wrote:Who ever cared about the Ice Capades?  At least they were good for something.

I went to them way back when.  Probably over 50 years ago, I was still in shortpants.  It was at the old Garden.  Our whole family went, both sets of Grandparents.  I remember we sat up very high with our backs to concrete.

It was a big thing back then.

I always thought the Ice Capades story was funny, but it's also totally made up.

The fact is, The Rochester Royals were unwilling to pay Russell the $25,000 he wanted and already had Maurice Stokes, so they thought there was no need for Russell.  They did need a shooting guard and drafted Sihugo Green from Duquesne.  The St. Louis Hawks had the second pick, and were willing to trade it for Ed Macauley, who also wanted to go to St. Louis to be near his son, who was gravely ill.  St Louis also wanted Cliff Hagen, who Red didn't want to give up.  Ultimately, no Hagen, no Russell, so Red made the deal.

As for the Ice Capades, they were a bigger gate attraction than any professional sport back then, but already scheduled to appear in Rochester at that time.  Walter Brown, a friend of Rochester's Les Harrison, did have a hand in the Ice Capades going to Rochester that year, but well before the draft and completely apart from anything to do with Russ.

Red turned it into a good story, anyway.