My top 10 Celtics Shooters of All-Time

10. Bill Walton

9. Bob Cousy

8. Kevin McHale

7. Reggie Lewis

6. Paul Pierce

5. John Havlicek

4. Pete Maravich

3. Bill Sharman

2. Ray Allen

1. Larry Bird


What are yours?

Is your list in order of greatness???

Jo Jo needs to be there somewhere.

1. Larry Bird
2. Bill Sharman
3. Ray Allen
4. John Havlicek
5. JoJo White
6. Reggie Lewis
7. Paul Pierce
8. Sam Jones
9. Bob Cousy
10. Tommy Heinsohn

This is a tough one, somehow I feel I am leaving someone off who should be on here.

Rosalie any of these crack your top ten?

Ainge?
Wedman?
Westphal?
Scott?
Ford?

Conner Henry!? (kidding)

Beat

Sorry Brandon. You missed the best. Sam Jones.

Both on a regular basis and in the clutch.

beat wrote:Rosalie any of these crack your top ten?

Ainge?
Wedman?
Westphal?
Scott?
Ford?

Conner Henry!? (kidding)

Beat

Beat,

Some of us really think Henry was one of the best Celtic shooters of all time. Well, at least for one night.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2004/05/02/legend_for_a_night/

wedman and ainge could flat drill it

No doubt Ainge could make the list as well as Wedman.

Funny, I remember the game that Conner Henry played that he went out of his mind shooting! It's funny how many one game or one week hero's there were for the Celtics. How about Glen MacDonald?

BrandonBanks$$$ wrote:10. Bill Walton

9. Bob Cousy

8. Kevin McHale

7. Reggie Lewis

6. Paul Pierce

5. John Havlicek

4. Pete Maravich

3. Bill Sharman

2. Ray Allen

1. Larry Bird


What are yours?

Walton? Is that some kind of inside joke that I don't get?
Wedman has to be on this list.

walton was a great player and a king hell passer...

Top SHOOTERS?

Shooters and scorers really 2 different beasts.
I'll take these for pure shooters that played with the C's.
Might have missed an obvious one (subject to change as needed)

1) Sam Jones
2) Jo Jo White
3) Ray Allen
4) Dave Bing
5) Bill Sharman

and to round out the ten in no particular order
Dana Barros, Bob McAdoo, Scott Wedman, Danny Ainge, Jerry Sichting

I always considered Bird and Hondo as SCORERS, same as Pierce.
Maravich would fall in here too.

beat

beat

How do you define the difference between a shooter and a scorer?
swish

Swish

A scorer "can" be a shooter for sure. But not always the other way around.

May seem a bit picky on my part but although Hondo was by favorite player I never felt he was a truly great shooter. He was opportunistic in scoring in many ways like Bird was but not a classic "shooter" in the mold of Sam Jones, Bill Sharman or Ray Allen.

Guess it's one of those things that is a bit hard to explain. Just a preference I guess. Spliting hairs a bit too much perhaps.

beat

beat
Thanks for your answer. I tend to agree with you on the "splitting of hair" belief. About the only exception,in my opinion, are those scorers that are so called "gabage" players. While their range may be limited the "dirty work" they do around the hoop is of the greatest value to the team.
swish

beat wrote:Top SHOOTERS?

Shooters and scorers really 2 different beasts.
I'll take these for pure shooters that played with the C's.
Might have missed an obvious one (subject to change as needed)

1) Sam Jones
2) Jo Jo White
3) Ray Allen
4) Dave Bing
5) Bill Sharman

and to round out the ten in no particular order
Dana Barros, Bob McAdoo, Scott Wedman, Danny Ainge, Jerry Sichting

I always considered Bird and Hondo as SCORERS, same as Pierce.
Maravich would fall in here too.

beat

beat,

First, excellent point about the difference between shooters and scorers. I concur completely.

Secondly, IMO, the Pistol was both. Offensively, he was one of the most versatile players of all time. Shoot from range, drive to the hoop, come off screens, turnaround jumpshots. His jumpshot was every single bit as pretty (and every single bit as technically sound) as Ray Allen's and yet he could create an opportunity and then throw in "horse" shots off of them like the best scorers in the league. His courtvision compared to Bird's and Magic's and he could deliver passes as well as them and any other point guard you can name. I know this thread is about "shooters", but let's not forget Maravich's wide-array of offensive talents. One of the youngest players ever elected to the HOF, the HOF described him as one of the greatest creative offensive talents in the history of the game.

He's STILL, after all these years, the #1 highest scoring player in NCAA history, 44.2 points/game. Let's also remember that Maravich did that BEFORE the college 3pt shot. LSU (Pete's alma mater) head coach Dale Brown charted every game Maravich played at LSU and said he'd have averaged 13 3pters/game. That would have raised his scoring average to a mind-boggling 57 points/game.

bob

/

Bob

Thanks for the support.

It is a tough one to describe but there are/is a difference. As with Maravich, Havlicek could score anyway on anyone and did have a nice jumper to. I guess when I think shooter I think of the classic shooting form with perfect form ect and not points!!

I remember an SI article describing Havlicek as a scorer first and a shooter second.

As for Pete Maravich NO ONE before or since could do what he could with a basketball even Cousy (sorry Sam) IMHO of course.

Some of the drills he did were mindboggling. Look up the Red on Roundball series with Pete. The one he called the ricochet when he threw the ball hard off the floor between his feet and caught it behind his back. And did this in rapid succession.

That one always impressed me.

beat

Bob

Here is an interesting site talking about SHOOTERS & SCORERS

http://www.82games.com/scorers.htm

beat

Beat, I like that you list Barros in there. I totally agree. I guess it's easy to block out the 90's and early 00's when most people here got to witness the great Celtics teams/players.

Dana Barros had a beautiful shot. In fact, I saw him shooting around before one of the last C's games I went to this season, and he still has his stroke!

beat wrote:Bob

Here is an interesting site talking about SHOOTERS & SCORERS

http://www.82games.com/scorers.htm

beat

beat,

Thanks. Always nice to see someone back up their observtions with some meat. Clearly, this article was written a while ago since it lists Garnett as being with Minnesota. Still, the distinctions between shooters and scorers should still hold up.

bob

/

It's interesting to see that so many people include Cousy. It suggests that they're factoring degree of difficulty in their selections and are certainly not basing their opinions on his 37.5% career shooting percentage. And I'd have to agree with them. If one considers the wide array of outlandish shots he took, he was a superior shooter. (As well as my favorite player ever)

http://videos.apnicommunity.com/Video,Item,1847569981.html

Sam

I feel Sam Jones was the best pure shooter ever. Pulling up for a jump shot, I felt his jumpers were ALWAYS going in. Most times they did. The best jump shooter off of a fast break in NBA history. His bank shots were pure honey. He played team basketball, and could easily have scored 7 - 10 more points per game if he had an ounce of selfishness in him.

Another great jump shooter was JoJo White. They used to have one-on-one contests in White's prime, and I remember him winning one year and placing second the next. He was going against NBA greats and players much bigger than him. Probably the most underrated of all Celtics!!

Most of our posters didn't see Jones or White in action - they were GREAT!

I am in total agreement with you on both players. Sam Jones was one of the smoothest shooters I ever saw. It was almost a guarantee that his shot was going in, especially in crunch time. Hardly any players use the glass the way he did.

I can remember how excited I was the day they drafted JoJo White. I knew the Celtics had a steal in him and that we had another all star in the making. He was such a great basketball player and everything he did seemed to come so easy for him. So, you will get no argument from me as I saw both of these players in action and enjoyed every minute of it.

Rosalie,

Sam was certainly known for the bank shot, because he employed it more regularly than anyone else. But the majority of his jumpers were from straightaway.

For several years, my affinity for Sam led me to keep S.J. shot charts on my program. (I still have many of the programs). I'd divide the court into 15 sections from left to right and near to far. And I'd chart each shot and whether he made it. He was slightly better from the left side of the court. And only something like one-quarter of his shots came from spots where he had the angle to used the backboard.

SD mentioned Sam's jump shooting off the break. Sam was also one of the great fast breadk finishers around the hoop, slashing in, well up in the air, knees up near his waist, and kissing it in. I could never understand how anyone could control his dribble so well while easily outdistancing defenders who didn't have to dribble.

When one thinks about the 70s, when all the teams were working hard to become more savvy about drafting, the acquisitions of both JoJo and Cowens have to stand out as major coups for Red. Westphal wasn't too shabby either.

Sam

I remember JoJo White really well,great all around player,besides shooting,could push the ball,was great on the break,could defend and pass,had great handle,how beautiful was his stop and pop on the break?.......he'd still easily be an all star if he was playing today.