Boston Celtics

Celtics: Catching up with old friends

By Gary Dzen

December 5, 2012

8 minutes to read

The Celtics have a core of veterans who have been in Boston a while, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been serious turnover on the roster. In fact, 23 players who spent time on the roster at some point in the last two seasons are no longer with the team. Several other big names have come and gone over the years as well, and a few of them have turned up in surprising places. What follows is a look at the progress of former Celtics who are still playing basketball somewhere.
Kendrick Perkins

Oklahoma City Thunder

Traded to Oklahoma City for Jeff Green during the 2011 season, Perkins has found a role as the Thunder’s starting center. He averaged 5.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in 65 games last season, and he’s got similar numbers this year. That’s right along his career averages, but viewers of last year’s NBA Finals may have noticed that Perkins didn’t get much run during crunch time. The Celtics miss his toughness and trademark scowl.
Ray Allen

Miami Heat

It’s difficult to watch Allen do well considering how he left and where he ended up, but the former Celtics sharpshooter has found success in Miami. With vastly reduced minutes he’s averaging just under one fewer point per game (13.3) than he did last season. He’s made just under 53 percent of his 3-pointers, likely due to the looks he’s getting playing alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Rasheed Wallace

New York Knicks

Wallace took an unconventional route out of town, sitting out of basketball completely for two seasons before signing with the Knicks this year. We last saw Wallace in Game 7 of the NBA Finals vs. the Lakers. Now 38, Wallace is a reserve averaging around 7 points and 4 rebounds per game. He was notably ejected from a game on Dec. 2 for arguing a call and shouting his signature catchphrase “Ball don’t lie” to an official.
E’Twaun Moore

Orlando Magic

The Celtics traded Moore to the Houston Rockets as part of a deal that brought Courtney lee to Boston. Moore, a second-round pick in 2011, has caught in with the Magic, where’s he’s seen some quality minutes. He’s played in all of his team’s games and made seven starts, averaging close to 20 minutes per game. Is he a point guard or a shooting guard? That’s unclear, but Moore is hitting 41 percent of his 3-pointers, something he’ll need to do if he wants a consistent NBA role.
JaJuan Johnson

Fort Wayne Mad Ants (D-League)

Also acquired by Houston in the Courtney Lee trade, Johnson, a former first-round pick, found himself released by the Rockets. Johnson was the first pick in the NBA Develpment League draft by the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Johnson has started all five games for the team and is averaging 11.6 points (5th on the team) and 11.2 rebounds (first).
Marquis Daniels

Milwaukee Bucks

A role player during his time in Boston, Daniels landed a similar backup role with the Bucks. He’s averaging 5.6 points in 16.1 minutes per game. He’s seen action in 12 games after playing in just 38 last year with the Celtics. Daniels is just 31-years-old, so he should have more to offer as a reserve.
Ryan Hollins

Los Angeles Clippers

Hollands (left) found a niche for the Celtics off the bench in last year’s playoffs as Boston’s frontcourt depth thinned out due to injury. Hollands mixes it up well, though he’s limited in other areas of the game. He’s found a similar role on a contender, playing around 13 minutes a game in Los Angeles.
Sasha Pavlovic

Portland Trail Blazers

Pavlovic was in and out of Boston’s rotation last season, but there was no room for the 29-year-old on Boston’s roster this year. He’s in Portland now, where he’s averaged fewer than two points per game in 10 minutes per. He’s known as a defensive specialist rather than a scorer, but Pavlovic has yet to carve out a signficant role in his new destination.
Mickael Pietrus

Toronto Raptors

Without a team for the first month of the season, Pietrus was recently signed by the Toronto Raptors. In his first two games in Toronto he played 32 and 25 minutes, suggesting he’s closer to being a significant factor rather than someone on the fringe of making a roster. Pietrus was in Boston’s playoff rotation last season, averaging 20 points per game as the Celtics made it to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Greg Stiemsma

Minnesota Timberwolves

Stiemsma broke into the NBA with the Celtics last season after his standout play in the D-League. He quickly found himself with more of a role than he banked on due to injuries in the Celtics frontcourt, and he responded with mixed success. After signing a two-year, $5.2 million deal with the Timberwolves, Stiemsma is averaging 3.3 points and about a block per game in Minnesota.
Jermaine O’Neal

Phoenix Suns

Remember this guy? O’Neal faded away from the Celtics last season after going out with an injury and being released before year’s end. The Suns inked O’Neal to a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum, and the 34-year-old hasn’t played badly, averaing 7.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in just under 20 minutes per game. Why can’t the Celtics get players like that?
Sean Williams

No team

Traded to Houston as part of the Courtney Lee deal, Williams was waived by the Rockets on August 29. He has yet to catch on with another NBA team. The former Boston College standout is 26-years-old.
Glen Davis

Orlando Magic

The Celtics sent Davis to Orlando in exchange for Brandon Bass on Dec. 12, 2011. Talent-wise the trade seemed fairly balanced, but Davis’s reputation as a difficult personality and as something of a ball hog seemed to sway the deal toward Boston. This season, however, Davis has come on strong after the departure of Dwight Howard, averaging 15.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Davis still shoots too much (15.2 attempts per game) and misses too often (.434 field-goal percentage), but he’s a major factor for Orlando.
Von Wafer

Xinjiang Flying Tigers (China)

Traded to Orlando as part of the Glen Davis deal, Wafer (center, seen here with Orlando) was waived by the Magic after the 2011-12 season. He currently plays in China with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, where in two games he’s the team’s leading scorer at 21 points per game.
Semih Erden

Anadolu Efes (Turkey)

The Celtics drafted Erden with the 60th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, but he didn’t sign with Boston until the 2010 season. Erden played in 37 games with the Celtics, starting in seven, before being traded to Cleveland for a 2d-round pick. Released by the Cavaliers after appearing in 28 games last season, Erden recently signed a two-year deal with Anadolu Efes in Turkey. He’s the team’s starting center.
Nenad Krstic

CSKA Moscow 

Krstic was the center traded to the Celtics in the Kendrick Perkins deal. A serviceable NBA center, he averaged 9.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 24 games with Boston in 2011, 20 of them in a starting role. After the season, he signed with CSKA Moscow in Russia. Through seven games this season he is the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.4 points per game.
Troy Murphy

Dallas Mavericks

Despite being a nonfactor for the Celtics during the 2010-2011 season, Murphy keeps getting NBA jobs. He appeared in 59 games with the Lakers last year, and he’s caught on with the Dallas Mavericks this season, where he’s averaged 4.6 points and 3.5 rebound while appearing in almost every game.
Nate Robinson

Chicago Bulls

Playing “Donkey” to Glen Davis’s ‘Shrek”, Robinson found a role with the Celtics during the team’s 2009-10 NBA Finals run. The Celtics traded Robinson to Oklahoma City the following season as part of the Kendrick Perkins trade. Now with the Bulls, Robinson has made the most of the absence of Chicago starting point guard Derrick Rose. Through 16 games Robinson was averaging 11.7 points and 3.4 assists.
Delonte West

No team

The Dallas Mavericks waived West on Oct. 30 to get their roster down to a maximum of 15 players, and West has yet to catch on with another NBA team. West had two stints with the Celtics, from 2004 to 2007 and the 2010-11 season. He started 33 games for Dallas last season, averaging 9.6 points per game. He was suspended from the team this preseason for an argument after a game, and he was later released.
Tony Allen

Memphis Grizzlies

Of recent former Celtics, Allen has had arguably the most sustained success. The former Celtics defensive stopper is still wreaking havoc in the passing lanes for a contending team. Averaging about 23 minutes per game, Allen has put up 9.2 points and 3.3 rebounds in over 100 starts. The Grizzlies have forged their identity on the kind of hard-nosed defense he plays best.
Shelden Williams

Elan Chalon (France)

Williams signed as a free agent with the Celtics for the 2009-10 season and lasted one year before bouncing around to the Nuggets, Knicks, and Nets. Now the starting center for Elan Chalon in France, Williams is averaging 11.8 points and 4.5 rebounds.
Al Jefferson

Utah Jazz

Jefferson was the centerpiece of the deal that brought Kevin Garnett to Boston. Now in his 8th year in the league, Jefferson has averaged 19.5 points and 10.1 rebounds since leaving the Celtics. He’s clearly the best player to leave the Celtics in recent years, though he’s toiled on relatively unsuccessful teams and has largely remained out of the spotlight.
Tony Battie

Retired

He’s out of the league, but it’s fun to look back at Battie’s career considering just how long he spent in the league. Battie was traded by the Celtics to the Cavaliers for Ricky Davis in 2003. He played seven more seasons after that, including four productive ones in Orlando, last signing with Philadelphia in 2010. He appeared in 65 games in two seasons with the Sixers, retiring after the 2012 playoffs. The 36-year-old Battie played 14 seasons in the NBA.
Dionte Christmas

CSKA Moscow 

Christmas (right) was a standout performer for the Celtics this summer on their summer league team, and he came to training camp with a good shot at making the roster. The Celtics waived Christmas on Oct. 16, giving him a chance to sign on with another team. The former Temple product caught on with CSKA Moscow, the same team as former Celtic Nenad Krstic. In his first four games Christmas averaged 8.5 points.