Larry Bird isn’t the best No. 33 of all time, and more NBA players by number
Mitchell & Ness, the vintage sports clothing company based in Philadelphia, has come up with a subjective list of the best players to wear each NBA uniform number. Ten Celtics made the list, and a couple of them may surprise you.
Robert Parish starts the list off at No. 00. He’s followed by Kevin Garnett (No. 5), Bill Russell (No. 6), John Havlicek (No. 17), Dave Cowens (No. 18), and short-timer Sam Cassell (No. 28).
The list gets weird as all-time greats switch numbers, and lesser known players don obscure ones. One-season Celtic Shaquille O’Neal makes it for No. 36, as do Scot Pollard, the backup center who won a title in 2008 (No. 62), the immortal Chris Johnson (No. 86), and none other than Antoine Walker, who wore No. 88 for two games when he was reacquired by the Celts for a 2005 playoff run before taking back his original Employee No. 8 jersey from then rookie Al Jefferson, who switched to No. 7.
All-time Celtics great Larry Bird didn’t make the cut, ceding his No. 33 to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Mitchell & Ness folks make a point to note how competitive a number 33 was, citing other wearers including Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Scottie Pippen, before detailing Jabbar’s career accomplishments (all-time leading scorer, six-time champion, most games and minutes played in NBA history when he retired to name a few) as an explanation for why he beat out Bird.
Other notable features of Mitchell & Ness’s list include Ron Artest/Metta World Peace making it with four different numbers (37, 51, 93 and 96), Karl Malone not making it for the No. 32 he wore for 18 seasons in Utah, but for the No. 11 he wore in one season as a Laker, all-time draft bust Kwame Brown making it with the No. 38 he wore for Detroit in 2009-2010, former Boston College standout Craig Smith being the only player in history to wear No. 83, which he did as a Portland Trailblazer in 2011-2012, and Kobe Bryant making the list with his No. 8 worn from 1996-2006, but not his No. 24, which he’s worn ever since.
Potential free agents the Celtics should target
[bdc-gallery id=”464712″]
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com