Born in St. Louis and nicknamed, “The Sheriff”, David Thirdkill was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 15th pick in the 1982 NBA Draft out of Southern Idaho and Bradley University. The 6-7 small forward played five seasons in the League, from 1982 to 1987, playing for the Suns, Pistons, Bucks, Spurs and Celtics. After averaging nearly 26 minutes per game for the Spurs to finish the 1984-85, Thirdkill found himself in Boston averaging around 8 minutes but winning a ring in 1986. He’d later play overseas.
Tag: Boston Celtics
30 Years Later, Part 8: Jerry Sichting
Jerry Sichting was a scrappy 6-1, 190 pound guard from Martinsville, IN who excelled in three sports in high school, including quarterbacking his team to a 14-0 record in 1974. He played at Purdue alongside Joe Berry Carroll.
He was selected by the Golden State Warriors in the 4th round of the 1979 NBA Draft but never played for them. He started the season with the Indiana Pacers and spent five season in his home state before being traded to the Boston Celtics before the 1985-86 season. Sichting became a fan favorite and a scrappy defender, even getting into a donnybrook with Ralph Sampson in Game 5 of the NBA Finals before winning his Championship ring in ’86. He would later play for the TrailBlazers, Hornets and Bucks before retiring in 1990. Sichting later made his way to the broadcast booth with the Celtics.
His coaching career is mostly as an assistant with the Timberwolves, Warriors and Wizards and currently in Phoenix. He had other stints at Marquette and Martinsville High School.
30 Years Later, Part 7: Robert Parish
“The Chief” was the oldest of the Big Three, he played the most games and you won’t find any of his collegiate statistics in an NCAA record book. Robert Parish came out of Centenary College in 1975 and was drafted by three different basketball teams in three different leagues but chose to sign with the recent NBA Champions Golden State Warriors, who were already in a bit of a decline. His college stats are unknown because of a NCAA rule named the 1.6 rule, which is like trying to get credit from ITT Tech to transfer to Stanford.
In 1980, Red Auerbach traded 2 first-round picks, including the #1 overall included to Golden State for the #3 overall(McHale) and Parish. And so began The Big Three Era.
Parish played in an NBA record 1161 games and is the oldest player to win an NBA title(as of 2015) and 3rd oldest ever to play an NBA game.
The Chief is a consultant to the Celtics organization and is a mentor and coach for the Boston big men.
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30 Years Later, Part 6: Kevin McHale
Kevin McHale may be the best power forward to play the game before we saw Tim Duncan take the floor. McHale, the 6-10 power forward voted the #1 player in the University of Minnesota’s 100-years of basketball, was drafted third overall by the Celtics in 1980.
After playing his rookie year coming off the bench behind Larry Bird and Cedric Maxwell, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and helped Boston win the 1981 NBA Finals. McHale was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year following the ’84 & ’85 campaigns and would also win titles with the Celtics in 1984 and 1986. Named to the All-NBA First Team in 1987, the 7-time All-Star, was also a 3-time All-Defense First Team winner. McHale’s #32 is hang in in the rafters at the TD Garden, while his #44 Golden gophers jersey is retired by Minnesota.
McHale took over the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2004-05 for 31 games, leading them to a 19-12 record. In 2008 he took the reigns again, this time for 63 games amid a 20-43 record. In 2011, the Houston Rockets hired McHale and he’s helped them progress to a Championship caliber unit, losing in the Conference Finals this past year.
You can look forward to another uptempo, chaotic brand of basketball in Houston this year as the roster has been updated and the quality of talent has been upgraded with the addition of Ty Lawson at the point.
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30 Years Later, Part 5: Greg Kite
When the Boston Celtics selected Greg Kite in the 1st Round of the 1983 NBA Draft out of Brigham Young University, the 6’11” center was coming off a 4-year career in which he averaged 6.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Lucky enough to spend time on the court with HOF inductees Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson, Kite won NBA Titles with the Celtics in 1984 & 1986. He was part of the inaugural season of the expansion Charlotte Hornets in 1988-89 and later played for the Orlando Magic, starting in their second season of 1990-91. Kite played for 7 teams and retired in 1995.
Kite in now the Commissioner of the Florida Basketball Association.
(photo credit: thefba.wix.com)
30 Years Later, Part 4: Dennis Johnson
Straight Outta Compton to the Hall of Fame
Dennis Johnson wasn’t going to the NBA. Hell, he wasn’t even going to play in college.
Coach Jim White asked DJ to come play at LA Harbor College, a 2-year college which lead him to Pepperdine University where he developed into a tough defender with huge leaping ability. Drafted 29th by Seattle in 1976, he played for legends Bill Russell and Lenny Wilkens. Helping the Sonics win the 1979 NBA Title, DJ was named Finals MVP. Traded to Phoenix after the 1980 season, Johnson changed his game from a scoring 2-guard to an all-out scoring machine. When Phoenix traded him to Boston following the 1983 campaign, DJ changed his game again, becoming a pass-first point guard. The Celtics won titles in 1984 & 1986 before Johnson retired after the 1990 season. The Celtics retired Johnson’s #3 in December of 1991.
Johnson passed away in 2007.
His nephew, Nick, was drafted by the Houston Rockets in the 2nd round of the 2014 draft. The Rockets recently traded Johnson to the Denver Nuggets as part of a deal for Ty Lawson.
30 years later, Pt. 3: Rick Carlisle
Considering those of us here in Michigan have our own fine opinion of Rick Carlisle and the job he did in the Motor City, I’ll do my best to be the Celtics homer I am to describe what possibilities this ‘86 Celtic has in the upcoming 2015-16 NBA season.
Born and raised in New York state, Carlisle attended Lisbon HS before finding his way to the University of Virginia to play alongside the likes of Ralph Sampson and Olden Polynice. Drafted in the 3rd round at number 70 overall by the Celtics, he played 3 years in Boston, playing in 3 NBA Finals, before spending a season each in New York and New Jersey. After only 5 games in New Jersey playing for Bill Fitch, Carlisle was waived by the Nets before coach asked him on the same call to add him to the coaching staff. Thus, his coaching career began. Later, he be called upon by Celtic teammate Larry Bird to be an assistant in Indiana with the Pacers.
After a long run of Eastern Conference Finals appearances with the Pistons, he was being tossed to the side in favor of the original coaching maverick, Larry Brown. Carlisle soon found his footing and again made a new home office in the vicinity of fellow Celtic and Pacers GM Bird. Friends from their time in Celtic green, Carlisle was an easy choice for Bird after his success with the Pistons. When Carlisle eventually took Dirk Nowitzki and a ragtag team of Mark Cuban’s Mavericks to an NBA Finals win, it was the icing on the cake and the notch needed to make writers and historians realize his true greatness as a coach.
After a year in which Dallas had the top offense in the League before making a franchise and team chemistry alteration in adding former Celtics mercurial point guard Rajon Rondo to the mix, the Mavericks are rife with salary-cap room and the ability to choose their direction for the future with only Dirk, Chandler Parsons, Devin Harris and Gal Mekel on the books for under $30M and Monte Ellis($9M) and Raymond Felton($4.5M) holding player options for next year. With an expected salary cap of over $67M, the Mavericks are in position to chase marquee free-agent, LaMarcus Aldridge, who is from Texas, as well as Kevin Love and others.
If the Mavericks are able to move a couple pieces and sign a higher-tier free agent, I expect them back in the Playoffs in the deep Western Conference. But barring a major free-agent signing or a spectacularly unexpected trade, the Mavericks will not be making the move back to the NBA Finals next year.
(photo credit: nbae getty images)
30 years later, part 2: Larry Bird
How easy is it to figure out this story? The greatest shooter of all-time ends up in the front office back in his home state, loses his best player for a year due to a freak injury during Olympic training and then his team fights their way to a deciding playoff/lottery game in the season’s final day.
We all know what Larry Legend did for the Celtics back in the ‘80s, but what he’s got going into next year for the Pacers is a force to be reckoned with. After losing almost a full season to a horrific (at least, on video) injury to his leg, Paul George returns to an Indiana Pacers team that nearly made the Playoffs this year despite numerous setbacks. With key figures like David West, George Hill and the new cast of role players returning as well, Frank Vogel looks to have a roster that can get him back to the Playoffs and quite possibly contend for an Eastern Conference title. A late-lottery pick and an expiring contract could be the bait the Bird needs to capture(trade for) another prized star, possibly Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge. The key will be health, as it has been for years in this league. Another factor may be the possible movement of Roy Hibbert, Luis Scola or one of the many “unknown” guards.
I look for the Pacers to make a staunch comeback in the 2015-16 season and end up in the Top 5 in the East. With a couple moves here and there, the Legend could once again have this team in the NBA Finals.
30 years later, Part 1: Danny Ainge
Gritty, reliable hustler. It showed back in ‘86 and it’s shown in his undeniable need to make the next big move, acquiring players, contracts and draft picks that are both desirable and talented, as well as being able to liquidate assets if necessary. We saw that this year with the acquisition of Brandon Wright in the Rajon Rondo deal, moving him to Phoenix when the opportunity to add one of the most desired player contracts in the league arose in lightning bug Isaiah Thomas.
2015: Boston owns both their 1st round pick and the Clippers pick(Doc Rivers), as well as their own and the 76ers’ 2nd round pick.
2016: Boston owns their pick, the Nets’ 1st round pick(Pierce/Garnett), the Mavericks’ 1st round pick(protected 1-7 until 2021) and the Timberwolves 1st round pick(protected 1-12, or becomes 2nd rd. picks in 2016 & 2017).2nd round picks from Cleveland, Dallas, Miami and Philadelphia are also on the board of possibilities. Boston will lose its’ 2nd round pick to either Memphis or Utah in 2016.
2017: Boston has the right to swap picks with Brooklyn(Pierce/Garnett), but would convey its’ own 2nd round pick(protected 31-45 or extinguished). Boston owns 2nd round picks from Cleveland and the Clippers, as well as their own.
Although draft picks aren’t the asset they once were, think 1992(Shaq, ‘Zo, Laettner, Sprewell) & 2003(LeBron, Carmelo, Bosh, DWade), they can be the “raise the bet” to get a deal done(see Brandon Knight to Phoenix). When players like have to decide where to sign next year, the ability to complete a sign-and-trade, though more difficult than in past NBA off seasons, can be the edge needed to get a top or 2nd tier player to build a franchise around. Ainge has the assets, the financial freedom and the cigars to get the Green back to the Finals.
(Photo CREDIT: FOCUS ON SPORT)
GR’s Top 10: #6 Steve Scheffler
#6 Steve Scheffler Forest Hills Northern 6’9 C
Steve Scheffler graduated from FHN in 1986 and even my 8th grade basketball coach couldn’t stop him in the paint. The big lefty was trouble for opponents here and at Purdue for Gene Keady.
Drafted 39th overall by the Charlotte Hornets, he played 7 seasons in the NBA, averaging 1.9 points. After seeing action in 50 games over his first 3 years with Charlotte, Sacramento and Denver, he played in 124 more over the next 5 years as a SuperSonic and ended his career in Seattle. In the 1996 NBA Finals, he saw action against Michael Jordan’s Bulls. Scheffler’s brother, Tom, played at Purdue and then with the Portland TrailBlazers during the 1985-86 season.
Copyright 1996 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
SEATTLE – JUNE 12: Steve Scheffler #55 of the Seattle SuperSonics battles for a rebound in Game Four of the 1996 NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls at Key Arena on June 12, 1996 in Seattle, Washington. The Sonics won 107-86.