Getty Bill Walton and the 1986 Boston Celtics were unstoppable.
One can make a case that the 1986 Boston Celtics are the best team in NBA history. Led by Larry Bird, the Celtics won 67 games and lost just once at home all season, playoffs included.
Bird was one of four future Hall of Famers in the starting lineup, and the Celtics acquired another future Hall member, veteran center Bill Walton, to come off the bench that season. While the Celtics were loaded with five HOFers that year, Walton insisted there should have been a sixth.
Bill Walton ‘Shocked and Dismayed’ Danny Ainge Isn’t in the Hall of Fame
The 1985-86 Celtics had no weaknesses. It was a veteran group led by arguably the best frontcourt ever to suit up in the NBA — Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish. After their 67-15 regular season, they lost one playoff game before reaching the NBA Finals. There, they defeated the Houston Rockets in six games.
Everything clicked for the Celtics that season. The oft-injured Walton, in his first year with the team, came off the bench and played a career-high 80 games. Bird played all 82. Walton spelled Parish and McHale and was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.
Dennis Johnson was the fourth starter on that Celtics squad who eventually reached the Hall of Fame. Of the five starters, only Danny Ainge isn’t a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Walton has a hard time believing Ainge hasn’t been inducted.
“I got to know Danny over some of his life,” Walton said during an interview with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson. “He’s quite a bit younger than I am. And then I got to rebound for him on the Boston Celtics. There wasn’t a lot of rebounds to be had there.
“It was super fun to be with him on that Celtics squad. He was a critical component, and I’m shocked and dismayed that Danny Ainge is not in the Basketball Hall of Fame.”
Is Walton Right About Ainge?
Ainge was a heck of an NBA player. He was likely the best athlete on that 1985-86 Celtics team. Ainge was a two-sport professional athlete, having played Major League Baseball with the Toronto Blue Jays.
With the Celtics, however, he was an important piece of the championship puzzle. To push for him as a Hall of Famer seems to be a bit of a reach.
Ainge played 14 years in the NBA for four different teams. He was an All-Star just once, that coming during the 1987-88 season. In that year, Ainge played 81 games and averaged 15.7 points and 6.2 rebounds. He shot 49.1% from the floor.
Ainge averaged 11.5 points over his career, which began with the Celtics during the 1981-82 season. Ainge won a pair of championships in Boston and put up 11.3 points per game during his run in Boston.
In February 1989, the Celtics traded Ainge to the Sacramento Kings. In 1990, the Kings sent him to the Portland Trail Blazers, where he played two seasons. He ended his career by playing three years with the Phoenix Suns.
After his playing days were over, Ainge became a longtime member of the Celtics front office.