Every era of Celtics basketball, one lineup. These are the five highest-rated Celtics legends across the 1960s to today, chosen by iKnoBall's era-adjusted engine — and the record they'd post over a full 82-game season.
Two bigs or a wing-heavy five? That's the engine optimizing for pure rating — exactly the debate iKnoBall is built to settle. Think you'd start a different five? Prove it.
Bob Cousy anchors the group at a 89 overall — the kind of number only genuine all-time greats reach on iKnoBall's scale. Around Cousy, the model fills out a starting five that balances scoring, playmaking and defense across Celtics history, then simulates all 82 games. The result — 74–8 — reflects both the raw talent and how the pieces fit: a lineup that covers every role and avoids stacking too many ball-dominant scorers projects higher than one built on names alone.
Every Celtics legend in the iKnoBall pool, ranked by era-adjusted overall. The top five above start; the rest form the bench and the debate.
| Player | Era | Pos | PPG | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larry Bird | 1980s | SF | 29.9 | 97 |
| Bill Russell | 1960s | C | 18.9 | 96 |
| Kevin Garnett | 2000s | PF | 18.8 | 95 |
| Jayson Tatum | 2020s | SF | 30.1 | 93 |
| John Havlicek | 1970s | SF | 28.9 | 90 |
| Paul Pierce | 2000s | SF | 26.8 | 90 |
| Bob Cousy | 1960s | PG | 18.6 | 89 |
| Ray Allen | 2000s | SG | 26.4 | 88 |
| Jaylen Brown | 2020s | SG | 23.0 | 88 |
| Dave Cowens | 1970s | C | 20.5 | 87 |
| Kevin McHale | 1980s | PF | 26.1 | 87 |
| Isaiah Thomas | 2010s | PG | 28.9 | 86 |
| Sam Jones | 1960s | SG | 25.9 | 85 |
| Antoine Walker | 1990s | PF | 22.4 | 85 |
| Jo Jo White | 1970s | PG | 23.1 | 84 |
| Robert Parish | 1980s | C | 19.9 | 84 |
| Kristaps Porzingis | 2020s | C | 20.1 | 83 |
| Reggie Lewis | 1990s | SF | 20.8 | 82 |
| Al Jefferson | 2000s | PF | 16.3 | 82 |
| Dennis Johnson | 1980s | SG | 16.5 | 81 |
| Cedric Maxwell | 1980s | PF | 17.6 | 81 |
| Rajon Rondo | 2000s | PG | 11.7 | 81 |
| Al Horford | 2010s | C | 14.0 | 81 |
| Paul Silas | 1970s | PF | 11.1 | 80 |
| Sidney Wicks | 1970s | PF | 17.6 | 80 |
| Dino Radja | 1990s | C | 17.2 | 80 |
| Tom Heinsohn | 1960s | PF | 21.7 | 79 |
| Jrue Holiday | 2020s | PG | 12.5 | 79 |
| Charlie Scott | 1970s | SG | 17.6 | 78 |
| Danny Ainge | 1980s | SG | 16.1 | 77 |
| Dee Brown | 1990s | PG | 12.9 | 77 |
| Marcus Smart | 2020s | PG | 10.6 | 76 |
| Tom Sanders | 1960s | SF | 12.6 | 75 |
| Tony Allen | 2000s | SG | 11.0 | 75 |
| KC Jones | 1960s | PG | 9.2 | 74 |
| Frank Ramsey | 1960s | SG | 15.3 | 74 |
| Don Nelson | 1970s | SF | 14.4 | 74 |
| Bill Walton | 1980s | C | 7.6 | 74 |
| Kevin Gamble | 1990s | SG | 13.2 | 74 |
| Rick Fox | 1990s | SF | 10.3 | 74 |
| Kelly Olynyk | 2010s | C | 9.5 | 74 |
| Avery Bradley | 2010s | SG | 11.7 | 73 |
| Payton Pritchard | 2020s | PG | 11.0 | 73 |
Draft your own all-time Celtics — or any franchise across five sports — set your starting five, and sim a full season chasing a perfect 82–0. Free to play.
Draft Your All-Time FiveGet the AppBy iKnoBall's era-adjusted ratings the all-time Celtics starting five is Bob Cousy (Point Guard, 1960s), Larry Bird (Small Forward, 1980s), Kevin Garnett (Power Forward, 2000s), Jayson Tatum (Small Forward, 2020s), Bill Russell (Center, 1960s). Together they project to a 74–8 regular season.
iKnoBall's simulation projects this five at 74–8 over an 82-game season, with an average starter rating of 94. The model runs each game as a probability from the lineup's combined strength, so an all-time five contends for a near-perfect year but nothing is guaranteed.
Each player's overall is built from era-adjusted box-score production (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defense) and anchored to the reputations of established greats, so a 25-point scorer in the 1960s and today are measured on the same scale. Only true legends reach the 90s.
Yes — iKnoBall is a free game where you draft one legend per era, set your starting five, and simulate a full season chasing a perfect 82–0. Play it free at play.iknoball.com.
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Ratings are era-adjusted and computed by iKnoBall's simulation engine. Records are model projections for entertainment, not predictions. Player names belong to their respective owners; iKnoBall is an independent fan-made game.