Today in Boston Celtics history, Willie Naulls was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1934. An alum of UCLA, where he played for NCAA coaching legend John Wooden, Naulls was picked up with the ninth overall pick of the 1956 NBA Draft by the (then) St. Louis (now, Atlanta) Hawks. He played a mere 19 contests with that ball club before being dealt to the New York Knicks early on in his rookie campaign.
Naulls spent the majority of his NBA career playing for the Knicks, who made him the first Black team captain in the history of the Association. It wasn’t the last trade of his career, of course, or you would not be reading about him on this site. In December 1962, Naulls was dealt to the San Francisco (now Golden State) Warriors, who dealt him to Boston the following September. The Texan wing finished his career as a Celtic, earning three titles with the team between 1964 and 1966. He was part of the first all-Black starting lineup in 1964 with Bill Russell, Sam and K.C. Jones (no relation), and Satch Sanders.
Naulls averaged 10.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as a Celtic, retiring from the sport in 1966.
Transactions
It is also the date the Celtics signed shooting guard Jimmy Oliver as an unrestricted free agent in 1993. A former Purdue Boilermaker, Oliver was selected 39th in the 1991 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Released by that team after his rookie season, Oliver bounced around in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA — the equivalent of the G League today) before joining Boston, with which he played 44 games in the 1993-94 season. He averaged 4.9 points and a rebound per game as a Celtic.
Listen to “Havlicek Stole the Pod” on:
Spotify: https://tiny.ee/CdKp
iTunes: https://tiny.ee/RK47
YouTube: https://tiny.ee/cOW3