Boston Celtics: 15 players you forgot played for the Celtics

8. Rick Carlisle

Many people associate Rick Carlisle with being a championship head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. But before he was a coach, Carlisle spent a few years as a player in the NBA and was actually drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1984. Carlisle’s playing career only lasted for five years, but as a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, Carlisle was considered to be a hometown kid on his favorite basketball team.

Carlisle is not widely remembered as being a member of the Celtics because he was the only rookie on a team that had the glory of Larry Bird, Danny Ainge, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish all playing in their prime years. Carlisle averaged only 2.2 points in three seasons with the Celtics. Carlisle is one of 10 players to wear No. 34 for the Celtics before it became retired by Paul Pierce.

His coaching career began right after his playing career ended. Carlisle became an assistant in 1989 and finally landed his first head coaching position with the Pistons in 2001. He spent two years in Detroit before becoming the head coach in Indiana for the next four years. Then in 2008, Carlisle became the head coach of the Mavericks and won a championship in 2011.