On this day: Will Bynum signs; Roy Rogers born; Munroe passes
On this day in Boston Celtics history, point guard Will Bynum signed a camp deal with the storied franchise after going undrafted in the 2005 NBA draft. Bynum, a native of Chicago, Illinois, played his college ball at the University of Arizona and then later would transfer to Georgia Tech.
Bynum helped lead the latter of the two schools to an NCAA title game with a late make against the Oklahoma State Cowboys before trying his luck in the draft that year, then signing with Boston later that summer when no teams selected him. He would not end up making the team, however — Bynum would find himself waived a little more than two months later, on October 25.
The Chicagoan would become a Celtic again briefly many years later, after stints with the Golden State Warriors and Detroit Pistons.
Roy Rogers's CAREER(1996-2000) Shot Chart:
Volume: AVERAGE | P_38 (percentile)
Shot Skill: GOOD | P_71
Efficiency: AVERAGE | P_58
Efficiency Value: AVERAGE | P_61Favorite Zone: Paint(NonRA)
Best Skill Zone: Paint(NonRA)
Best Value Zone: Restricted#RoyRogers#Celtics pic.twitter.com/HqiDA6MHJr— NBA Shot Charts (@NBAChartBot) January 27, 2020
He would be traded to Boston in exchange for Joel Anthony in 2014, then waived for the second time by the Celtics nine years and two days after the first time.
Bynum would never play a game with the team.
Happy birthday Roy Rogers! #Celtics pic.twitter.com/bfnkgl3Z3g
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) August 19, 2020
It is the birthday of former Boston forward Roy Rogers, born this day in 1973 in Linden, Alabama.
Rogers went to Alabama to play NCAA basketball and was drafted with the 22nd overall pick of the 1996 NBA draft by the (then) Vancouver (now, Memphis) Grizzlies before being dealt to the Celtics at the end of his rookie season.
He would play just nine games for Boston before being dealt yet again, this time with Dee Brown, Chauncey Billups, and John Thomas in a trade that brought back Zan Tabak, Kenny Anderson, and Popeye Jones.
Rogers averaged 0.8 points and 0.6 boards per game in his brief tenure with the team, and would later return to the club as an assistant coach.
It is also the date of the Celtics defeating the Philadelphia 76ers 128 – 101 to take a 2 – 0 series lead in the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs held in the Disney bubble due to the pandemic.
“I’m playing confident,” Tatum said after the game (via the AP) in which he scored 33 points to lead all Celtics. “Just trying to be aggressive and trying to make the right play. I say that a lot, but that’s as easy as I can break it down.”
Happy birthday to Oxford University's first ever NBA player, George Munroe, who passed away in 2014 and would have been 99 today. He played two NBA seasons for the St. Louis Bombers (1946-47) and the Boston Celtics (1947-48).#BritishBasketball #RhodesScholar #OxfordBasketball pic.twitter.com/XOAkQ9wcLT
— Oxford Blues Basketball NBL (@OxfordMBB) January 5, 2021
Finally, it is also the date of the passing of former Boston guard George Munroe, who played just 21 games for the Celtics in 1947-48.
The Dartmouth product logged 3.4 points per game over that stretch.
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