What were the worst regular seasons in Boston Celtics history?
With seventeen NBA Titles and nearly sixty playoff appearances, the Boston Celtics are among basketball’s most winningest franchises. Since the club’s founding way back in the 40s, more often than not, you can find the C’s at or around the top of the league standings at the end of the year. In fact, Boston has won sixty games or more in the regular season thirteen separate times.
The good times don’t last forever, though. Even the mighty Celtics have had downturns, and some of the club’s worst regular seasons in its history are absolutely putrid or even tragic. Yes, Boston has shown a capacity to rebound from these stretches, but all the same, sometimes things just don’t go right in the Hub.
So what were the worst regular seasons in Celtics history? Let’s take a look at the lowest winning percentages Boston has ever produced:
1978-79 Season: 29-53 (.345)
(AP Photo)
Though the 1978-79 isn’t the worst season in Boston history, it is certainly among the strangest. That’s because in the summer of ’78, the Celtics and LA Clippers (then the Buffalo Braves) swapped owners.
Irv Levin bought the Celtics in 1972. He wanted to bolt to his native California, but knew the C’s could never up and leave Boston. He brokered a deal with Buffalo Braves owner John Y. Brown, and the two men exchanged the rights to their respective franchises. Levin then moved the Braves to San Diego, changing the club’s name to the Clippers in the process.
A flurry of trades occurred concurrently with the swap, all without the consultation of an understandably angry Red Auerbach. By the time the dust settled, only six players remained from the 1977-78 Celtics roster.
Following a 2-12 start to the season, head coach Satch Sanders was replaced by Dave Cowens, who served as player coach. Along with Cowens, the team still had key pieces like Cedric Maxwell and Jojo White, but the retirement of John Havlicek, Larry Bird’s decision to remain in college, and all of the tumult from the early goings were just too much to overcome.
1949-50 Season: 22-46 (.324)
(NBA Photo Library/ NBAE via Getty Images)
The 1949-50 season was the first Boston played in the National Basketball League after the NBA absorbed the Basketball Association of America in the fall of ’49. Founded just a few years earlier in 1946, the Celtics were consistently among the worst teams around.
The Celtics never won more than 41.7 % of their games during the 40s. In 1950, however, the team drafted Chuck Cooper and named Red Auerbach as head coach. The turnaround was extraordinary, especially given how meager the club was at the time.
Following the 1949-50 season, Boston would win at least 50 % of its regular-season games for nearly two straight decades.
2013-14 Season: 25-57 (.305)
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The dawn of the Brad Stevens era in Boston was rather dismal. Yes, the former Butler coach launched a new chapter for the Celtics in short order, but that first season was a veritable disaster.
Rajon Rondo, the star holdover from the Big Three days was sidelined with a torn ACL until January. Jeff Green led the team with a pedestrian 16.9 points per game, while a supporting cast of Avery Bradley and Brandon Bass didn’t do much to elevate Boston.
Kelly Olynyk was named to the All-Rookie Second Team, and Jordan Crawford won a surprise Eastern Conference Player of the Week award in December. Brad Stevens’ wizardry began to reveal itself during the 2013-14 campaign, but both expectations and final results were tepid at best.
2006-07 Season: 24-58 (.293)
(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
In 2005-06, the Celtics won an icy 33 games. As such, the 2006-07 team wasn’t necessarily on a crash course with success.
That said, tragedy loomed large over the club. Red Auerbach died in October of 2006, and a few months later, Dennis Johnson passed a few months later at the age of 52.
Paul Pierce was an established All-Star at this point but was really the lone bright spot for the team. He was sidelined with a nagging foot injury in December. Things were going from bad to worse for the club.
Decidedly greener pastures were on the horizon, of course. But at the time, this was one of the lowest lows the Celtics franchise had ever experienced.
1996-97 Season: 15-67 (.183)
Jamie Squire /Allsport
Still recovering from a future cut short following the deaths of Len Bias and
Reggie Lewis, the mid-90s Celtics weren’t very good. Still, after drafting Antoine Walker with the No. 6 overall pick, there was reason for some optimism in the Hub heading into the 1996-97 season.
Early injuries to players like Dana Barros and Dee Brown doomed Boston, however. A thirteen-game losing streak in February and March helped punctuate the level of ineptitude facing the Celtics at this time.
After posting the worst regular-season record in Boston Celtics history, head coach ML Carr was fired in the off-season. Stand-out Rick Fox, meanwhile, bolted for the rival Los Angeles Lakers. Things were dark.
This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!
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