Now on our seventh installment of ranking each Boston Celtics draft pick by the pick number they were drafted Nos. 1 through 60, we land at No. 52, which the Celtics have drafted at seven times in their seven-decade history.
The picks made at this number began in 1962 and continued until 2010, the most recent draft Boston selected 52nd overall.
As one might be assume this late in the draft, there were no stars to be found.
But there is a two-time NBA champion to speak of, an (American Basketball Association) All-Star and at least one player that might be familiar to relatively newer fans of the Celtics.
As we have done in previous editions of this series, we use a rubric valuing contributions while with the Celtics as our main focus, with the achievements garnered before or after as a secondary means of ranking these players when the race is close.
All that explained, who are the greatest Celtics to be drafted 52nd overall?
Jim Hooley – forward – Boston College
Hooley, a 6-foot-5 forward and Roxbury native, was taken out of Boston College in the 1962 NBA Draft, where he had been of the greatest scorers in school history.
He did not make the final team for the Celtics that fall, and whatever he did next in life, it was not professional basketball.
Martinez Denmon – point guard – Iowa State
Denmon, part of a large family of basketball players, worked his way up to Iowa State from Coffeyville Junior College to eventually become one of the Cyclones’ leading scorers.
He would also be drafted 52nd by the Celtics, and like Hooley, be cut before the regular season started, eventually making his way to a career as a strategic planner and educational consultant for an online learning company based out of New York City.
Mike Redd – guard – Kentucky Wesleyan College
Not to be confused with Michael Redd of Ohio State, Mike Redd was the first Black man named Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 1963.
Despite being drafted by the Celtics, Redd enlisted in the Marines during the Vietnam War. Afterwards, he played professionally in Europe for several seasons, even starting a basketball school in Austria after his playing career ended.
Winfred King – center – East Tennessee State University
After jumping around a few schools, King would help lead East Tennessee State to an NIT appearance in 1983 in his senior season. He would be drafted by the Celtics that summer, but not make the final roster due to an injury.
While he’d never play in the NBA, King would have a long career playing in Italy, Spain and Israel.
Levern Tart – shooting guard – Bradley University
Initially planning to play football for Indiana University, his basketball skills got him scooped to play for Bradley instead, with whom he’d win an NIT title in 1964, garnering Most Valuable Player honors in that tourney.
Tart would never play in the NBA despite being selected by Boston, instead having a long and successful career in the American Basketball Association (ABA), even earning All-Star honors twice.
Luke Harongody – power forward – Notre Dame
Harangody is most likely a recognizable face for recent Celtic fans, having been drafted by Boston in 2010 as the most recent No. 52 pick taken by the team.
Earning 2008 Big East Player of the Year honors while at Notre Dame, Harongody would play 28 games for the Celtics in his rookie season before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He averaged 2.3 points and 2 boards per game with the team.
Steve Kuberski – big man – Bradley University
The last man to wear No. 33 before Larry Bird, Kuberski would win two-thirds as many titles (1974 and 1976) as the Legend himself in his time in green and white.
A pickup game with Celtic Don Nelson at a YMCA game convinced Nelson to alert Boston about Kuberski’s talent, and Red Auerbach evidently agreed, setting the Bradley product’s future with the team in motion. He would play for Boston for eight seasons, averaging 5.9 points and 4 rebounds per game.
