How PhD students helped create the legendary Celtic Big Three

The 2007-08 NBA season was one of the most famous campaigns in the storied history of the Boston Celtics. Just one year after finishing last in the Eastern Conference, the Greens won the Larry O’Brien Championship. This huge jump in the rankings was due to Boston’s new “Big Three” of Hall of Famers Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

While most Celtics fans are familiar with this “worst to first” story, it is not widely known how a group of graduate students contributed to the formation of the “Big Three.” Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck explained that Boston’s front office used analytics to build a championship-caliber team in Episode 3 of “All in Celtics.”

“We hired some graduate students to look at the statistics of the teams that had won the previous 25 NBA championships,” Grousbeck recalled. “When they crunched the numbers, 24 of those 25 teams had one thing in common – they each had a Big Three concept.

With that information in hand, former Celtics general manager Danny Ainge waited until Garnett, a former Minnesota Timberwolves MVP, became available. Then, in the summer of 2007, the C’s acquired Allen and Garnett in a massive trade. Those major moves ultimately resulted in a phenomenal regular season (66-16 overall) and the Celtics’ 17th title in franchise history. For his efforts, Ainge also earned 2008 Executive of the Year honors.

“Obviously, we’ve moved on from that type of analysis now, but it was our first effort to justify the strategy that Danny and I and others were working on at the time,” vice president of basketball operations Mike Zarren said of the graduate students’ research.

Although the Big Three didn’t win another championship after 2008, they changed the league forever. More and more NBA front offices wanted so-called “super teams” that would consist of multiple All-Stars acquired through free agency or trade.

For example, take “The Heatles” in Miami. Hall of Fame members LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat to two straight titles four years after Boston’s great trio won it all.

How the new “Big Three” took over Boston in 2024

The lasting impact of Boston’s Big Three continued into the 2023-2024 season. Boston built something akin to the 2008 Celtics, with its top three players consisting of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis.

Tatum and Brown were drafted by the Celtics and, like Pierce, made multiple playoff appearances but never won a championship.

Then, in the summer of 2023, Celtics president Brad Stevens went all-in on Porzingis, who had been the team’s star in 2018. Boston traded franchise cornerstone Marcus Smart, along with several other pieces, to land the Latvian center.

While this significant move was risky given Porzingis’ injury problems, he was Boston’s third-leading scorer during the regular season, averaging 20.1 points per game while shooting a career-high 51.6 percent from the field.

He also had a stellar performance in the 2024 NBA Finals, defeating the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1, scoring 20 points in 21 minutes to help the Celtics win 107-89.

Like Allen and Garnett before him, Porzingis played a key role in unsettling Boston’s homegrown stars. But the credit for Boston winning the 2024 NBA championship doesn’t just go to Tatum, Brown and Porzingis.

The 2023-2024 Celtics were an experienced, balanced squad that benefited from an all-around effort.

In Game 1 of the Finals, Brown and Porzingis shined. In Game 2, Celtic freshman Jrue Holiday had a team-high 26 points and 11 rebounds. In Game 3, Tatum and Brown combined for 61 points, and guard Derrick White made four key 3-pointers. Finally, in Boston’s decisive Game 5 victory, Tatum became the first Celtic to score more than 30 points and 10 assists in a Finals game.

Simply put, the Celtics had more than three players. The entire roster was focused on winning, and every Celtic wanted to contribute.

However, the legacy of the “Big Three” and their connection to the current Celtics is undeniable. Both teams earned record-breaking banners on the same day (June 17) and were loaded with great players. But the newest version of Boston’s “Big Three” has a chance to do something the previous version never did: build a dynasty.

The first steps toward achieving that difficult goal will begin in the offseason as the Celtics look to retain talented players without sacrificing roster depth.