John Havlicek, the first ever sixth man

Stephen Stapinski of Andover is a Boston Celtics fan. He shares a collection of blogs that document his favorite basletball team and its important players. This blog is about some intetesting facts on John Havlicek of the Celtics, the first ever sixth man.

Drafted in 1962 by the Boston Celtics, he never played for any other team. If there was another team that he almost played in, it was, amazingly, one that was outside of the NBA and basketball altogether. On the same year, he was also drafted by the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League.

Considering that two powerhouse pro franchises from the two biggest leagues in sports were interested in signing him up, it’s not difficult to understand how much of a superb athlete John Havlicek was. Stephen Stapinski of Andover shares that he had the talent and the competence to make an impact in either league.

However, he chose the path of Boston. Here, he encountered other superb athletes who were in their prime, such as Bill Russell and Sam Jones. In fact, then coach Red Aurbach’s Celtics had a line-up loaded enough to field in a starting five that could break the backs of any opponent. Havlicek was certainly talented enough to start, but coaching strategy had him come off the bench for the most part.

This is precisely what the sixth man in basketball often does in practice today. But at that time, starting fives comprised the five most talented players in a team, Stephen Stapinski of Andover recounts. With Havlicek, it was a pioneering strategy to field in a substitute who could even do better in production than any of the starting five. Auerbach believed that this would ensure that even when someone is replaced, there would be no dip in score production.

Obviously this worked and it gave a lot of opposing teams hell. Just when the Boston starting five made quick work of the enemy, they would bring in a fresh Havlicek to do the same damage, if not more. The sixth man, as we know it, was born.