Year by Year analysis of Celtics dynasty years (Part 1: 1957)

[Dr Positivity]

I've always been interested in the Russell Celtics and the question of how did they do it? In the NBA nobody has ever won 3 titles in a row let alone 8 in a row (and 11 in 13 years), in other major sports they top out of 5 in a row. And while the answer could be Russell is just that good, I could also see a world where his amazing shotblocking/rebounding/passing for a big still just makes him a regular superstar in impact like West or Wilt and somehow the rest of the team was just that much better.

So I wanted to look at it year by year analyzing the Celtics and the competition starting with Russell's rookie season 1957, there's only so much information I can find on some players but I'll do my best on the broad strokes:

Other than the Celtics who have the best record in the league and point differential easily even with half seasons of Russell and Ramsay, this season has a lot of parity. The second best record in Syracuse has 38 wins and the worst team in Rochester has 31 wins and had some stars like Twyman and Stokes. It seems like all the other teams except Celtics and maybe the Hawks can be grouped together in talent.

Boston Celtics

The Celtics are a superteam on paper this year compared to the rest of the league, all of which have some good players but neither the top end talent or depth of Boston. Cousy and Sharman were the 1st team All NBA guards going into the season and for Cousy skeptics, even with his efficiency warts he led all PGs in OWS in 1957, when it comes to denying him best PG in the league status the competition just isn't there as the the 2nd/3rd in OWS are Gene Shue and Carl Braun (I guess the PG you'd want second most is Slater Martin for D and championship experience). Sharman is probably closer to young Twyman than the PPG difference suggests due to pace but we'll still call him best 2 guard in the league, I think Sharman is better on D too. Not only are them and Russell a dominant trio in talent, but the fit is great with playmaker, shooter and defender/rebounder.

Then you get into the rest of the team where Heinsohn has a case for top 4 or 5 PF (I think Gallatin is second best after Schayes if you count Pettit as C but after that is some guys like Mikkelson and Macauley he can compete with) and came on strong at the end of regular season and the playoffs, Ramsey is legit all-star caliber statistically, having both him and Heinsohn on top of their big 3 makes it unfair. I also really like that they have the older versions of Andy Phillip and Arnie Risen, two guys who’s primes we talked about in the retro HOF project a few years ago, as 7th and 8th men. Based on minutes Risen must have played some minutes with Russell. When added to Ramsey and how poor most of the leagues other benches look, it’s by far the best bench in the league. The weakest point is SF where Loscutoff plays the most minutes (otherwise Heinsohn/Ramsey?), but even he is a great defender just with no D. They have a PF named Jack Nichols over 20 minutes in the regular season I don't know the most about that with mediocre stats while he was down to 12 in the playoffs.

The other competitors

St Louis Hawks (lose in double overtime game 7 in the finals to the Celtics)

The Hawks have arguably the best player in the league in Pettit (assuming Russell's impact is a little blunted by being a rookie, eg. worse playmaking) and have a huge offseason for names getting Slater Martin and Ed Macauley, but the results look poor at 30-36 after 66 of 72 games. Still with Hagan coming on they save their season down the stretch and turn it around in the playoffs. The frontcourt looks great on offense with Pettit, Macauley and Chuck Share is that “high efficiency backup C who’s WS/48 pops”. The perimeter offensive stats are pretty poor as they play the inefficient but assist friendly Jack McMahon a lot of minutes, while Slater Martin’s numbers aren’t great, but my theory for why they almost won the finals is he played great D on Cousy who shot 21 times a game at 31% FG. They have some bench players I don’t know much about like Med Park and Jack Coleman that don’t look like anything at first, but when you compare their WS to other players at their positions (SG and PF), they start to look like solid enough depth pieces, and they were even playing Coleman more than Macauley in the finals.

They seem like a solid choice to make the finals and proved it the next year. Still, they’re not quite as balanced on offense as the Celtics (too much frontcourt, not enough backcourt) and I could see Macauley’s D being a questionable fit starting beside Pettit. They overperformed to get so close against the obvious best team.

Philadelphia Warriors (lose 2-0 to Syracuse in QF)

The Warriors are the defending champion with a big 2 of Arizin and Johnston, and are the best offensive team in the league two years running although mediocre on D. They lose Tom Gola to military service and the previous year’s All NBA guard Jack George declines, but still are only one win from the second best record. They seem to have some solid other guards on paper like young Larry Costello, Ernie Beck, George Dempsey, but not sure about their frontcourt depth after Johnston. Still, they never have a chance in the playoffs since all signs are Arizin gets injured, playing only 19 games in the first and 3 minutes in the second. Even on the offensive end it's debatable if they have more talent than the Celtics since while they have the big 2 it drops off after that compared to having players like Ramsey and Heinsohn. They would have had to play the Celtics in the semifinals so there is no what if for an OG Philly-Celtics finals matchup.

Syracuse Nationals (swept in CF to Celtics)

The Nationals are the champion from 2 years earlier, with Schayes still in his prime, with players like Ed Conlin (SG) and young Red Kerr (C) as good but not great next best pieces. They do everything they're supposed to getting the 2nd best record and taking case of business against Philadelphia, and then promptly get swept by Celtics. When they won in 1955 they were the best defensive team while they are now average on that end. It seems like they just get outgunned and 83-80 closeout win by Celtics was likely a great performance by Russell.

The others

They have similar story of a few good players, but their best player not enough of a superstar but lacking depth. The Lakers in John Kundla's last year who lose in conference finals to Hawks have Dick Garmaker (All NBA SG), and a frontcourt of Clyde Lovelette and Vern Mikkelson. The Pistons made the finals in 1956 with a scoring forward in George Yardley and solid frontcourt players like Larry Foust, Mel Hutchins and Bob Houbregs and added a solid PG in Gene Shue, but their defensive rank is last and they lost two close games to Lakers in short series. The Knicks have Harry Gallatin and a pre-prime Kenny Sears, along with Carl Braun at PG, but they get a little bad luck with divisions missing the playoffs at 36-36 when the second best record in the league was 38-34. Rochester as mentioned finishes last but with a young Twyman and Stokes seem not terrible. Ultimately none of these teams have as good a player as even Schayes or Arizin which makes it difficult especially with the back half of their rosters looking weak to me.

The Celtics have by far the best team and it is no surprise they won the title. They have the best ballhandler/passer, shooter, and defender/rebounder along with several other all-star caliber players and veteran depth. Despite that, they still almost lose in what seems like great series. The Hawks may have been a bad matchup as I’m not sure Russell is the best to play Pettit and it seems Martin played Cousy well. Heinsohn (alt world Finals MVP) was huge for the series scoring 24ppg on solid efficiency compared to his teammates and 37 in the double overtime Game 7 while Cousy went 2 for 20. There was actually two double overtime games as the first game also went with St Louis winning with 37 pt Pettit performance. Hagan and Macauley both have relatively good offensive series, Sharman's FG% was a little weak but not as bad as Cousy's, Russell did his usual rebounding and his assists were up from the regular season, Ramsey had 12ppg but more efficient than most of the team, he also had a strong series (14/5 on 52% FG) against the Nationals the previous round.