by Keith Hook

Created on: April 01, 2009

The Boston Celtics are the greatest franchise and dynasty in NBA history, of that, there can be no argument. If you are not impressed by the 17 championships (three more than their closest rival, the Minneapolis/LA Lakers, who have 14 and almost three times more than the next team, the Chicago Bulls, who have won six titles) then you have to be impressed with the total of 33 men who have Celtic ties (20 of whom are all but exclusively bleed Celtic Green) who sit, enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Better still, the Celtics are a team of several generations, which is what a dynasty should be. There is the Bob Cousy/Bill Russell/Tom Heinson Celtics of the late 50's to early 60's, the Russell/Sam & KC Jones/John Havlicek teams of the mid to late 60's, the Havlicek/Dave Cowens/Jo Jo White teams of the early to mid 70's, the Larry Bird/Kevin McHale/Dennis Johnson/Robert Parish teams of the early to mid 80's and the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett/Ray Allen team of last year. With a history like that, the Celtics can appropriate a nickname that formerly applied to the NFL's Oakland Raiders (before Al Davis got old and senile) of being a "Team of All Decades".

In contrast, the Chicago Bulls only success was during Michael Jordan's tenure. The Bulls have no history of being an elite team either before, or since. While Jordan and crew did win six rings overall, in two separate runs of three years in a row, let's remember that the Celtics once won a string of eight championships in a row and won 11 in the 13 years Bill Russell was on the team! That's why I always laugh when people talk about Michael Jordan being "the greatest". While I certainly cannot argue against his talent or accomplishments, they pale in comparison to Russell.

As for the Lakers, yes, they are a great franchise and they would come closest to matching the Celtics in longevity and generational dominance. The Lakers started out winning titles with George Mikan as their star, in the late 40's and early 50's, had success, and one ring, with the Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain teams of the late 60's to early 70's, continued winning with the Magic Johnson/Kareem teams of the early to mid 80's and were still winning in the 2000's with Kobe Bryant and Shaq. However one must also notice their overall losing record in the NBA Finals (14-15) and their losing record to Gang Green in head to head Finals competition (2-9) which automatically disqualifies them from consideration as the NBA's greatest dynasty.

As much as any other professional sports league, the NBA has a proud and storied past. It's future looks just as bright, with the talents of LeBron James, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce and scores of others. One thread that joins them together, past, present and future is that thread which is green in hue and makes the sign of the shamrock. There is no doubt that the Boston Celtics are the NBA's greatest dynasty.

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