On this day in Boston Celtics history, point and shooting guard DeCovan Kadell “Dee” Brown was born in Jacksonville, Florida back in 1968. Brown would play his college ball with the Jacksonville University Dolphins, from which he would be picked up by the Celtics as the 19th overall pick of the 1990 NBA draft.
In his first season with the team, the Floridian guard would earn First Team All-Rookie honors, and he would win the NBA Slam dunk Contest in his second season with his famous no-look dunk. The Jacksonville product played parts of eight seasons with Boston between 1990 and 1998.
He would average 11.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.4 steals per game over that stretch.
It is also the birthday of former Celtic floor general Jerry Lee Sichting, born this day in 1956 in Martinsville, Indiana.
An alumnus of the Purdue Boilermakers, Sichting led his college squad to an NIT title game, losing to in-state rival Indiana before being taken with the 82nd overall pick (there were many more rounds in that era) of the 1979 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors.
He would not suit up for that team though, instead spending his first two seasons out of college in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA — that era’s version of the G League) with the Maine Lumberjacks.
Sichting would land a deal with the Indiana Pacers, with whom he would play for five seasons before he would be dealt to the Celtics in 1985, with whom he would win a title the following summer.
He would play parts of three seasons with Boston before being dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers for Jim Paxson in 1988, averaging 5.9 points, 1.2 boards, and 2.4 assists per game.
Paxson, Parish, Charles Smith and McHale. From the looks of this pic, I bet the Celtics lost pic.twitter.com/OolOvVeE5n
— Frosty Bias ☘️ (@FrostyBias) January 13, 2021
The pair share their birthday with yet another Celtic point guard, Charles Edward Smith IV.
Smith was born on this date in 1967 in Washington, District of Columbia, and spent his college years playing for the Georgetown Hoyas, from which he went unselected in the 1989 NBA draft.
