On this day in Boston Celtics history, point guard Jerryd Bayless was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1988. Bayless would play his collegiate basketball with the University of Arizona Wildcats for one season before entering the 2008 NBA draft, where he was selected with the 11th overall pick by the Indiana Pacers.
The Phoenix native would never suit up for the Pacers, traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for Jarrett Jack, Josh McRoberts, and Brandon Rush soon after the draft. He would also play for the (then) New Orleans Hornets (now, Pelicans), Toronto Raptors, and Memphis Grizzlies before the latter team sent Bayless to Boston in a deal that sent back guard Courtney Lee.
Bayless would play just one season for the Celtics, playing 41 games and starting 14 of them.
He averaged 10.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists while with the Celtics, leaving in free agency next summer to sign with the Milwaukee Bucks.
It is also the birthday of former Celtic guard Sihugo Green, born in New York, New York in 1933.
Happy Birthday to Duquesne Great Sihugo Green. pic.twitter.com/d1QFDHkFbu
— Jim Ferry (@CoachJimFerry) August 21, 2015
A product of Duquesne, Green was the No. 1 overall pick of the 1956 NBA draft, taken by the (then) Rochester Royals (now, Sacramento Kings).
The New Yorker would play for the Royals after their move to Cincinnati, the St. Louis Hawks before they relocated to Atlanta, and the defunct Chicago Packers, Zephyrs, and the also-defunct Baltimore Bullets before joining the Celtics in a trade in 1965.
The last stop of his career, Green averaged 3.2 points and 1.1 rebounds per game as a Celtic, retiring afterward.
Finally, it is also the birthday of ex-Celtic guard Quinn Buckner, born today in 1954 in Phoenix, Illinois.
Buckner played college ball with the Indiana Hoosiers where he would win an NCAA championship and was drafted seventh overall in the 1976 NBA draft by the Bucks.
He would be dealt to the Celtics in 1982 for famed center Dave Cowens, and win a title in his second of three seasons with Boston.
The Indiana product would average 4.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.8 assists, traded to the Indiana Pacers in 1983.
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