Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo… Marcus Smart? Aside from Smart, these are the last three members of the Boston Celtics to have been named team captain. Each has made at least three All-Star appearances, and at times, has unquestionably been the best player on his team. You have to go back about twenty years to find the last instance of a Celtics player being named captain but not meeting these standards. That was when Dana Barros had been a co-captain to Walker.
But what’s even more telling about what it takes to be named captain of the Boston Celtics is the list of players who have not been a captain over the course of the team’s recent history.