Chalk Up Another Snub

Maybe I’m making too big of a deal out of this.

NBA Entertainment is planning to launch a collectors edition DVD to commemorate the ’86 Celtics – one of the greatest teams ever – on April 15, and I managed to catch a glimpse of the cover online. There’s Bird (of course), McHale and Parish (gotta have them), Walton (it was, after all, The Walton Team) and Danny Ainge.

Where is Dennis Johnson?

Chalk up another snub for a guy who has had his fair share of them.

And like I said, maybe I’m making too big of a deal out of this, but c’mon, there wouldn’t even be a commemorative DVD without DJ. There wouldn’t. They would’ve won a heap of games without McHale, same goes for Parish (providing Walton held up) and Boston won plenty of games before Walton got there. Do I need to mention how Boston – with The Big 3, DJ and Walton – would’ve done without Ainge?

Take DJ, the second most valuable player on those teams behind Bird, out and there’s no title. That’s how important he was. Need a guy to show up in a big game? DJ. Who’s going to guard the opposition’s best player? DJ. Who’s going to get the ball to Larry late in the game? Only one guy for that.

And it’s no great surprise that this tiny, little snub has occurred because, after all, the late Dennis Johnson has consistently been denied entry into the Hoops Hall of Fame – the committee would rather include some European coach who won a few games for a team we’ve never heard of, or a player of far fewer accomplishments than DJ.

This is a guy who once had double-figure blocks, from the guard spot, in a five-game Finals series (’79), guarded the greatest PG of them all (Magic) over the final four games of the ’84 Finals as well as anyone ever, once destroyed Isiah Thomas in an oft-forgotten playoff game (Game 5 of the ’85 ECSF; DJ had 30 and laid waste to Thomas), helped carry the gutsiest team (’87 Celtics) to the Finals by peaking – with Bird – over a 52-day stretch in the spring on ’87, and was also The Guy Who Cut To The Basket when Bird, his on-court kindred spirit, made the famous steal in Game 5 of the ’87 ECF against Detroit.

But that’s OK because DJ, who sadly passed away in February ’07 of a heart attack (or as Walton called it, “from a broken heart”), had the respect of his teammates, which is all that really mattered anyway. Bird, who played with Cowens, Maravich, Archibald, McHale, Parish and Walton, liked to say that it was DJ who was the best player he played with. Think about that.

So maybe I shouldn’t make a big deal about some silly little DVD cover and DJ’s exclusion. Just know though, that he should be there.

UPDATE: Now that is more like it.