Today in Celtics history: Isaiah Thomas, Milt Palacio born

Today, February 7th is the 28th anniversary of the birth of Boston Celtics All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas.

I don't need to tell you about the history The King in the Fourth has been making this season, but Thomas wasn't always looked at to even necessarily be a starter in the league, making this season's achievements all the sweeter. Putting up 11.5 and 13.9 points per game his first two seasons in the league playing close to 26 minutes a game in each, many assumed Thomas was overachieving, reflected in his being selected literally last in the 2011 NBA Draft.


Thomas would continue to develop his game, and while his raw numbers took a hit after being dealt into a guard-heavy rotation on the Phoenix Suns, that negative situation would soon be transformed into the opportunity he was granted with the Celts, after only playing 47 games for the Suns. Thomas was, in retrospect, had for a song, traded to Boston for Marcus Thornton and a first round pick as part of a three-team trade that sent Tayshaun Prince to the Detroit Pistons and sent GiGi Datome and Jonas Jerebko to the Celts.

In celebration of his birthday, here's some highlights of IT's 52-point outburst in December - a career high (so far, in a year of records):



Today also happens to be the birthday of another Boston point guard, Milt Palacio.

Palacio, who turns 39 this year, is as far as I am aware, the lone citizen of Belize to play in the league (he grew up in Los Angeles to Belizean parents), played his way onto the (then) Vancouver Grizzlies after going undrafted. He managed to parlay that opportunity to a roster spot on the Celtics' bench, earning Rick Pitino's trust and having what would, looking back, be the second-best year for Palacio's career, scoring 5.9 points and 2.6 assists per game in the 2000-01 season.



Palacio would play a half-season (exactly - 41 games!) more with the Celts, before being moved to the Suns with  Randy Brown, Joe Johnson and a 2002 1st round draft pick in exchange for Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers.

For more stories about Celtics history on Celticslife, click here. For more by Justin, click here.






Photo via the Boston Celtics
Data via basketball-reference.com
Follow Justin at @justinquinnn
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