#4: Shoutout to all the Celtics fans Bleeding Green in AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺

Hey Celtics fans in Australia! celticslife.com has had 2,122,920 visits from Australia since we originated in September 2009, which has you at #4 on our most visited list. Thanks so much for all the love you've shown the site these past 10+ years

The first NBA players that I can remember that were from Australia were Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal back in the day. While trying to find a pic of the two of them together, I found something better. This video! Apologies in advance if this song sticks in your head the rest of the day.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to NBL Heritage Round. #yourgame pic.twitter.com/AucT7odkSc
— #NBLatHome (@NBL) January 12, 2017

In the 2014 NBA Draft the Celtics missed out on Australia's own Dante Exum who fell to #5 right before the Celtics pick at #6. Exum believe it or not had Kobe Bryant comparisons coming into the draft, so the idea that an athletic player like that might land in Boston sounded pretty nice at the time. The Celtics snagged Marcus Smart instead, which turned into a blessing. Exum showed some flashes in Utah, but injuries have been a bigger story in his career so far than highlights. He was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers during this past trade deadline.

The Celtics would pick up an Aussie in 2015, but it would be a Director of Sport Science. His name is Dr. Johann Bilsborough. Apparently Australia is a leader in sports science and the Celtics weren't the first team to hire an Australian for their medical staff. Gordon Hayward was credited with recovering from his devastating injury sooner than was expected partly due to the Celtics newfound investment in sports science.

Dr. Johann Bilsborough, Celtics Director of Sport Science

I actually hadn't been out of the country since I was a teenager, except for one night in Tijuana, but that's a story for another day. Australia had been #1 on my travel bucket list for quite some time and I got the opportunity to visit a friend who had moved back to New South Wales in May 2017. First off, everyone I met there was extremely nice.

Secondly the country and the cost was extremely beautiful. Of course I visited Sydney and stayed briefly in Bondi Beach, but was mostly in Wollongong and further down the coast. (Side tangent: No Aussies really say "Put another shrimp on barbie." Also I was told before I go to Bondi, I need to first stop pronouncing it like "Bondee." Tangent over.)

And a third thing I noticed about Australians is they love their basketball. I got into a bunch of random conversations with people about the NBA and the Celtics and I was pleasantly surprised at how knowledgeable people 10,000 miles away were of the league.

Here are some pics from my travels down the coast of New South Wales, including the surf in Wollongong, camping out by the Pacific in a "swag," and a Top 5 milkshake experience in my life at Moo Gourmet Burgers among a few others.

Baynes ended up being a tremendous addition to the Celtics big man corps. Stevens could start him at center to appease Al Horford's desire to play power forward or he'd bring toughness off the bench. Then in his 2nd reason Baynes had developed 3-point range which made him even more valuable in the modern NBA. Sadly the Celtics traded Baynes on draft day 2019 in order to free up cap space. They would later use that cap space in order to offer Kemba Walker a max contract.

One was born in Australia, but grew up elsewhere, while
the other was born elsewhere, but grew up in Australia

Baynes this past season improved even more after Deandre Ayton got busted for PED use. Baynes became the starter in Ayton's absence. This season in 22.2 mpg, Baynes has put up career highs in almost every category: 11.5 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, 1.6 assets per game, and a career high 59 3-pointers. I would not be mad at all if Baynes returns to the Celtics next season.

The thing is if you're from Australia you probably already know that Baynes was not the only player with an Australian history to join the Celtics that summer of 2017. Based on how things played out, Aussie might not be "keen" for me to share this, but Kyrie Irving was actually born in Melbourne, Australia. His father was playing professionally over there at the time. Again obviously things did not work out with Irving and the Celtics to put it lightly, but at one point at least it was a fun fact that he was born in Melbourne. I don't have many good things to say about Kyrie, but I will say he's the best ball handler I think I've ever seen ion the Celtics and in the NBA for that matter.

I'm keen to use the word keen some more, so I'll say that I'm not keen to end this post on the bittersweet topic of Kyrie Irving, so I'll share four more videos. The first two are of Jayson Tatum at Culture Kings, Melbourne and donating his jersey and shoes to raise money for Australians affected by the bushfires, respectively. And the last two are Aron Baynes' Celtics teammates attempting to learn Aussie slang.

After a big win, @jaytatum0 donated his jersey and shoes to @tysonbeckdesign to raise money for those affected by the Australian Bushfires #AustraliaFires pic.twitter.com/xohj5Q9Tuf
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 21, 2020

#4: Shoutout to all the Celtics fans Bleeding Green in AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺

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