Allen: The benchwarmers

When I was growing up, the Celtics were a contender just about every year. One of the fun parts of that time was wondering about the guys down on the end of the bench. These were the guys that we wanted to see play, for a couple of reasons, one, it usually meant that the Celtics were winning a blowout and these guys were getting some garbage time, and two, since most of those teams were not the most athletic groups, the end-of-the-bench players might actually do something like try to dunk during the game and get the crowd on their side. The crowd was almost always in a festive mood when these guys entered game. This season, the crowd seems to have adopted Brian Scalabrine as the bench player whose name they chant in blowouts (though I'm hoping for a return of Bill Walker from the D-League). I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the end-of-the-bench guys that I always wanted to see play in the 1980's. Here are my top five benchwarmers from that period:

Charles Bradley (1981-82, 1982-83)

This guy was an athletic freak. He could do things on the court that would leave you shaking your head in amazement at his athletic ability. The Celtics drafted Bradley with the last pick of the first round of the 1981 draft, 23rd overall. This was eight picks ahead of their second round draft pick, a guy who ended up having a much bigger impact on the franchise, Danny Ainge from BYU, who was then playing for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Carlos Clark (1983-84, 1984-85)

I remember rooting for Clark to get into games, but I can't remember a single play the guy ever made. I just remember him as a fairly solid, totally unspectacular guard with decent size. A fourth round pick of the Celtics that year (their first round pick, Michael Young from the Phi Slama Jama Houston Cougars didn't even make the team) Clark wore number 40, and snuck into 93 games in two seasons with the Celtics, earning a championship ring his rookie year. His two years with the Celtics were the only two of his NBA career.

David Thirdkill (1985-86, 1986-87)

Of course I idolized Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson, but my favorite Celtic on the great 1985-86 championship team was reserve forward David Thirdkill. Go figure. I loved it when this guy would come into the game, and I still remember the night he scored 20 points. A journeyman who had played for four NBA teams in three years before joining the Celtics, Thirdkill's stay with Boston would be his last NBA stop. He played internationally in Europe and Israel until 1996.

Conner Henry (1986-87, 1987-88)

Who could forget Henry's first game with the Celtics? On January 7, 1987, the Celtics were leading the Milwaukee Bucks by 25 points in the fourth quarter when K.C. Jones inserted Henry, who was on a 10-day contract, into the game. Henry then proceeded to go wild, putting up 11 points in the final minutes of the game, going 4-4 from the field with three three-pointers. The crowd was even chanting his name at the end of the game. That game alone was probably enough to keep Henry on the roster for the rest of the season, and he became a crowd favorite.

Ron Grandison (1988-89)

I had hopes for this kid, who got some playing time this season mostly due to the season ending injury to Larry Bird. He appeared in 72 games that season for Boston, wearing number 31. a 6-6 forward, he had some good fundamentals, and could play some defense. After this season he was out of the league for a couple of seasons, re-emerging with the Charlotte Hornets in 1991, and then splitting time with three teams in the 1995-96 season.