Bill Walton’s career was revived with 1985-86 Celtics

The end of an injury-plagued NBA career that had begun with high expectations in 1974 was now on the horizon.
Bill Walton, who was 32 years old in the summer of 1985, had missed 524 of a possible 902 games over a span of 11 seasons due to injuries, taking the fun out of the sport for the three-time college basketball Player of the Year at UCLA.
He had led the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA championship and was the league’s Most Valuable Player in the 1977-78 season, but staying healthy was always an issue.
Walton left the Trail Blazers after four seasons, sat out the 1978-79, the 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons because of foot injuries and played only 33 games for the San Diego Clippers in 1982-83.
After being a steady contributor to the Clippers in 1983-84 and 1984-85, Walton wanted the chance to play for a contender before it was too late, and his wish was granted, thanks to the Celtics.
Walton was dealt by the Clippers, who were then based in Los Angeles, to the Celtics for Cedric Maxwell and a first-round draft pick.
For the first time since the late 1970s when the injuries began piling up, Walton was on a team playing meaningful games, a team that had won two of the previous five NBA titles and had lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1985 championship round.
Walton, whose problems began when he broke the navicular bone in his left foot in February 1978, took full advantage of his new situation.
Backing up Robert Parish, Walton played a career-high 80 games after appearing in more than 60 games just twice before.
He averaged 7.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists, won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award and fit in perfectly with the Celtics’ team-first approach, keeping the ball moving and leading an effective second unit that featured Scott Wedman and Jerry Sichting.
There were a lot of happy people in the region 25 years ago today when the Celtics clinched the 1986 championship, but few were as ecstatic as Walton, whose career had been revived.
“I can never thank the Celtics enough for not giving me my career back, but for giving me my life back,’’ said Walton in a recent telephone interview.
Walton had left the Trail Blazers on bitter terms due to a dispute about medical care regarding his foot, and with the lowly Clippers, he was always on the outside looking in as far as the playoffs were concerned.
When Walton arrived in Boston, he was rejuvenated and had the time of his life with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Parish, Danny Ainge and Dennis Johnson.
“I am the most-injured athlete ever,’’ said Walton. “Of my 14 years in the NBA, 91/2 years I missed with injuries. When I first joined the NBA, I was devastated by the selfishness, the greed, the individual agendas, the lack of commitment to the team, the lack of fundamentals and the lack of discipline in the NBA.
“I spent six years on the Clippers, and I can’t even begin to tell you what a spectacular chance that I had coming to the Celtics, and it never would have happened without Larry Bird and Red Auerbach taking a chance. They were the architects of the team. They took a chance on me.’’
Walton became an instant hit with Celtics fans that season when he averaged nearly 20 minutes per game and often teamed with Bird to make some nifty passes to set up easy baskets.
All the pain and all the missed games seemed like a distant memory that year for Walton when he was such an important piece of a championship team. Being a part of a Celtics’ title team had a great impact, and that is evident today when Walton leaves a voice mail or sends an email that ends with “Go Celtics.’’
“It was incredible,’’ said Walton, who was able to play only 10 games in 1986-87 due to a foot injury. “It was incredible to live in Cambridge and ride the ‘T’ into the game, the Red Line to the Green Line to North Station. It was a joy to experience the rich and full life of New England and Cambridge and Boston.
“The people of New England have always treated me better than I deserved. The Celtics fans, the Celtics Nation, it’s impossible to express in words what that has meant to me in my life, personally.’’
Walton, a key part of John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty, said he was a Celtics fan as a youngster growing up in southern California and always harbored a desire to suit up for the franchise on the opposite coast.
“In my life, all I wanted to do was be part of something special and I got that,’’ said Walton. “The fact that it happened on my boyhood dream team, the fact that Bill Russell was my favorite player ever, on and off the court, and all those great Celtics teams were ones I followed, and then I got to come and sit on the bench and watch.
“Chick Hearn, the great Lakers announcer, is the one who taught me about Bill Russell and the Celtics, the greatness of the Celtics. I had this idealized version of Boston and the Celtics, and then when I got there, it was better than I ever dreamed – all of it.
“There’s some people in your life that, the closer you get, the better they are. The deeper you go, the better it is. I was lucky. That’s the way it was with the Celtics.
“When you get to some place and have this image and vision of how it is and then you find out it’s actually better than that, that’s like playing for John Wooden. That’s like getting to know Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan and Neil Young. I just have the fondest, fondest memories.’’