The Greatest Winner That NO ONE Talks About: John Havlicek 

Is there any player more underrated than John Havlicek?

John Havlicek AKA hondo in my opinion I have him as the 3rd greatest Celtic of all time behind Bird and Russell. My 6th small forward of all time also

my favorite player as a kid. almost never stopped running, turned the games into track meets.

Hondo was one of the best ballers to ever laced up. Underrated is the truth, he was a team player, unselfish. R I P Brother

I’ve been preaching about Havi.

He was great. Thanks for reminding us how great he was. 8 and 0

Give him his flowers ☘️

Growing up in LA I was obviously a Laker fan. I idolized Jerry West. But I don’t think there has ever been an athlete in any sport I admired and enjoyed watching more than Havlicek!

He deserves more respect 🫡 💯💯💯💯I give him his flowers

Underrated player of all time

One of my favorite players of league history. One of the great small forwards. One of the greatest celtics 🙌

My father was a Celtic fan his entire life. He would always tell me about Hondo. One of the best to ever play the game!

Bill Russell. Smartest, most capable, greatest leader, greatest all-around player, and greatest professional sports winner of all time. 11 NBA Championships in 13 years. Two NCAA Championships. An Olympic Gold Medal. Mike had six...not even close. Bill Russell is THE GOAT.

"Another plumber"-Basketball genius JJ Reddick

Havlicek is one of the greatest small forwards of all time. He was a CLUTCH scorer, played great defense, smart, consistent, dependable, and so tireless that he ran opponents into the ground (his lungs were so big that one had to take two X-rays to see his entire lungs- also called "Poetry in motion"). A model person and player.

Gets me piss that people hate on the 70s and 80s these days 😒 imagine working your whole life just for some people to call you a plumber 😪 john is so underrated. He would dominate in todays era, no doubt, LLJH 🕊

He's only underrated to people who never watched him play. I started watching at 10 years old in 1971.

Hondo is not only underrated in a basketball sense, he’s underrated as an overall athlete. he’s right up there with Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Danny Ainge as the best overall athletes. you know guys played atleast COLLEGIATELY in another sport. and if yall want to know more about this man athletic ability i suggest yall read. and when i mean read, i mean do your research. this mofo was the real deal. Hondo should be in everyone’s top 20 but he rarely is.

For reel tho, why does nobody talk about him? 8 is crazy

Most underrated player in history thanks for making this!

Literally the most underrated player ever! Good looks

Hey Jonny Love the channel. The RU-vidrs talk about him but people on TV don't.🏀🏀🏀🏀

His 68 win 72-73 team most wins in Celtics history, not Russel's, Bird's or the Big 3's. Avg 29 ppg 9 rpg 7.5 apg in 70-71. Such a freakish athlete the CLEVELAND BROWNS convinced him to play WR a preseason and they said they've never seen such raw ability at WR, with the only Brown faster was HOF RB Jim Brown, and it was close. It was so apparent his muscular athleticism and length would transfer to WR Ohio State's football team kept a locker open with his jersey hanging all 4 years even though he said he wouldn't play. Harvard did studies on his inhuman endurance (had a rare low heart rate) because he could go 100% full charge all game like a prime Russel Westbrook. No wonder he was best wing defender for a decade. In epic SF GOAT matchup at age 36 held 26 yr old Dr. J in Game 7 ECSF to 14 pts on 6-19 shooting. Dr J bested him in ppg in series at 23.7 to Hondo's 19.9, which isn't bad against one of the most athletic players ever in his prime. His exceptional speed and ranginess were still apparent in the highlights. #16 on my list

Thank you so much for this, Jonny! I was born in '62, and Hondo is my favorite player of all time. For me, he is easily number three behind Russell and Bird in the ranking of Celtics greats. After Havlicek at #3 it gets really hard to rank them. Regarding being underrated, I would say fellow Celtics Sam Jones and Dave Cowens join Hondo as being among the most underrated players of all time.

Bill Russell. "John Havlicek doesn't know he can get tired." Was recruited by Woody Hayes to play football, told Woody he was going to play hoops, Woody immediately starts recruiting him for Fred Taylor. After graduation actually got a tryout with the Browns. Played baseball on the OSU freshman team. Notoriously tight with his money, sank every penny he could into a local burger company for his last 9 seasons, that company became Wendy's and Hondo became a rich man. When the Royals left I was without a team, but Havlicek was the most prominent Buckeye in the NBA and I joined a long list of Celtics fans in southern Ohio. RIP

One of the greatest of all time. I'm 72 and I've been a Celtic fan all my life. Hondo was such a joy to watch. You always knew the C's were in the game as long as Hondo was playing. And he was nonstop. Offense... defense... rebounding...THE MAN did it all with class !!

!976, the summer after graduating from 6th grade and I sat down to watch my first Celtics Game. Triple overtime playoff game vs Phoenix that John Havlicek won on an off balanced jumper. Needless to say I was hooked!! Even remember I had walked down to the local market and bought some grapes and sat down to watch some T.V and this game was on. Amazing!

A 13-time NBA All-Star, Havlicek was named to the All-NBA First Team four times and to the All-NBA Second Team four times. He was also named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team on five occasions and to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team three times. Havlicek is known for his stamina and his hustle as well as his abilities. “Johnny Hustle,”’was a coaches dream, a nightmare for any defender and rarely did one guy guard him throughout a game.

It's fantastic that John Havlicek won 8 Championships. He played in a league that only had 8-10 teams at that time. But still, 8 is great! This is amazing and just because there's a lot more teams in the current NBA, no one can take those Championships away from Havlicek

GROWING UP IN THE 60s AND 70s MY FAVORITE 2 PLAYERS WERE YASTRZEMSKI AND HAVLICEK, "YAZ AND HONDO", man, those were the dayz...

In his final game in 1978, CBS cut the broadcast short with about 2 minutes left to go. After the cameras were turned off, Havlicek went 4-4 for 8 points, and had an assist to Ernie Digregorio, also playing in his final NBA game. Nobody saw it except for the fans in attendance.

One of the Greatest people and athelets period l think he passed the torch to Larry Legend and yes GOAT DEBATES HE IS NEVER MENTIONED BUT THIS MAN GAVE THE LEAGUE THE BUSINESS ALL AROUND GAME WAS MAGNIFICIENT

Mr. Hustle. One of the greatest players of all time. Loved watching him play

He’s always been three for me, four if you include Red. Red, Russell, Bird, Hondo.

One of my favorite players ever....great on both ends with incredible stamina, Celtic fan. Russell and Hondo played every minute of 69 finals, legends

Finally some love for Celtics legend Hondo ☺️ 8-0

Give him the respect he deserves.he was a hell of a guy also

Watching HIM TOOK MY BREATH AWAY…ABSOLUTELY STUNNING PLAYER …I BECAME A CELTIC FAN BECAUSE OF HIM.DR.BRYANT LANE.

He was a winner….. never stopped moving on the court!

Hondo is definitely without a doubt the most overlooked Celtics player of all-time, hell he’s one of the most overlooked players in NBA history.

I remember, as a kid, collecting NBA cards. John's card was my most valued.

Great video, huge fan and glad to see one of the legends of the game get the recognition he deserves!

Amazing video Jonny I just learned something I didn’t know

VERY well done Jonny!! Thank you!

Awesome video, Jonny! I knew a little about Havlicek before (including his famous steal and a bit of info about how he was a great player), but I've been wanting to learn more. Your video taught me much more about him. I am also inspired by your video to read up more about him (especially since he also has a reputation of being a good and selfless person) and watch more videos about him. Great work again! 😊 I hope you have a nice weekend! God bless.

He's right up there with the Greatest!

This is one of my favorite videos you've done as I did not know he was that prolific even though I knew he was good he really had an impressive career and very few people can equal what he's done

J.H. began the era of 'The most valuable 6th man in Basketball' which the NBA honors every year now...

Excellent video! May Hondo rest in peace. I had the privilege of watching him play in the 70s. He was a great player and champion. I am sick of hearing from NBA media and internet talking heads that MJ is the GOAT. They have never seen Hondo play. He was clutch! As a die-hard Celtic from Boston. My all five Celtic team in order would be: Bill Russell C 1, Hondo SG 2, Larry Bird PF 3, Bob Cousey PG 4, and Paul Pierce SF 5, and McHale as the 6th man. Hondo played SG and SF. He played with such class and heart!

My dad graduated at Bridgeport HS in Ohio in 1957, 1 year ahead of John. He said John was an outstanding athlete and was equally effective at football and baseball. But no one could have imagined what he would end up accomplishing on the hardwood.

Hondo, when I was a kid, I pretended to be him, and I wore his number for years playing sports... very underrated.... RIP Hondo...

In 5th grade, 60 years ago, I made a leather bookmark with the name HONDO on it. Loved John.

He was one of the best ALLTIME 🏀❤️😎

Thanks for this information, I didn't know about John Havlicek

I was at a 1968 game in the Gawden. My 8th grade team played in an invitational against the best Boston CYO team. They slaughtered us! We sat underneath/behind the baskets during the 76ers Celtics game! They pass the ball so FAST you can’t see it!

Very underrated..he was the best player during 3 of those playoff runs....can argue bailey Howell for two of those but ge was definitely the man on the 74 squad Akso 'havlicek steals the ball' is definitely a top 5 legendary call & play in the finals

Havlicek was a boyhood friend of Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Niekro. - "'On stamina alone, he’d be among the top players who ever played the game,' longtime New York Knicks coach Red Holzman once said of John “Hondo” Havlicek. "'It would’ve been fair to those who had to play him or those who had to coach against him if he had been blessed only with his inhuman endurance. God had to compound it by making him a good scorer, smart ballhandler and intelligent defensive player with quickness of mind, hands and feet'"

So many incredible and wonderful players that for me is hard to rank, but he is up there with all the great players that the NBA has produced. Great video!

Nice one. Really good statistics.

The best 6 th man in the entire NBA I was a fan of John he never got the respect he deserved 👍👍👍

I loved watching Hondo as a kid.

I watched a lot of Hondo (but in those days, only the nationally televised games and the playoffs, since I didn't live in the Boston area). He was awesome, and I had him around the top 5 at his position for a long time, maybe pushed a little lower by later players but definitely still top 10. His conditioning in his mid-30s had him running players 10 years younger into the ground by the later parts of the game. As to top Celtics of all time, here's what he himself said about Dave Cowens: 'No one ever did more for the Celtics than Dave did.' Cowens was one of a handful of players who led a team in all major statistical categories for a season. The five others were Pippen, Garnett, Bron, Giannis, and Jokic. So for top Celtics, Bird, Russell, Cowens and Hondo are their Mt. Rushmore.

My brother and I always talk about John Havlicek. He is and always will be my No.1 sports idol.

A great sixth man the Celtics and the NBA! Watched him play with some of the greatest players ever!

Excellent point regarding the "early" years of the NBA (and the NHL & NFL and to some extent, MLB) not having the modern stats recorded or recorded properly, not to mention all of the current awards. It's like we'll never know how many sacks Deacon Jones actually had (vs what he claimed.) Nice video on a completely underrated basketball superstar.

Johnny finally preaching about his era

I really enjoyed your video on the disrespect of Jerry west. I would really enjoy more videos of you giving flowers to similar players who go disrespected.

What john Havlicek was best known for was perpetually being in motion. Always moving without the ball, which placed him in position for shots, rebounds, steals, etc.

Most underrated player of all time!

I am old AF at nearly 60, but feel lucky that I got to see some great sportsmen play, and that included John Havlicek, even for just the last 3-4 seasons of his career when he was past his prime but still phenomenal. He is easily in my list of the 20-25 greatest ball players of all time and one of the top small forwards. As a small forward, I rank only Bird, Dr. J, LeBron and Baylor ahead of him and as a Celtic, only Russell and Bird were greater. In fact, before 1986 or so, I thought that Havlicek was a greater Celtic than Bird; he was that good. Rest in peace, Hondo.

I’ll always remember him in that championship game against the phoenix suns

i think it might be sam jones i dont think he was as good, but he was definitely a greater winner (in theory) still great video! i love seeing love for older players keep it up :)

Thank you for this video. As a kid I saw Havilicheck at the old Boston Garden make plays that were amazing. Yes the league wasn't like today. But he was sure better than Larry Bird. 8 championships. 😊

Top 20 all time

History breaks up the Celtics championship era into three segments: The Bill Russell Era (1956-1969), the 70s (1970-1979), and the Bird Era (1979-1986), We really should be talking about it as one long, singular dynasty. 16 championships in 30 years. Players become coaches, Tommy Heinsohn takes over for Russell and they get back to championship form, then Dave Cowens gives it a try, then KC Jones wins a couple at the end of the whole era. If you studied Celtics history, you see how players overlap the eras. The common threads through it all: Red Auerbach as coach and GM, Johnny Most on the radio, and the old Boston Garden. Had Len Bias and Reggie Lewis not died so young, could the Celtics mega-dynasty continued into the 90s, and if so, would Jordan's Bulls never have emerged, and would we even be associating Jordan with 6-0?

John was 1 of the greatest of the greatest..i first saw him as a rookie playing in the old MADISON SQ. GARDEN..HAVLICEK STOLE THE BALL..the game was shown in ny t.v. channel 5..it was a great game...when bill russell became player coach 1 of the things he did first he made john the captain

"HONDO" HAVLICEK was the greatest sixth man. The energy & intelligence he brought to the game.

He was a great player and such a humble man hes my guy till this day my friends still call me HONDO!❤ Mr. CLUCH before there was a bird!

He was before many of our times, but that does not diminish his accomplishments.

My favorite basketball player.

Yeah Saturday!!!🎉🎉🎉

Great video. I was not aware of this stat. Havlicek, KC Jones and Tom "Satch" Sanders all went 8-0 in the NBA Finals. Other players come to mind, like Bill Russell, who won more titles, but Russell's Celtics lost to the St. Louis Hawks in the 57-58 NBA Finals, so his record would be 9-1 (he won 11 rings in 13 years, but his Celtics lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the 66-67 Eastern Conference Finals and so he didn't make the Finals that year). Havlicek was also drafted by the Cleveland Browns and had a decent shot at being a wideout. He was one of the last players cut by the team before the regular season roster was set.

My favorite player also when I was a kid

The greats of yeasteryear tend to be forgotten from the mainstream fan, true lovers of the game know.

Well done.

Havlicek is incredibly underrated! He’s a Top20 player at minimum and was the blueprint for LBJ, Hill, Luka etc etc If John played in the modern era he’d be lauded at even greater heights!

never been this early!

My favorite Celtic player growing up.

Havlicek- one of the best !

Thx for the video and a reminder of this great, maybe the best SF of all times (alongside Bird and Dr J) forget leFraud etc please!

Hondo was a ‘force of nature’ ! Watching him & Bradley run around on each other made my eyeballs weary! That was Basketball not like these 3 pt. Chucker trackmeets today !

Love me some Hondo. One of the most slept on ever

so many people today don't know their basketball history... Havlicek was one of the greatest...

Great video Johnny and if winning percentage in NBA finals is metric someone is using to define the best players than havlicheck would be the best ever...I personally have hondo in my top twenty list And I feel he doesn't get enough credit for some of celtics titles during sixties, celtics don't make it to finals in 65 if he doesn't steal the ball and you can make a strong case he was there best player on 68 and 69 championship teams!!!

THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John was a great collegiate basketball player. He also played baseball there. When he left college, he tried out as a receiver with the Cleveland Browns and almost made the team. John could play offense and defense at high level. A Kentucky basketball fan told me that John frustrated Kentucky star Cotton Nash to the point where he was just about shooting through the rafters. I do think Kevin McHale was just as important to the team.

Hey Johnny what’s your thoughts on the lob city clippers

Havlicek stole the GOAAAAAT!!!

John Havlicek IS the Goat of the NBA.

Much Respect to this guy👏🏽 Jordan still the GOAT