Given that Nike and Celtics used this year’s “city edition” jersey to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the 2008 Championship, it doesn’t seem like a massive stretch that they’ll do something similar again next season.
2018-19 will be the 50th anniversary of the Celtic’s 1969 Championship – the last of the Bill Russell era, his 11th Ring as a player, and 2nd as coach. Surely all fitting of a jersey tribute.
Up front, this is not intended to be a classic/throwback jersey – although next year would also be a perfect time for an 1969-accurate jersey to be added to the lineup.
I’d still like to see a cream/off-white alternative instead of the grey and black the Celtics are running this year – the 76ers and the Bucks both have cream jerseys this season and they look excellent.
Design features incorporated into the jersey include a subtle parquet pattern (yes, like the current grey “city” jerseys) but with it limited to side panels and the in-fill of the outline-only jersey number and shamrock on the shorts. I’ve also gone with an older style ‘Boston’ wordmark, and added Bill Russell’s signature as the jock tag. A “1969 World Champions” banner added to the belt line much the same as on this year’s grey unis.
