The 1985-86 champion Celtics marked the end of one of the most dominant runs by any sports franchise in history. Boston had just won its 16th championship in 40 seasons, the team’s third of the 1980s. But all good things must come to an end, and the kings of the castle—through poor decision making, bad luck, and tragedy—spent the next two decades far from raising that 17th banner. Of course, things changed in 2008, with the arrival of the new Big Three. But whatever became of that last great Celtics team of the 20th century? Look through to find out...

The original Big Three, Robert Parish, Larry Bird, and Kevin McHale were still together in 1991 trying to reclaim their team’s former glory. But another title for these future Hall of Famers was elusive. Bird retired in 1992, Kevin McHale in 1993, and Parish moved on to Charlotte in 1994.

Danny Ainge is the connection between that last great Celtics team of the 1980s and the 2008 team that earned banner 17. He had a stint as coach of the Phoenix Suns, but rejoined the Celtics in 2003 in the front office. His bold moves brought together the “new” Big Three, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen, the core of a Celtics team that won it all in 2008 and made impressive runs in the years that followed.

Larry Bird stayed on with the Celtics in the front office until 1997, when returned to his home state of Indiana to become the Pacers’ coach and then in 2003 joined the front office as president of basketball operations, a position he held until 2012, when he announced he would step away from the game for a couple years to take care of some health issues.

By 1989 Rick Carlisle’s playing career was winding down and his coaching career was set to begin. He was an assistant coach for the Nets and Trail Blazers before becoming head coach of the Pistons in 2001, the Pacers in 2003, and the Mavericks in 2008. He led the Mavericks to the franchise’s first championship in 2011 with an NBA Finals win over the Heat.

In his post-Celtics career Kevin McHale, who drafted Kevin Garnett, worked for the Minnesota Timberwolves on TV and in the front office and now is coach of the Houston Rockets.

Robert Parish played three seasons after his tenure with the Celtics, winning a championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1997. But in recent years, he has been in financial trouble, even selling his championship rings. He is running out of money and wants to work in the NBA or broadcasting. "I am a positive person," he says.

Jerry Sichting’s 10-year career as a player included stints for the Pacers, Celtics, Trail Blazers, Hornets, and Bucks. After five years of broadcasting, including contributions to Celtics radio broadcasts, he began his coaching career for the Timberwolves and has held similar assistant roles for Marquette University and the Golden State Warriors. This season he is working as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards.

After Bill Walton’s playing career, which was nagged by injuries, he entered broadcasting, working for NBC, ABC, and ESPN. Nowadays, he does part-time broadcasting for college basketball for ESPN.

After retiring as a player in 1990, Dennis Johnson (DJ) worked for the Celtics as a scout ans assistant coach and then did assistant coaching for the Clippers and Trail Blazers. He was working as head coach of the Austin Toros, of the NBA Development League, when he died in 2007 of a heart attack.

Sylvester “Sly” Williams played parts of seven season for the Knicks, Hawks (where he played with Boston coach Doc Rivers), and Celtics, but had run ins with the law in the early 200os that landed him a five year prison term.

Other members of the 1986 championship squad included Greg Kite (who ended his basketball career in 1995 and later went on to become chief marketing officer for Florida-based Global Asset Management Group), Sam Vincent (who went on to coach in Greece, Nigeria, and Charlotte, N.C., as head coach for the Bobcats, before becoming a coach in the NBA Developmental League), Scott Wedman (who coached in independent leagues before going into the real estate business), and David Thirdkill (who went on to play for independent leagues in the Philippines, Italy, France, and Israel before retiring in 1996).