Three months after the Boston Celtics won their 18th NBA championship, basketballs graced the TD Garden’s parquet floor earlier than expected. Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), a nonprofit organization, partnered with the Celtics for the 13th annual “ABCD Hoop Dreams,” an event supporting programs that benefit disadvantaged Boston youth.
ABCD Hoop Dreams allows corporate teams of 16 players to register and play on the Garden’s famed floor, with all of the proceeds going to ABCD’s youth programs. This year’s group featured four talented squads: Vertex—who have played in all 13 Hoop Dreams events so far—No Books No Ball, Still Got It Athlete, and You Got it Girl.
In a promotional video posted to Hoop Dreams’ website, one of the event’s co-founders, Boston Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan, explained how Hoop Dreams turned into a reality.
“We were having dinner—‘we’ being Bob Elias, Doc Rivers, then coaching the Celtics, and myself—at Park Square in 2011,” Ryan said. “Doc said, ‘You know, you guys at ABCD, do Field of Dreams at Fenway, which is great. I don’t see why we can’t do something like Hoop Dreams at the Garden.’ And thus was born the idea.”
Ryan co-hosted Hoop Dreams alongside Celtics General Manager Brad Stevens. They were joined by two special guests, Mass. Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. Both officials boast collegiate basketball experience—Healey having played at Harvard and Driscoll at Salem State—and it showed as they joined players in warm-ups.
Healey reflected on ABCD’s work in her remarks during the pregame ceremony.
“[ABCD] does so much for our communities,” she told the crowd of athletes, volunteers, and spectators. “It’s all about empowerment. It’s all about working with people, helping people, not unlike basketball, where it takes teamwork. The most important statistic—and I’ll say this as a former point guard—is the assist, and that’s what ABCD is all about.”
Healey also had an uplifting message for the players: “Get out there [and] have fun.”
“Know it’s for a great cause, and know that our team in our administration wants to do everything we can to support the great work of ABCD,” she continued.
Following the pregame festivities, the competition was underway. Playing on a modified court compared to NBA standards—including lowered rims and closer three-point lines—teams played in two 5-on-5 half-court games, showing off their skills through tough layups, deep threes, and, occasionally, powerful dunks.
One voice that boomed through the Garden was that of Emerson senior Bryson Akins, who volunteered to serve as the PA announcer for the second year in a row.
“It means the world just to know I did a good enough job to come back a second time,” Akins, a sports communications student, said. “It gives me a lot of confidence as someone that wants to go into the sports media business, knowing my voice was good enough to come back … at such a historic venue [in] TD Garden.”
“As a basketball fan and nerd and stathead, actually being here—after seeing it so many times from upstairs and the upper-level sections, to being here on the court—it means the world, it really does,” he added.
Two of the biggest lessons Akins has learned from his studies at Emerson is to not take anything for granted—citing this as a “once in a lifetime opportunity”—and to network extensively.
“Emerson is a communications school, you need to build those relationships by actually communicating with everyone around [you] here,” he said. “The connections I’ve built for potential future employment, that’s one of the lessons that Emerson has taught me so far that I’m taking advantage [of] while I’m here.”
Regarding the level of competition he observed, Akins highlighted the impressive play of No Books No Ball, who repeated as Hoop Dreams champions with a dominant 57-27 win over You Got It Girl.
“They’re all 6-foot-5-plus, they got some decent size to them,” he said. “They were just throwing it down on everyone, shooting it over every single competitor. It was kind of no competition at all.”
“But, everyone played their hearts out,” Akins added. “You could kind of see the championship from the Boston Celtics rubbing off on everyone. You could still find confetti all over the place—you’re still finding little bits and pieces of it. So, that championship mentality went into effect for every single competitor here.”
Following the presentation of the championship trophy, players and volunteers were invited to the arena’s exclusive restaurant, Legends, for dinner and a Q&A between Stevens and Ryan. Stevens fielded many questions from Ryan and the audience regarding the Celtics’ historic season and a few about particular stars—including Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday.
After responding to one of Akins’ questions, Stevens honored his request for a shout out to Common Collective, an Emerson co-curricular geared towards giving students opportunities in several communications fields, including sports media, nonprofits, and public relations.
“Yeah Emerson, they have a ton of guys in the NBA at the front office level,” Stevens, an alumnus of fellow Div. III institution DePauw University, admitted. “They are starting to take over and become the face of front offices in the NBA.”
“There’s a couple of [Emerson] people that are doing pretty well, especially in my job elsewhere,” he added, likely a nod to Sam Presti ‘00 and Will Dawkins ‘08, general managers of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Washington Wizards, respectively.
Hoop Dreams served as a reminder of how basketball—and sports as a whole—can bring communities together. Between the Celtics gearing up for their title defense next season and ABCD establishing programs to help young adults in the Greater Boston area, it’s clear that both organizations make for a dynamic duo on and off the court.
