Mel Counts

Mel Grant Counts is an American former basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1964 to 1976. He was on the United States Olympic basketball team that won the gold at the 1964 Summer Olympics. He played college basketball for the Oregon State Beavers and was selected by the Boston Celtics in the 1964 NBA draft. The Celtics won the NBA Championship in 1965 and 1966 with Counts on the team as Bill Russell's backup, but he was traded for the 1967 season to the Baltimore Bullets. Halfway through that season he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, who made it to the playoffs that year.