Bob Cousy

The complete IGNORANCE of how the game was played is mind boggling to me.

Oscar Robertson talked about it in his interview with Chris Webber.

They could go behind the back and dribble between the legs but the rules were so strict that they had to bounce the ball with an open palm and even a basic crossover was sometimes called a travel/carry.

Players now could NOT dribble the way they wanted to back then because it was literally illegal to do so. How come people don’t know this?

You can literally just research this stuff.

There’s footage of Wilt with the Harlem Globetrotters doing no look passed and kids might think “Oh Magic Johnson invented that”

How much disrespect of the old generation is based off of pure ignorance of how the rules affected them?

So what does 95 mean to Cooz?

"It’s a number,” said Cousy. "I’ve said often over the years, I am literally the most fortunate, luckiest S.O.B. on the planet. Everything in my life has kind of fallen together. Whether it's faith -- hopefully there’s a big guy up there watching this interview or what -- but, going through life, all of us have to rely on hopefully good luck or fortune or faith or whatever we want to call it. Most of the bounces have gone my way.

"And so I sit back and just think of how fortunate I've been in having, not only a fruitful life, but a productive, interesting life as well, in terms of playing a child's game."

A lot has been said about JJ Redick's comments on First Take "Bob Cousy played against a bunch of firemen and plumbers". While this is a bad take for a multitude of reasons regarding Bob Cousy's on the court basketball ability and legacy, I just wanted to shine some light on what Cousy did off the court, which has set the foundation for the NBA being the 'players league' it is today.

In the early NBA seasons league decisions were dominated by wealthy owners, with little input from the underrepresented players. In 1954 Cousy set out to change this, mailing the league's other stars (such as Dolphy Schayes and Paul Arizin), proposing an NBA players union from which all players had a bargaining platform to demand better playing conditions. In 1955, the union made it's first set of demands to the league including:

• Back payment for players of the disbanded Baltimore Bullets. The team had gone under during the season, and their players had not been paid their contracted salaries.

• A maximum of 20 exhibition/barnstorming games per season. Owners wanted teams playing as many games as possible during the year (on top of the 72 regular season, and playoff games) to maximize revenue.

• $15 payments for off the court appearances, and the payment of moving costs for traded players (who at this point were footing the cost to move themselves and their families across the country).

• Elimination of the $15 'whispering fines' Refs could place on players mid game. I can't find anywhere what these fines were actually for.....

Whilst star players like Cousy have always been treated well, the above demands being accepted in 1957 by the NBA were massive for the league's low paid 'role players'. The irony of Reddick's comments is that Cousy set the groundwork for a league where no player would ever have to worry about working a second job.

Since it's inception the Players Union has gone from strength to strength. Players like Reddick enter a league represented by a Union with a real voice in NBA decision making, whilst having a high level of bargaining power on remuneration and playing conditions. Today's league truly is a 'players league', and this can all be traced back to Bob Cousy's decision in 1954 to send a letter to the league's other star players.

During his first six seasons ('51-56), his FT% in the playoffs was .870.

During his next seven seasons ('57-63), his FT% in the playoffs was .764.

This huge drop only happened in the postseason. In the regular season, it dipped a tiny bit from .806 in the first six years to .800 in the next/last seven. Also, the team had very underwhelming playoff success those first six years, but they were super dominant in the last seven.

On Thursday, October 25^th we will be hosting Sam Amick, journalist and writer for the Athletic.

On Friday, October 26^th we will be hosting Bob Cousy, NBA legend, alongside Gary Pomerantz, author and journalist.

We hope to see you there! Stay tuned for more announcements

Hey reddit fans, I made the hour long Wilt Chamberlain "scouting tool" and a mix of all my Bob Pettit footage not too long ago, I'd like to showcase the earliest player I've got a reasonable amount of footage of. Bob Cousy. This should hopefully demonstrate how far back in time great NBA talent can be observed so long as the rare footage is organized together.

Cousy played for the Celtics from 1950-1963 so as with Bob Pettit, and unlike 60's stars like Wilt Chamberlain (who I've counted has about 2.4% of all his prolific FGM on film) Cousy probably has 1% or less of his career field goals on film (I use FGM to estimate how much "career" footage I've got). About 13 minutes of random plays captured on film which is probably just enough to give a rough idea how he played the game and you'll see some of the techniques and skills he regularly used.

It's very fun and interesting watching Cousy play, his vision in the open court stands out IMMEDIATELY. But he doesn't use that modern AAU factory standard skillset we are accustomed to seeing. He's certainly fluid with the ball but unique in many ways by today's standards in how he executes his handling and shooting.

For example, he only takes a few "jump shots" most of his really deep ~ 3 point range shots are the now out of vogue one handed push shots ..which are/would still be effective the way Cousy uses them off screens and when he has plenty of daylight but everyone just tends to stick with jump shots now regardless of being open or contested ..push shots today are generally no longer practiced except at the free throw line. He's also, like Magic Johnson was, a great hook shooter, even shooting a running left hand hook in a finals game off glass in this collection of clips..

Some of his unique handling also should be noted has to do with rules, in the 50's and 60's palming/carry violations where more likely to be called on hesitation dribbles and touching the side of the ball. He still navigates the floor effortlessly in spite of this which is impressive and throws some of the most wild blind passes in transition you'll probably see outside of Magic Johnson film. Really fun stuff to watch.

Here's some of Cousy's resume:

• 6× NBA champion (1957, 1959-1963)

• NBA Most Valuable Player (1957)

• 13× NBA All-Star (1951–1963)

• 2× NBA All-Star Game MVP (1954, 1957)

• 10× All-NBA First Team (1952–1961)

• 2× All-NBA Second Team (1962, 1963)

• 8× NBA assists leader (1953-1960) (8 consecutive years)

• NBA 25th Anniversary Team

• NBA 35th Anniversary Team

• NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team

• No. 14 retired by Boston Celtics

• NCAA champion (1947)

• Consensus first-team All-American (1950)

• No. 17 retired by Holy Cross

Stats:

• Points 16,960 (18.4 ppg)

• Assists 6,955 (7.5 apg)

• Rebounds 4,786 (5.2 rpg)

After his record-breaking rookie season, he had stunned the Warriors by announcing his retirement from the NBA, and he suggested race was partly to blame. Chamberlain insisted he had no problems with his teammates. But he said he was getting beaten up on the court by opposing players and that if he responded in kind and became embroiled in fistfights "it would reflect on me and then indirectly on my race."

This comment made Boston's Bob Cousy blanch: "In my ten years in the NBA, I never saw any evidence of racial prejudice. There are over one hundred Negro players who have either tried out or made positions with clubs in the league and I have never heard such a similar complaint from them.

Chamberlain feels he's being pushed around more than anyone in the league. The guy has only averaged thirty-six points per game, broken rebound records and had more foul shots than anyone else. How easy does he want it? ... Wilt is the biggest complainer ever to hit the NBA. Standing six feet one inch, it is difficult for me to feel sorry for a man seven feet tall." The Dipper's reply: "Maybe if Bill Russell said it, I'd pay attention. But Cousy has never encountered the problems that we have."

High volume being at least 15 FGA.

Pretty interesting for a player that said he wasn't the type to "shoot or score, like James Harden."

Source: 2:06

From :

Picked-up pieces while thinking about Marcus Smart’s place in Celtics history …

▪ Smart played 581 regular-season games in his nine seasons in the Boston backcourt. Other than Don Chaney, every Celtic guard who played more games than Smart has his number hanging over the parquet floor.

One of the above is 94-year-old Bob Cousy, who won six championships and was the NBA’s MVP in 1957. I reached out to the Cooz after Smart was dealt to the Grizzlies in a midnight deal late Wednesday.

Like just about every Celtics fan, Cousy has mixed feelings about Smart.

“I liked Smart,” said Mr. Basketball. “I didn’t like some of the things he did. He thought he was a point guard when he was not. His mind was more to create opportunities for himself. In my judgment, point guards have to come across midcourt thinking, ‘How am I going to set one of the other guys up?’ That was never his thing.

“You would think he would wake up one morning and say, ‘I wonder why I’m always open at crucial times?’

“But with that said, I would always have him in the game because he does so much more. He does intangible things. With guys who played with his intensity, you just can’t measure the effect that has on the other four people. So I could have been reluctant to let him go.”

And yes I know it's not the NBA Hall of Fame, and not just for players.With John Kundla passing at 101 back in 2017 was just curious to know. Others like Phil Knight, Mannie Jackson, Jerry West are all in their 80s. Bob Pettit's 90.