Top 100 NBA Players: #15 - Bob Cousy

Bob Cousy

Teams

Boston Celtics - 1950-63

Cincinnati Royals - 1969-70

Playoffs

Appearances - 13 (1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963)

Conference Finals - 10 (1953,1954,1955,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963)

NBA Finals - 7 (1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963)

Championships - 6 (1957,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963)

Awards and Honors

MVP - 1 (1953,1955,1957,1959)

Finals MVP - 0 (1957,1959)

All-NBA First Team - 10 (1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961)

All-NBA Second Team - 2 (1951,1961,1962,1963)

Hall of Fame - 1971

*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)

All-Time Ranks

Total Assists - #20

Assists Per Game - #21

League Leads

Total Assists (#1-1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1960, #2-1952, #3-1961,1962,1963, #4-1951)

Assists Per Game (#1-1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960, #2-1952, #3-1961,1962,1963, #4-1951)

Total Points (#2-1954, #3-1952,1953,1955)

Points Per Game (#2-1954,1955, #3-1952, #4-1953)

Free Throw Percentage (#3-1958, #4-1956,1959)

After averaging 19.4 points per game as a senior at Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, Bob Cousy was drafted by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks with the #3 overall pick in the NBA Draft. He did not to play for them, so they released his rights, which were then picked up by the Chicago Stags, who then folded before he was able to play for them. He was then awarded to the Boston Celtics in a dispersal draft.

As a rookie, Cousy was already a solid player, averaging 15.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game, and was able to lead the Celtics to the playoffs for just the second time in their history, but they lost in the first round to the Knicks. The next season he averaged 21.7 points per game and was named to the All-NBA First Team for the first of 10 straight seasons, but the Celtics lost to the Knicks in the first round again. 

In his third season, he led the league in assists with 7.7 per game, the first of 8 straight seasons winning that crown, and also averaged 19.8 points and 6.3 rebounds. The MVP award did not exist yet, but Cousy would have been my choice to win it that year, as the assist leader and #3 in scoring in the league. He also got them through the first round of the playoffs, scoring 50 points in a 4-overtime final game of the series, before losing to the Knicks in the Conference Finals.

His averages dipped slightly the next year to 19.2 points and 7.2 assists, but that was still good enough for the assist title, but Syracuse beat the Celtics in the Conference Finals. In 1955, he averaged 21.2 points, #2 in the league, 6.0 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game, which would have earned him his second MVP if the award existed, but Syracuse stopped them in the Conference Finals again.

After a first-round playoff exit in 1956, the Celtics added Tom Heinsohn and Bill Russell in the offseason. This gave the Celtics the inside presence they needed, and Cousy won the MVP, which had been created the year before, with averages of 20.6 points and 7.5 assists. In the playoffs, the Celtics were finally able to reach their first-ever NBA Finals, where they beat the Hawks in 7 games, behind Cousy's averages of 20.7 points and 9.1 assists, which would have earned him a Finals MVP if it had existed.

Boston returned to the Finals the next year for a rematch with the Hawks, but after Russell went down with a foot injury in Game 3, the Celtics fell in 6 games, ending their bid for a repeat, but it would be the last time Cousy lost a playoff series.

Cousy had another great year in 1958-59, averaging 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 8.6 assists, but lost the MVP to Bob Pettit. During that season, Cousy set a record that would last for years when he recorded 28 assists in a game, and the 19 assists he had in a half in that game is still a record today. The Celtics advanced to the Finals for the third straight year, and Cousy averaged 16.8 points and 12.8 assists in a 4-game sweep of the Lakers, which would have been good enough for a second Finals MVP.

The next year he led the league in assists for the 8th and final time, with a career high 9.5 per game, and they faced the Hawks in the Finals for the 3rd time in 4 years, winning the series in 7 games. By this point, Russell had taken over as the team's superstar, though Cousy was still the team's second-best player and a big part of the reason they won.

Cousy played 3 more years with the Celtics, with his scoring and assist averages starting to slip a bit each year, finishing #3 in the league in assists each season. He played better in the playoffs than the regular season each year, and was able to earn 3 more championships, bringing his career total to 6, before retiring at the end of the 1963 Finals. He made a brief comeback 7 years later as a player-coach for Cincinnati, scoring 5 points in 7 total games.

Cousy is well-known for leading the league in assists, doing it in 8 straight seasons, a record that stood for decades before John Stockton did it for 9. He was the first flashy player in the league, well-known for dribbling behind the back and passing on the run, and he was nicknamed the "Houdini of the Hardwood" for his playing style. He won an MVP and should have won a couple more, and was the best player on the first 2 championships of the Celtics dynasty, and is one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Top 100 NBA Players: #19 - Oscar Robertson

Oscar Robertson

Teams

Cincinnati Royals - 1960-70

Milwaukee Bucks - 1970-74

Playoffs

Appearances - 10 (1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1971,1972,1973,1974)

Conference Finals - 5 (1963,1964,1971,1972,1974)

NBA Finals - 2 (1971,1974)

Championships - 1 (1971)

Awards and Honors

Rookie of the Year - 1961

MVP - 1 (1964,1965,1969)

All-NBA First Team - 9 (1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971)

All-NBA Second Team - 2 (1970,1971)

Hall of Fame - 1980

*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)

All-Time Ranks

Assists Per Game - #3

Total Assists - #7

Points Per Game - #9

Total Points - #15

Total Rebounds - #87

League Leads

Assists Per Game (#1-1961,1962,1964,1965,1966,1968,1969, #2-1963,1967, #3-1971, #4-1973)

Total Assists (#1-1961,1962,1964,1965,1966,1969, #2-1963,1967,1971, #3-1968)

Points Per Game (#1-1968, #2-1964,1967, #3-1961,1965,1966, #4-1963, #5-1962,1969)

Total Points (#2-1964,1967, #3-1961,1962,1963,1965,1966, #5-1969)

Free Throw Percentage (#1-1964,1968, #2-1965,1971, #4-1967, #5-1969)

Field Goal Percentage (#3-1963, #4-1961,1962,1967)

In his three seasons at Cincinnati, Oscar Robertson won 3 College Player of the Year Awards and won 3 scoring titles, and was the all-time leading college scorer until Pete Maravich surpassed him a decade later. He was then selected by the Cincinnati Royals as a territorial pick, meaning that they gave up their first-round pick in order to secure his rights before the draft started.

Robertson ran away with the Rookie of the Year award, averaging 30.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 9.7 assists per game, the last of which led the league, and became the first guard ever to average double figures in rebounds for a season. His team, however, finished in last place in the West and missed the playoffs.

His second season was one for the record books. He averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds (a career high), and 11.4 assists, which led the league again, becoming the first player to ever average a triple-double for an entire season. He also had 41 triple-doubles during the season, which stood as the record for 55 years until it was broken by Russell Westbrook in the final game in 2017. He did lead the Royals to the playoffs that year, but they lost to Detroit in the first round.

He fell just short of a triple-double average the next year, but the Royals were improving. They had moved to the Eastern Conference after the Warriors moved to California, and Robertson led them to the Conference Finals, where they fell to Bill Russell and the Celtics after a tough 7-game series. 

Robertson had his best season the next year, averaging a career high with 31.4 points per game, while grabbing 9.9 rebounds per game, and leading the league with 11.0 assists and .853 shooting from the free throw line. He was named the league MVP that season and led the Royals back to the Conference Finals, but the Celtics knocked them off again, this time in 5 games.

Robertson was still the best player in the league the next year, though he didn't win the MVP, but he did lead the league in assists for the 4th time in just his 5th season in the league. He was never able to make another deep playoff run with the Royals, with this being the first of three straight seasons where they lost in the first round, followed by 3 seasons of missing the playoffs completely.

Robertson led the league in assists 3 more times with the Royals, in 1966, 1968, and 1969, making it 7 times overall, and won the scoring title and led the league in free throw shooting in 1968 as well. All of those efforts went to waste, however, with no playoff success coming, and the Royals finally traded away their star in 1970, sending him to the Milwaukee Bucks.

He joined a team there with a budding superstar named Lew Alcindor (later to change to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), and he was the missing piece the Bucks needed. He never averaged 20 points per game in his time with the Bucks, while never averaging less than 24 with the Royals, but in his sidekick role he was able to help the Bucks to a championship in his first season with the team. They swept the Bullets in the Finals, with Robertson averaging 23.5 points and 9.5 assists for the series.

The team remained good over the next 3 years, making the Conference Finals again in 1972, then reaching the Finals again in 1974, with Robertson remaining Kareem's main sidekick. Milwaukee lost the 1974 Finals to the Celtics in 7 games, after which Robertson retired after averaging a career low 12.7 per game that year.

Robertson's triple-double season remains his biggest legacy to this day, but he spent a decade as one of the top players in the league, winning 7 assist titles and a scoring title during that time, but was never able to reach the NBA Finals during his superstar years. Once he took a reduced role, he reached 2 Finals in 4 years and finally won a championship, but there is no doubt that he was one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Top 100 NBA Players: #18 - Oscar Robertson

Oscar Robertson

I know what you're thinking. How can Oscar Robertson be ranked below the top 10? He's the only person in NBA history to average a triple-double for an entire season, and he nearly did it four other times. Let me explain the factors that dropped the Big O from his usual spot in the top 10 of any other overall ranking you've probably ever seen.

First of all, let's consider his triple-double season. While I don't want to take anything away from him for such an amazing accomplishment, the fact is that his performance was a little inflated. The 1960's in general were an era of over-the-top stats, and 1962 in particular was the worst. That season, besides Oscar's huge numbers, we also saw Walt Bellamy win the Rookie of the Year with 31.6 points and 19.0 rebounds per game, and some guy named Wilt averaged over 50 points and 25 rebounds per game. It wasn't just a collision of great players that caused this unmatched season, it was a much higher pace of play which jacked up all of the statistics.

When you compare 1962 with 2012, you'll notice some major differences. The scoring average 50 years ago was 25% higher than it is today, the rebounding average was 69% higher, and the assist average was 16% higher, even in an era where they weren't given out as freely. The top 4 scoring seasons in history were Oscar's four best years, and the top 13 single season rebounding averages were all recorded by players in the 1960's. If you were to take Oscar's stats from that season and make them correspond to today's pace, here's the difference you would see:

Robertson 1962 (actual) - 30.8 pts, 12.5 reb, 11.4 ast
Robertson 1962 (adjusted) - 24.6 pts, 7.4 reb, 9.8 ast

Like I said, I am not saying that Oscar was not an incredible player, because even those numbers would put him among the top 3 players in the league today. Not only that, but I also believe that his skills would translate well to today's game, so he likely would be a potential MVP today if he weren't over 70 years old.

Now that his amazing stats have been somewhat put into perspective, let's look at another major determiner of greatness - winning when it matters. While Robertson was at his peak in Cincinnati, he led them as far as the Conference Finals twice, and failed to make the playoffs in 4 other seasons. When he finally did win a championship, with Milwaukee in 1971, it was with Kareem leading the way and Oscar setting him up. He did make a return trip to the Finals in his final season, 1974, where they lost to the Celtics in 7 games.

One final note about Robertson. He played in an era that was very different from today. There were numerous times during his college and pro career when he wasn't allowed to stay in the same hotels or eat at the same restaurants as teammates because of the color of his skin. The fact that he excelled amidst the turmoil of segregation is another testament to his greatness.