Boston Celtics: Compiling an all-time starting 5

Bob Cousy, point guard

When I consider who are the best point guards in the history of the league, names like Magic Johnson, Jason Kidd, and Isiah Thomas come to mind. But there’s another name that needs to be in the conversation and that’s Bob Cousy. He was known as being an outstanding ball-handler and adept passer. His style would be comparable to somewhere between Magic Johnson and Kyrie Irving.

It’s been 57 years since he played his last game for the Celtics, and the accolades are overwhelmingly incredible. There isn’t a whole lot of video of Cousy available since he played in an era where there just wasn’t a lot of footage saved of games played in the 50s and 60s. But here are some career totals.

In his 13-year, 924-game NBA playing career, Cousy finished with 16,960 points, 4,786 rebounds and 6,955 assists, translating to averages of 18.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game. He led the league in assists eight times. He ended his career winning six NBA titles, one MVP award, 13 All-Star, and 12 All-NBA First and Second Team selections, and two All-Star MVP awards.

And for good measure, he came back for a seven-game stint during the 1969-70 season with the Cincinnati Royals and also was their head coach.

His former coach, Red Auerbach, was quoted in The Modern Encyclopedia of Basketball as saying:

"“Cousy was one of the greatest all-around basketball players in the game, and undoubtedly he was the best backcourt player.”"