Getting Bob Cousy’s take on a busy week for the Celtics

Getting Bob Cousy’s take on a busy week for the Celtics, and other thoughts


By Dan Shaughnessy Globe Staff,Updated June 23, 2023, 25 minutes ago




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.”

Red Auerbach would have loved Smart. This is why it was so hard for Brad Stevens to let Smart go.

We don’t know what else Stevens will do, but for now Malcolm Brogdon and Derrick White project as Boston’s big-minute guards.

“I like both of those guys,” said Cousy. “I like Brogdon and always have. I started watching him when he was in college [Virginia].


“White is a solid player that does everything in a quiet, efficient way every night. This year he did some things defensively that added to the résumé. He touches all the bases. You could play White 48 minutes and he’s not going to hurt you. He’s such an adjustable player. He goes out there and does his job.

“Same with Brogdon up until he hurt himself. So I’m happy we kept those two.”

Kristaps Porzingis?

“To me, it’s another big guy who shoots threes,” said Cousy. “That’s the game now. The analytics tell them to shoot threes as the first option. And now we have another big guy who shoots them.

“Yes, it lengthens the floor and makes it easier for the penetrators. And that was our first and second option — take it to the basket. The option to take the three is always going to be there, so why would you take it as the first option?”

The big fail in Game 7 against the Heat prompted this week’s shakeup by the Celtics.

“I’m still shaking my head,” Cousy said. “Generally, the best team wins in basketball. Baseball you can get a hot pitcher and hockey you can get the hot goalie, but basketball 90 percent of the time the best team simply wins because both teams come to the table with the same sense of urgency and intensity. But for the Celtics to poop their pants the way they did for that whole series …”


Cousy questions the wisdom of trusting this team to first-year head coaches in back-to-back seasons.

“I know it’s not fair for me to make judgments from 40 miles away with one foot in the [expletive] grave,” he said. “But for them, two years in a row, to put a $4 billion asset in the hands of a 44-year-old man one year [Ime Udoka], who they discovered likes girls — why didn’t they discover that in the vetting process? — and then turn around and compound that by putting it in the hands of a 33-year-old man [Joe Mazzulla] …

“I’m sure they’re both great guys and they may become the best coaches in the history of the league. But at 44 and 33, they don’t know now. That had something to do with it. From what I can tell, the players liked them, but to have the kinds of breakdowns that team had, there’s got to be a reason for it.

“It’s OK for a coach to take an emotional timeout in the playoffs and use harsh words. There’s got to be a level of respect where the players at least absorb the words. Today’s players don’t give their respect easily to a 33-year-old. I think that had a lot to do with it.”

The Celtics addressed this by hiring Sam Cassell, Charles Lee, and Phil Pressey to provide sage advice from the bench. Now they have moved on from Marcus Smart.

And the offseason is still very young.


Quiz: Name 10 Celtics draft picks over the last 60 years who went on to earn NBA All-Rookie first-team status (answer below).


Also can’t believe Jeff Green got a championship ring with the Denver Nuggets. Green has had a long, much-traveled career. Danny Ainge blew up the 2011 Celtics’ championship hopes when he traded Kendrick Perkins for Green as the window was starting to close for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.



Quiz answer: John Havlicek, Jo Jo White, Dave Cowens, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Dee Brown, Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer, Paul Pierce, Jayson Tatum.


Bob


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Tommy was 1956-57 Rookie of the Year.

worcester wrote:Tommy was 1956-57 Rookie of the Year.

The same year Cooz was league MVP. I wonder if an NBA team has ever done that before.

Imagine Russell not getting ROY. That s how good Heinsohn was that year.