Top 5 Point Guards In Celtic History

by **bobheckler** Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:39 am

http://hardwoodhoudini.com/2014/08/06/top-5-point-guards-celtics-history/

Top 5 Point Guards in Celtics History
by Zak Kondratenko 23h ago TWEET (2) LIKE (6) 3

It’s not really a secret that the Boston Celtics have a rich history. You don’t get 17 NBA Championships without a storied past filled with legendary players. For the most part, however, it’s not the point guards we talk about when discussing Celtic greats. Larry Bird, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Kevin McHale, Bill Sharman, Sam Jones, Dave Cowens, Paul Pierce, etc. The list goes on. Well, we’re forgetting about those guys and focusing on the five greatest point guards in Celtics history.

Note: only a players contributions to the Celtics are considered here. Doesn’t matter what they did before or after while they were on a different team.

5. Nate “Tiny” Archibald (’78-’83)
3-Year Peak (’79-’82): 13.6 ppg, 48.5% FG, 8.0 apg,

Accomplishments with team: 3 All-Stars, 1 All-Star MVP, 1 All-NBA 2nd team, 1 Title (’80-’81)

As we briefly discussed yesterday, Tiny came over to Boston in the back part of his career after dominating the league for a while. He initially appeared out on shape an unmotivated but quickly turned it around and helped lead the Celtics to a championship.

His numbers in green don’t jump off the page, especially when compared to the numbers earlier in his career, but he stepped up big in the ’80-’81 season by making the All-NBA 2nd team and leading the Celtics to a title. Tiny will be remembered for his quickness and play-making ability, as he helped shape where the point guard position was heading.

4. Rajon Rondo (’06-present)
3-Year Peak (’09-’12): 12.2 ppg, 10.8 apg, 4.5 rpg, 2.2 spg, 48.1% FG, 18.0 PER

Accomplishments with team: 4 All-Stars, 2 All-Defense 1st teams, 2 All-Defense 2nd teams, All-NBA 3rd team, All-Rookie 2nd team, 2 assist titles, 1 steals title, 1 championship (’07-’08)

The Celtics current point guard has a chance to jump all the way to the top of this list if he stays in Boston for the rest of his career and continues to put up the uniquely dominant numbers he has thus far.

Rondo has gone through many phases and can be quite frustrating at times but there isn’t another player in the modern NBA capable of putting up the box scores he produces. He’s lost a bit on defense, and the Celtics overall ball movement problems can certainly be blamed on him to an extent, but Rondo is still an elite point guard.

Rondo’s contributions already make him one of the best guards in team history and he’s still just 28 years old.

3. Dennis Johnson (’83-’90)
3-Year Peak (’84-’87): 14.9 ppg, 6.7 apg, 3.6 rpg, 51.1% TS

Accomplishments with team: All-Star, 3 All-Defense 2nd teams, All-Defense 1st team, 2 championships (’83-’84, ’85-’86)

The starting point guard on the greatest Celtics team of all time, DJ made folks forget about some early struggles by developing into one of the greatest defenders and clutch players in the history of the league. Much like with Archibald, the Celtics traded for Johnson a little later in his career after his statistical prime. That didn’t matter, because Red Auerbach was looking for defense in the backcourt. He knew he had Larry Bird to shoulder the offensive load.

DJ’s most impressive moments as a Celtic came during the 1984 NBA Finals. The 6′ 4″ Dennis Johnson guarded the 6′ 9″ Magic Johnson, limiting him to 17 points or fewer in the last 4 games. DJ was also responsible for Magic committing a slew of back-breaking turnovers. After those finals, many fans began to refer to Magic as “Tragic Johnson.”

The clutch steals, jumpers, and finishes from DJ are infinite. He is simply one of the headiest players the NBA has ever seen.

2. Jo Jo White (’69-’78)
3-Year Peak (’70-’73): 21.3 ppg, 5.4 apg, 5.3 rpg

Accomplishments with team: 7 All-Stars, All-Rookie 1st team, 2 All-NBA 2nd teams, 2 championships (’73-’74, ’75-’76), Finals MVP (’75-’76)

Jo Jo White, the Celtics record holder with 488 consecutive games played, is one of the most underrated players in NBA history. How many Finals MVP’s have slipped through the cracks of history to the extent White has?

After starring at Kansas, White actually had an obligation to serve at least a year in the military before turning pro. He did so. As a Marine. Jo Jo White credits this as the reason he was able to stay so tough and in such good shape throughout his career.

White made 7 straight All-Star appearances and did so despite not being a natural PG. He came into the league as a scorer, and while he remained a scorer to some extent, coach Tom Heinsohn put him at point guard and asked him to adjust his game. Based on his accomplishments, it’s safe to say White did so successfully.

1. Bob Cousy (’50-’63)
3-Year Peak (’57-’60): 19.1 ppg, 8.5 apg, 5.0 rpg

Accomplishments with team: 13 All-Stars, 2 All-Star MVPs, 10 All-NBA 1st teams, 2 All-NBA 2nd teams, 8 assists titles, NBA MVP (’56-’57), 6 championships (’56-57, ’59 through ’63),

The people who say that Cooz wouldn’t have been good if he played 20 years later are 100% correct. He couldn’t shoot worth a damn. He wasn’t a good athlete by modern standards. But the way Cousy lead fast breaks, did dribble moves, and passed completely changed the NBA. He was the first basketball player to take pride in running a team, and he single-handedly made the sport a faster-paced and higher scoring game.

Cousy’s accomplishments and impact go far beyond the stats and number of titles, which are still very impressive and cement his legacy as one of the great guards. He as also the first player to do stuff like dribbling behind his back, no-look passes with one hand, and push the ball up the court. Cousy was a street-baller on a professional court.

Because of these tricks, he earned the nickname “Houdini of the Hardwood”. If you can’t tell, that happens to be what this site is named after. Any NBA historian will tell you that Bob Cousy probably couldn’t play today, but that he is still one of the greatest and most important players in the history of the league.

bob
MY NOTE: As much as I love DJ, I'm having trouble putting him above Rondo. Rondo is a pure point guard while DJ was a combo guard and the offense ran through Bird a lot too. His ranking of Tiny is based upon his Celtic stats only, which explains why he's so far down too. His last statement might goad one or two on this board to offer a dissenting voice. Oh well, that's his opinion, his way of stacking the deck. What's yours?

.

by **beat** Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:58 am

OK right after Cousy retired who ran the team form the Point?

Seems that KC might have been a bit slighted here?

beat

by **Sam** Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:11 pm

Sorry, Zak. You picked the right #1, but you completely blew the description of his game. How old are you? 12? He couldn't shoot worth a damn, huh? Check the shooting percentage of players in general in those days, and you might get some idea of how the tight rims of the day lowered shooting percentages throughout the league Also someone who "can't shoot worth a damn" doesn't shoot over 80% lifetime from the foul line. Ask Rondo about that.

Did you ever have a chance to watch Cooz' shot selection, night after night? I bet he may have taken more low-percentage shots than any other player in history, but the combination of their unpredictability and the amazing (under the circumstances) percentage he made kept opponents on their heels defensively, drew doubles, and opened up loads of opportunities for laser passes inside.

Some time, even if it's the first time you've ever touched a basketball, go out to a court and take a bunch of running hook shots from up to 20 feet out with either hand. Tougher than it looks, huh? But not for The Cooz. Oh, and why don't you just give a me list of five NBA players of all-time who could duplicate those unstoppable hook shots and make them. Make that three. Maybe Bob Houbregs and the O'Brien twins? But otherwise, those three were relative nobodies. Watch Rapid Robert's last game. One righty, one lefty. Piece of cake.

And did you know that Cousy had five different versions of his outside shots (with the differences primarily being in his footwork)? He was more accurate with some than with others, but their diversity was intended to throw off the timing of defenders who were trying to block his shots. There was a reason for everything his did, and neither he nor Red cared about shooting percentages as their entire offensive attack was based on volume shooting.

Toward the latter stages of his career, the long-distance shooting approach he seemed to favor was the one I believe he had developed last—outside pop shots off the "wrong" (or, in his case, right) foot. My guess (and it's purely conjecture on my part) is that he found this to be the one that most threw off defenders' timing. Try it sometime...shooting perimeter shots with your right hand while lifting off with your right foot. Among other things, it's a good stretching exercise for the muscles on your right side. But it makes the shot unnatural to the point of great difficulty for mere mortals.

Even when you compliment him, you've got it wrong. He was NOT the first NBA player to dribble behind the back. Bob Davies, of the Cincinnati Royals, had that honor in the 1940s. But Cousy developed his version on his own, when he was trapped in the backcourt during a Holy Cross game.

As far as not being "a good athlete by modern standards," here's a flash, Jocko. He didn't play in modern times. He was faster than Steve Nash. You know Steve Nash, don't you? The combination of his most prominent physical assets have arguably never been duplicated—namely, incredibly long arms and huge hands, exceptional peripheral vision, and outstanding durability (average of 38 MPG over his first decade in the NBA while running the most devastating fast break of all-time). I used to love to joke that, even though Cooz didn't invent behind-the-back dribbling, he invented behind-the-back vision on the basketball court.

But, to prove I'm not all bad, I have to compliment you because you "got" the part about his pride in running a team. A little more emphasis on his amazing creativity in doing so wouldn't have hurt.

If you hear those "historians" saying he couldn't play today, please ask them for me on which specific dates in the past four decades they're seen him play. They have no clue what he would be like today. In the first place, he's probably the most reactive player of all time, conjuring up all sorts of responses to challenges. In the second place, are those historians really so prescient that they can predict how being the beneficiary of today's training methods, conditioning approaches, generic benefits (e.g., possibly another inch or two in height), advances in the strategies in the game, etc.) would combine with those elongated arms, the ham-like hands, the 220º-240º peripheral vision, the durability, and the creativity to adapt unlike most others to produce not simply a player for today but a very, very special player for today?

Now slink back under your rock, dream about what you never saw, and see me in 1960 (not a typo).

Sam

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