Bob Cousy responds to JJ Reddick

[Lakers Legend#32]

Why are these insufferable Duke f#cks given access to national airwaves?

[warriorfan]

That doesn’t even come close to making up for the drastically larger talent pool though.

If you are a big man you will be seeing a whole lot of Wilt and Russell in an 8 team league. A quarter of the league has some of the most athletic big men to ever play.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Cousy sounds a bit delusional, but I get where he's coming from.

Reddick is a clown. I mean damn... Have a little respect for the generation that paved the way.

[HoopsNY]

He couldn't shoot, was a below average athlete, & couldn't play defense. He would suck today.

Let's give Cousy his respect, he changed the PG position, probably the first playmaking guard. But this is a dude who peaked in the mid 50's, almost 70 years ago, 95-98% of players back then wouldn't make the NBA today. It's pretty damn obvious.

You're way smarter than this. You can't stack the deck with everything favoring today's stars and not give Cousy any benefit of the doubt if he were to play in this era.

When you subtract all of what players today have, from equipment, supplements, technology, coaching, conditioning, not to mention non-existent dribbling rules, what are they left with?

I'm not one to think that Cousy would be some perennial superstar in this era, but if he was considered a formidable opponent against Jerry West, someone who everyone considers to be top 15, then surely he would be successful given the support systems and structures that modern players have.

[HoopsNY]

And Chris "Mad Dog" Russo was wrong on several points in this video, or at least unintentionally disingenuous. He didn't know how the OKC Game 5 in 2014 unfolded, believing CP3 missed FT's at the end of the game when he never even attempted one, and didn't know which game CP3 shat the bed in the Finals, it was Game 4, not Game 5.

As for his Bob Cousy point, he made All-NBA First Team in Oscar & West's rookie year, where Oscar also made the First Team and West wasn't even All-NBA. Once the two of them became All-NBA players, Cousy never made the All-NBA First Team again. He also legitimately didn't even know if CP3 ever made the All-NBA First Team

I know Mad Dog is a sports broadcasting icon due to his time with Mike Francesa, but it's a really bad look when he just flatly doesn't know what he's talking about. I would trust JJ Redick's NBA opinion far more than his.

Cousy was All-NBA 2nd Team in the years you're mentioning, which are also his final 2 seasons. Not to mention, he was 32 and 33. Keep in mind, players then didn't have modern medicine, conditioning, or diets like they do now. So you have to consider that when discussing this subject.

Granted, Russo is insane if he thinks Cousy > CP3. It just isn't true. But Reddick is also off on his analysis because he's conveniently ignoring context.

[meat]

13 allstars in 13 seasons. not bad. maybe he'd be Stockton, maybe he'd be Bobby Hurley. who f'in cares

[RogueBorg]

https://streamable.com/26cb6s

It's in response to JJ's "he(Cousy) was guarded by firemen and plumbers" comment from a few weeks ago.



When I originally heard this I agreed with JJ, and I get he could have been more respectful about it, but personally I like listening to someone who isn't constantly walking on eggshells like Stephen A who has to spend 30 seconds talking someone up before he criticizes them.

You can't compare players from one era to another. Take J.J. Redick for example. If you were to compare video of Redick to Bob Cousy, Redick probably looks like a better player. But compared to his contemporaries, Redick was never even close to ever being the best SG in the NBA while Bob Cousy for a time was the best PG in the NBA. Redick will never sniff the Hall of Fame because he gets compared to players from his era. Players from later eras learn from players in earlier eras and progress.

[TheMan]

firemen and perhaps plumbers usually seem more athletic than grocery baggers.

Trinket street vendors FTW

[Carbine]

Cousy was All-NBA 2nd Team in the years you're mentioning, which are also his final 2 seasons. Not to mention, he was 32 and 33. Keep in mind, players then didn't have modern medicine, conditioning, or diets like they do now. So you have to consider that when discussing this subject.

Granted, Russo is insane if he thinks Cousy > CP3. It just isn't true. But Reddick is also off on his analysis because he's conveniently ignoring context.

Why is it insane to think Cousy was greater than CP3?

[LeGoat4Life]

Slick moves.

Definitely better than modern players

Players like Lebron can’t even dribble correctly

[ShawkFactory]

If you are a big man you will be seeing a whole lot of Wilt and Russell in an 8 team league. A quarter of the league has some of the most athletic big men to ever play.

Sure. And 3 quarters of league had 6th men who wouldn’t be on a team in another era.

Outliers =\= norms