Bob Cousy responds to JJ Reddick

[meat]

Of course he could shoot. Nobody shot good back then. The arenas were dim, the floors were crappy, the ball was wonky. Nothing was standardized. The Lakers court wasn't even regulation size. Mikan, the greatest center of the era, barely shot 40%.

[ShawkFactory]

What's the problem? Who were the best athletes in the 50's and 60's??

I don’t know names. But many of them weren’t playing in the NBA.

[meat]

I don’t know names. But many of them weren’t playing in the NBA.

Wilt comes to mind. Mickey Mantle. Pele. That's a 20 year span. Kind hard to name a bunch of names.

[Bronbron23]

He is barely 6 feet.
Can't play defense in modern nba because he isn't fast enough.
Cant shoot and is not athletic.

That is a death sentence for any draft.

He'd have problems in college let alone nba.

Again there's a white dude same size and athleticism in the east NBA conference finals as we speak. Jalen Brunson is in the west final and while he isn't it white he isn't any taller than Cousy and he be isn't crazy athletic either. Sure he can shoot but Cousy shooting was a product of his era. Again comparing NBA 50's shooting to now is retarded as hell for reasons all ready given.

[Bronbron23]

This dumb shit is like saying Jesse owens couldn't compete with current sprinters because he ran in the mid 10's and sprinters now run sub 10. Are u people really this stupid?

[ShawkFactory]

Wilt comes to mind. Mickey Mantle. Pele. That's a 20 year span. Kind hard to name a bunch of names.

There's always outliers. The idea I believe he was proposing is that the entire pool of players in the NBA in the 50s were the best athletes in the world. Which is preposterous.

[tpols]

Imagine Cousy trying to guard LeBron James.

JJ Barea is even smaller than cousy and handled it quite well.

[Charlie Sheen]

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.

This is a really good post. Jj lost his cool because Russo was disingenuous with every point he made. I would be shocked if Jj actually held that view of Cousy when he wasn't caught up in an argument with a professional troll. Giving him the benefit of the doubt on this.

[Patrick Chewing]

There's always outliers. The idea I believe he was proposing is that the entire pool of players in the NBA in the 50s were the best athletes in the world. Which is preposterous.

What makes that preposterous? Because they didn't look like Lebron. No one looked like Lebron back then.

[ShawkFactory]

What makes that preposterous? Because they didn't look like Lebron. No one looked like Lebron back then.

No one looks like Lebron now. That's not what I'm talking out.

Again..the ENTIRE pool of NBA players were less athletic then than they are now. Or even after the merger. This isn't a hot take.

[Bronbron23]

There's always outliers. The idea I believe he was proposing is that the entire pool of players in the NBA in the 50s were the best athletes in the world. Which is preposterous.

While this is true there's no way of knowing who would still be a star in this era from then. The argument is that players are too athletic but it's not like only athletic players do well. If cp3 and Brunson can have success despite their size and athleticism there's no reason Cousy couldn't. We'll obviously never know so all we can go by is what we do know.

[ShawkFactory]

While this is true there's no way of knowing who would still be a star in this era from then. The argument is that players are too athletic but it's not like only athletic players do well. If cp3 and Brunson can have success despite their size and athleticism there's no reason Cousy couldn't. We'll obviously never know so all we can go by is what we do know.

I'm wasn't making the argument that Cousy couldn't play today or that JJ Redick or Tyrus Thomas would dominate the 50s-60s.

[Patrick Chewing]

No one looks like Lebron now. That's not what I'm talking out.

Again..the ENTIRE pool of NBA players were less athletic then than they are now. Or even after the merger. This isn't a hot take.

I'm not comparing them to the NBA players of today. I hope that's not what you think I was referring to cause that's not what I said in the OP. NBA players of the 50's and 60's were some of the best athletes of that era. So to say that they were plumbers and firemen is incorrect because everyone back in the 50's and 60's would have been inferior athletically to these NBA players.

[warriorfan]

[ShawkFactory]

I'm not comparing them to the NBA players of today. I hope that's not what you think I was referring to cause that's not what I said in the OP. NBA players of the 50's and 60's were some of the best athletes of that era. So to say that they were plumbers and firemen is incorrect because everyone back in the 50's and 60's would have been inferior athletically to these NBA players.

Just had to rule that line of thinking out.

So wait..you think that human beings in general evolved that much from 1958 to say, 1980?