Basketball from a fans perspective   

Published Monday through Friday

The Celtics didn’t want Bob Cousy! 

It might be true the Celtics never won a championship until the arrival of Bill Russell. Despite this fact Bob Cousy played competitive basketball for the previous 6 seasons. Drafted by the Tri-City Blackhawks he would only play for the Boston Celtics his 13-year career. How Cousy arrived in Boston is a story all to itself, the NBA was not nearly as popular in 1950 as the college game. The legendary Celtic coach Red Auerbach wanted a Big Man for the Celtics and chose 6-foot 11 Chuck Share (who?) from Bowling Green. Tri-City with the 3^rd pick chose Cousy, he refused to report and the Blackhawks unable to meet Cousy’s money demand sold his draft rights to the Chicago Stags as part of a trade.

The Stags would later fold and 3 players were placed in a dispersal draft, Walter Brown then owner of the Celtics said Cousy was one of the players he didn’t want. The names were placed in a hat and guess which name the Celtic owner picked. Cousy is 92-years old now, he might have been among the first of those great New York City basketball players having been born in Queens and growing up in the city. His bio indicates Cousy grew up in a multicultural neighborhood with blacks, Jews and other ethnic groups. It’s here where he discovered the game of basketball and became good at it.

His skill was further refined playing his college ball at Holy Cross University until the 1950 NBA draft where he became the third pick. We think of Cousy in the role of a point guard however when called on he could score. Four of his seasons his scoring average exceeded 20 points a game, on four other occasions he was slightly under that number. Cousy was a magician with the basketball, his lowest assist total was the 1950-51 season his rookie year. He led the NBA in assists 8 of his 13-year career. There have been point guards since his day who certainly were flashier than Cousy, there were the number who even scored in greater numbers. Despite this fact none would become the legend Bob Cousy was wearing Green and White.

Who writes this trash?

Are we in the age we toss stuff against the wall and see if it will stick? Example, a website basketballnetwork.net contained this headline: “DeAndre Ayton’s hook shot is more lethal than Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s.”  The exceptionally talented Ayton is in his 4^th year in the NBA, Kareem played 20 years in the league. Every one of the 38,387 points Kareem scored was not of the sky hook variety although a sizable number might have been. As proof the writer offers Ayton’s field goal percentage as evidence, it’s 10 points above Kareem’s. Competition, night after night Kareem was almost always matched against a quality 7-foot center, can we make that same statement for Ayton?

We can state with certainty Robert Parrish, Moses Malone and Willis Reed were certainly more competitive than the majority of centers Ayton faces today. Although it’s certainly not Ayton’s fault that many of today’s centers are 3-point shooters such as Jokic and Embiid. Down low play is practically nonexistent in the NBA of today. There is no desire on my part to tear into Ayton’s game, he’s a product of the times…a team’s offense often operating outside-in. Perhaps basketballnetwork.net accomplished it’s goal, they managed to gain readers eyes with the story. In addition, those who didn’t read it on site will read it here. Rest assured this is the last time I intend to click on one of this websites account. Ayton needs to come back and see me when he’s scored 38,000 points.

Rookie of the Year

Evan Mobley was the 3^rd pick in the 2021 draft by the Cavs, the 7-foot power forward from Southern Cal decided the NBA was his future after his outstanding freshman year. The vote is far from complete but at this point it appears Mobley is the leading candidate and is likely to be named 2022 NBA Rookie of the Year. After three down years his play has been a contributing factor in the resurgence of the Cavs. As this is written the Cavs are 38-27, contrast that with last season when the Cavs were 22-50 at the close. We have read unconfirmed reports LeBron James wants to return to Cleveland. At this point there might be serious doubts if the Cavs want him back. After John Beilein resigned in February 2020 associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff took over, in December 2021 he signed a multi-year contract to continue coaching the Cavs.

The question

Mizzou’s Cuonzo Martin is history now, the school announced he will not return next season. The chief reason he was let go he wasn’t winning which is key to maintaining a job. Let’s get to the details, Mizzou must pay Cuonzo Martin a reported $3 million. That figure cannot be confirmed although that is the amount most often written. This Mizzou team had one senior, those who wanted this coach gone must be prepared to deal with possibly a mass rebuild. In addition, we could see 4-star prospect Aiden Shaw choosing somewhere other than Mizzou now that Martin is no longer the coach. The past two seasons have not worked in Martin’s favor but it’s my belief he brought integrity to the program. To my knowledge there were no NCAA issues nor players in major trouble during his tenure.

Players certainly left the program while Martin was at the helm however that occurs everywhere including Duke, Kentucky and Kansas. This is what I expect but will probably not receive. I don’t want to hear any moaning about Mizzou having to pay Cuonzo Martin money DUE HIM, he was under contract. I don’t want to hear any moaning about having to pay huge sums of $$$ to hire his replacement. Just because I say it fails to consider it’s likely I’ll hear moaning and complaining in both areas. One more note, we realize the athletic department has changed over time, but we are right back where we started, we are beginning a coaching search once again. You in Mizzou Nation wanting Cuonzo Martin gone are you doing your happy dance yet? One of the local media members said, “Mizzou could do so much better than Sean Miller.” I can concur, Miller a winner on the court is still waiting on the NCAA to decide on his penalty.