Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history for 75th anniversary

73 of 78

Dave Cowens, Boston Celtics. Photo By Ross Lewis/Getty Images /

Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history: No. 71 – Dave Cowens

On NBA 50 at 50 List

Career: 1970 – 1983

Achievements: Two-time champion; 1973 MVP; All-NBA (3x); All-Star (8x); All-Defense (3x)

With the retirement of such icons as Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Willis Reed, the center landscape in the NBA was suddenly wide open in the 1970s. That created an opening for Dave Cowens to step in and find his way not only to an MVP award but a pair of titles alongside John Havlicek as well.

Cowens averaged 20.5 points and 16.2 rebounds in his MVP season, inching out Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (likely helped some by voter fatigue after Kareem won the two previous seasons). Cowens backed up that selection by bringing home Boston’s first post-Russell title in 1974, and against as the playoff’s leading rebounder in 1976.

Overall Cowens was never an elite scorer, but even so, he averaged 18.2 points per game across 10 seasons with the Celtics. For a franchise defined by titans, he was never that, and his personality often grated on his teammates and Boston fans alike. Even so, he helped sustain the excellence of the franchise as the bridge between Russell and Bird.