NBA History: Ranking the 15 greatest point guards of all time

15 greatest point guards in NBA History — No. 10: Bob Cousy

Bob Cousy is one of the most difficult players to rank in such an exercise because he calls into question your criteria and the balancing of eras. There is little doubt that Cousy was one of the greatest players of his generation; there is also a very real chance that he wouldn’t even make a roster in the modern NBA.

Cousy won six championships as part of the Bill Russell Boston Celtics of the 1950s and ’60s. He was a revelation as a ball-handling and passing wizard, doing things with a basketball no one had seen before. He led the fledgling league in assists eight times, made 13 All-Star Games and was named to 12 All-NBA teams. In 1957 he won league MVP.

Cousy was also unathletic and appallingly inefficient, shooting 35.3 percent from the field for his career. It’s hard to apportion defensive credit and blame from his era, but it seems likely he was the lone weak point in the Celtics’ dominant defense.

There is no question that Cousy changed the game, inspiring generations of creative ball handlers and players who genuinely enjoyed the game of basketball. Playing in his era, with the infrastructure around him, Cousy was able to shine. His final placement is a balance between the two extremes of his career.