Moderators: Doctor MJ, trex_8063, penbeast0, PaulieWal, Clyde Frazier
JordansBulls wrote:He led the Hawks to more of an elite record. However 1986 Nique was higher in MVP voting and led the league in scoring.
Vote: 1987 Dominique Wilkins.
bastillon wrote:Cowens was like a Garnett before Garnett. he was the most active player in the league, gave you insane intensity night in and night out (check out 4th qtrs of G6-G7 in '74 finals, he's diving on the floor repeatedly), not a pure scorer, struggled 1 on 1 vs set defenses but played well off of teammates, set good screens, moved without the ball for a jumpshot, great passer obv, really good shooter for a C - his spacing effect was the reason why Bucks lost 74 finals (KAJ rebounding totals dropped really bad compared to the rest of that PS). I don't think he could be #1 offensive guy but definitely valuable part of good offense. would work extremely well with someone like Manu. defensively he reminds me a lot of KG, very active, by far the best pnr defender of his generation (could legitimately guard a guard imo, his footwork was unbelievable), elite defensive rebounder, not a shotblocker but contested shots very well, didnt give up easy pts, always made the right rotation, high motor-energy-intangibles guy. in a way, a lot like Walton.
pros: versatility, D rebounding, pnr D, help D, passing, spacing effect, he'd play PF today
cons: poor post scorer, didn't finish well, didnt draw double teams, more of a #2 guy
btw, there's absolutely no way Cowens was 6'9 if Thurmond was 6'11. I've seen them go h2h and Cowens was EASILY taller. imo Cowens was probably somewhere between 6'10'5 and 6'11 and Thurmond was probably 6'9.
btw2, Cowens was robbed off 2 fMVP awards. literally robbed. not only did he post better stats than Hondo in '74 and Jojo White in '76 but his impact was also way better than his stats suggested. in '74 he took KAJ away from the basket and made him work for his pts. Celtics pressure on guards was the key to that series but that was also in large part due to Cowens presence all over the floor. I've only seen couple of 4th quarters from those finals but Cowens looked like the best player on the floor in game 7 on the road (outplayed Kareem considerably in that G7). in '76 I have no idea what those voters were smoking. I watched every game from that series and Cowens was definitely the best player on the floor, he was everywhere, he had the best stats, the highest impact etc. quite probably the worst fMVP in history. at least usually those guys have a case, JoJo did not.
