Post#32 » by Pablo Novi » Sat Aug 5, 2017 3:25 am
It's pretty weird for me. Of all the players remaining, Cousy is both my highest ranked AND the one I care the least about. imo, he was the #3 PG of all time (after Magic & "O" - and treating Jerry West as a SG). He's tied for THE highest ranking remaining player in terms of ALL-NBA 1st-Team (with 10, along with Elgin Baylor & Bob Pettit) (and if we include 2nd-Team selections - he's the #1 remaining player) and even though I penalize him significantly for most of his greatness playing out in the 1950's - he still comes in 4th of the remaining players (after Baylor, Pettit & Rick Barry - all of whom I liked a good deal more than Cousy).
I've said before in these threads that I attended a number of Celtics' games in the mid-1960s at the Gaaaden - and the racist nastiness of the fans towards even the great Bill Russell - just killed my love for that team. So, fighting for Cousy over everybody else is not easy for me - still, I DO think he's the best remaining player, vis-à-vis his own position, PG - and we've only picked two so far - so this is overdue." [N.B. We've recently taken Stockton who I have just below Cousy on my GOAT PG list]
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Vote: Pettit
Alt: Elgin Baylor (Elgin's finally getting some traction; and I feel he'll go before Cousy - thus my switched vote).
H.M. Bob Cousy (who I feel strongly should go next; but is getting close to zero traction)
H.M. George Mikan
N.B. At least one of these four really should be in our GOAT Top 25.
My #1 criteria is the number of "Great Years" each player accumulated in their careers; "Great Years" defined as: getting selected ALL-League 1st-Team or 2nd-Team. Accumulating several of these says that you dominated YOUR position in YOUR era.
These are the only three guys with 10 ALL-League 1st-Team selections not yet chosen for our GOAT list.
A "decade's" worth of domination of the players at their position is a tremendous achievement (only achieved by a total of 10 players in the 80 years of 1938 season to 2017 season!) Of those ten, only three (K.Malone, Kobe & LeBron) have 11 1st-Team selections. In other words, these three could hardly have done more.
Besides, each of them revolutionized their respective positions. We've been (collectively) putting players on our GOAT list with FAR LESS positional-era-dominance. I don't much see what more they could have done to "satisfy" this board?
Imo, all three of these guys should go next.
Permit me to add: the selectors are IDEALLY suited - it was/is their job to report on the sport; and COLLECTIVELY, there are enough of them to override pretty much any and all personal, "homerist" biases. Imo, their selection process TRUMPS all stats or combinations of them. I'd also note, that over the last 58 years of NBA-NBL-ABA "rabidity", I've never once had a MAJOR objection to their selections.
Further, there are only 22 players in total who even accumulated at least 6 1st-Team ALL-League selections - showing just how difficult getting TEN is.
btw, I consider Elgin Baylor to have been a superior player to both Pettit & Cousy (and, along with Jerry West, he's my co- All-Time favorite player - because of their bi-racial harmony and artistry (and pretty equal in skills). I have been voting Pettit & Cousy OVER Elgin because I consider it more important that there be more POSITIONAL balance in a GOAT list. I accomplish that balance by selecting one player per position per descending set of 5 GOAT spots. (Example, my GOAT Top 5: KAJ, Magic, MJ, LBJ & TD).
Surely, bigs, especially Centers have historically (especially until about the turn of the century) a bigger influence on Defense. But, generally speaking, the smaller the position / player the more they: run around, cut, stop-and-go, dribble, pass, etc. For me, this almost equals the bigs' defensive advantage. Combining the two factors, while I have, as I said, one player form each position in each descending set of 5 GOAT spots; I always have the Center as the highest ranked.
, I'm used to him being off the board by now.
