Cousy Weighs in on C’s Struggles

[Ed Monix]

"There’s something wrong," Cousy told The Boston Globe's Dan  Shaughnessy. "It’s just schoolyard. Run up and down and take the first shot that shows. There doesn’t seem to be intelligent direction."

"I think a stabilizing piece is missing," Cousy said. "They usually [expletive] it up in the fourth quarter when you need to be paying attention to business.”

"I hate to bring it back to a point guard but … you don’t have that control. When we got a lead of 6-8 points, that was when I would take it home. I just would not allow us to lose the lead."

The same certainly can't be said about these Celtics, who have blown four leads of at least 15 points this season (including Thursday's 25-point collapse against the New York Knicks) and own the NBA's second-worst fourth-quarter net rating at minus-8.7.

To Cousy's point, Boston has been plagued by a lack of late-game ball movement, averaging just 4.6 fourth-quarter assists (29th in the NBA) while hitting just 41.7% of their shots (26th) in the final 12 minutes.

"Right now, at crunch time in the fourth quarter, they’re giving it to (Jaylen) Brown and (Jayson) Tatum to create for themselves and 70 percent of the time they do, but they don’t have the creating skills that a clever point guard would have, so they [expletive] it up," Cousy said.

Marcus Smart is technically Boston's starting point guard, but Cousy "(doesn't) love him as a point guard," while free-agent signing Dennis Schroder is more of a scorer than a facilitator. While the Celtics have been led by some impressive floor generals like Isaiah Thomas, Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker in recent years, only Thomas had any real staying power, and this 2021-22 team seems to lack that backcourt leader.

Source: https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/celtics-legend-bob-cousy-shares-unfiltered-thoughts-teams-struggles

[gift]

I think he's right. I've said for the last several years the team needs a floor general (Rondo, Rubio, CP3, Simmons, Conley type).

I don't consider IT, Kyrie or Kemba to be floor generals. They are scorers.

[moiso]

I think he's right. I've said for the last several years the team needs a floor general (Rondo, Rubio, CP3, Simmons, Conley type).

I don't consider IT, Kyrie or Kemba to be floor generals. They are scorers.

The floor general point guards seem like a dying breed unfortunately.  I'd be happy with a point forward too.  Anyone who can handle and pass in the half court would be a step in the right direction.

[Goldstar88]

I honestly didn’t know that Cousy was still alive. So this is excellent news.

[gift]

I think he's right. I've said for the last several years the team needs a floor general (Rondo, Rubio, CP3, Simmons, Conley type).

I don't consider IT, Kyrie or Kemba to be floor generals. They are scorers.

The floor general point guards seem like a dying breed unfortunately.  I'd be happy with a point forward too.  Anyone who can handle and pass in the half court would be a step in the right direction.

I think they are rare in general. But yeah it doesn't have to be a point guard.

[celts55]

I honestly didn’t know that Cousy was still alive. So this is excellent news.

Funny, that was my first thought. That being said, he’s not wrong.

[Rosco917]

"There’s something wrong," Cousy told The Boston Globe's Dan  Shaughnessy. "It’s just schoolyard. Run up and down and take the first shot that shows. There doesn’t seem to be intelligent direction."


Welcome to todays NBA Bob, more than three quarters of the teams in the league suffer the same fate as the Celtics do. Players are bigger and faster now, but with the addition of the three point shot, drafting high school players, and paying them multimillion-dollar contracts... "intelligent direction" is a thing of the past. It's everyman for himself now. 

[spikelovetheCelts]

Point guard play is what we need. Smart is a six man. Who do we trade for is the question?

[#1P4P]

Cousy’s right… I’ve been calling for CP3 or Lowry since the 2020 ECF exit. They’ve been taken off the board since then and there are few that fit the bill to the level necessary.

We should be giving strong looks at Fred VanVleet or Jalen Brunson. Trading for one of them gives us a shot at addressing the issue without weakening the team.

[hpantazo]

He's right. Just look at how CP3 turned Phoenix around. Now of course guys like CP3 are not abundantly available, but we could have gone after Lowry for example and we chose not to. There are other options and we don't necessarily need an all-star caliber PG, just one with some vet leadership who can run our offense instead of one who looks for his own shot first or one who sits at the 3pt line waiting for the kickout pass from Brown and Tatum.

[Kuberski33]

I don't think you need a Cousy style point guard but you do need someone who won't panic when things start going sideways (like last night), can get them into a half court set, get by his man and get the ball moving when the defense reacts.

[hpantazo]

Patty Mills would have been a great fit too. Another guy we missed out on this past summer.

[liam]

Bane could've run the point.

[PAOBoston]

Cousy’s right… I’ve been calling for CP3 or Lowry since the 2020 ECF exit. They’ve been taken off the board since then and there are few that fit the bill to the level necessary.

We should be giving strong looks at Fred VanVleet or Jalen Brunson. Trading for one of them gives us a shot at addressing the issue without weakening the team.

I love Van Fleet but will be hard to pry him away from Toronto. Not sure what the Cs could offer them to make it worthwhile. VanVleet is  one of the chip on shoulder type guys that used to thrive here.

[slamtheking]

Cousy's not wrong.  felt the same way last 2 years with Kemba who wasn't exactly great at running an offense either.