Author Topic: The NBA's all-time starting five: Boston Celtics  (Read 4429 times)

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Re: The NBA's all-time starting five: Boston Celtics
« Reply #15 on: July 30, 2015, 11:05:14 AM »

Offline hwangjini_1

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if you look at the basic stats (and even if you remove the context of mchale playing with bird,) you still see that cowens put up better career numbers than mchale's career numbers. cowens was the better player and then you add in cowens' passion.

cowens averaged more than 5 rebounds a game in his career more than mchale. scoring was practically a tie.

both were great, but add in sheer passion and world perspective, and cowens is my choice over mchale.

who can forget cowens showing a ref what an offensive foul really looks like.  ;D
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Re: The NBA's all-time starting five: Boston Celtics
« Reply #16 on: July 30, 2015, 11:33:08 AM »

Offline Jon

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It really is a tough argument all around. I think if we were to go by individual accomplishments, you have to go with Cousy, Havlicek, Bird, Cowens, and Russell. With that, you have the only 4 players to win the MVP award and with Hondo, you have the C's all time leading scorer and one of the best players on both the Russell and Cowens title teams.

If you were actually talking about what would be the best Celtic starting lineup from an actual playing standpoint (like if you had a time machine or were playing a video game) I might sub in McHale for Cowens. Both were great scorers, but McHale's out of this world post moves might end up being more helpful next to Bill Russell, who for as great as he was, wasn't an elite scorer, particularly in the post (more of his scoring came from running the floor, put backs on rebounds, and open shots--sort of like Cowens).

So first team

Russell
Cowens
Bird
Havlicek
Cousy

Second team

Parish
McHale
Pierce
Jones
White

Rounding out the bench
Heinsohn
Johnson
« Last Edit: July 30, 2015, 12:26:19 PM by Jon »

Re: The NBA's all-time starting five: Boston Celtics
« Reply #17 on: July 30, 2015, 11:54:43 AM »

Offline BballTim

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if you look at the basic stats (and even if you remove the context of mchale playing with bird,) you still see that cowens put up better career numbers than mchale's career numbers. cowens was the better player and then you add in cowens' passion.

cowens averaged more than 5 rebounds a game in his career more than mchale. scoring was practically a tie.

both were great, but add in sheer passion and world perspective, and cowens is my choice over mchale.

who can forget cowens showing a ref what an offensive foul really looks like.  ;D

  McHale was definitely a better scorer:

  http://bkref.com/tiny/yx1gb

  If you look at their per3 numbers, McHale was 21/9 and Cowens was 17/13. I you look at per 100 possessions McHale was 28/11 and Cowens was 20/15. Kevin was also a much more efficient scorer (and considered one of the best low post scorers in the history of the league). You'd also probably give McHale the nod on defense, where he's generally seen as one of the all-time greats at his position.

Re: The NBA's all-time starting five: Boston Celtics
« Reply #18 on: July 30, 2015, 11:56:29 AM »

Offline 33_Larry Legend_33

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It really is a tough argument all around. I think if we were to go by individual accomplishments, you have to go with Cousy, Havlicek, Bird, Cowens, and Russell. With that, you have the only 4 players to win the MVP reward and with Hondo, you have the C's all time leading scorer and one of the best players on both the Russell and Cowens title teams.

If you were actually talking about what would be the best Celtic starting lineup from an actual playing standpoint (like if you had a time machine or were playing a video game) I might sub in McHale for Cowens. Both were great scorers, but McHale's out of this world post moves might end up being more helpful next to Bill Russell, who for as great as he was, wasn't an elite scorer, particularly in the post (more of his scoring came from running the floor, put backs on rebounds, and open shots--sort of like Cowens).

So first team

Russell
Cowens
Bird
Havlicek
Cousy

Second team

Parish
McHale
Pierce
Jones
White

Rounding out the bench
Heinsohn
Johnson

I like this...  And I would add Reggie Lewis to the bench.  I know he wasn't a looooong-term guy, but if anyone actually saw him play, coming into his own in the 1990-91 season, becoming great in 91-92, and nearly unstoppable in 92-93 (the final season) - they'd add him in the discussion. 

Re: The NBA's all-time starting five: Boston Celtics
« Reply #19 on: July 30, 2015, 12:30:09 PM »

Offline Jon

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It really is a tough argument all around. I think if we were to go by individual accomplishments, you have to go with Cousy, Havlicek, Bird, Cowens, and Russell. With that, you have the only 4 players to win the MVP reward and with Hondo, you have the C's all time leading scorer and one of the best players on both the Russell and Cowens title teams.

If you were actually talking about what would be the best Celtic starting lineup from an actual playing standpoint (like if you had a time machine or were playing a video game) I might sub in McHale for Cowens. Both were great scorers, but McHale's out of this world post moves might end up being more helpful next to Bill Russell, who for as great as he was, wasn't an elite scorer, particularly in the post (more of his scoring came from running the floor, put backs on rebounds, and open shots--sort of like Cowens).

So first team

Russell
Cowens
Bird
Havlicek
Cousy

Second team

Parish
McHale
Pierce
Jones
White

Rounding out the bench
Heinsohn
Johnson

I like this...  And I would add Reggie Lewis to the bench.  I know he wasn't a looooong-term guy, but if anyone actually saw him play, coming into his own in the 1990-91 season, becoming great in 91-92, and nearly unstoppable in 92-93 (the final season) - they'd add him in the discussion.

I agree about Reggie and if we were to add a 13th player (which modern NBA rosters have), I'd probably add him.  Still, there's an argument to be made do JoJo White, Bill Sharman, and even KG over him. Though it was not his fault, due to his tragic death (and maybe even just due to the time period had he lived) Reggie never won a title. That makes him a hard sell on a Celtic all-time team.

Re: The NBA's all-time starting five: Boston Celtics
« Reply #20 on: July 30, 2015, 02:43:11 PM »

Offline greece66

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if you look at the basic stats (and even if you remove the context of mchale playing with bird,) you still see that cowens put up better career numbers than mchale's career numbers. cowens was the better player and then you add in cowens' passion.

cowens averaged more than 5 rebounds a game in his career more than mchale. scoring was practically a tie.

both were great, but add in sheer passion and world perspective, and cowens is my choice over mchale.

who can forget cowens showing a ref what an offensive foul really looks like.  ;D

Amen.

Re: The NBA's all-time starting five: Boston Celtics
« Reply #21 on: July 30, 2015, 06:55:43 PM »

Offline hwangjini_1

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if you look at the basic stats (and even if you remove the context of mchale playing with bird,) you still see that cowens put up better career numbers than mchale's career numbers. cowens was the better player and then you add in cowens' passion.

cowens averaged more than 5 rebounds a game in his career more than mchale. scoring was practically a tie.

both were great, but add in sheer passion and world perspective, and cowens is my choice over mchale.

who can forget cowens showing a ref what an offensive foul really looks like.  ;D

  McHale was definitely a better scorer:

  http://bkref.com/tiny/yx1gb

  If you look at their per3 numbers, McHale was 21/9 and Cowens was 17/13. I you look at per 100 possessions McHale was 28/11 and Cowens was 20/15. Kevin was also a much more efficient scorer (and considered one of the best low post scorers in the history of the league). You'd also probably give McHale the nod on defense, where he's generally seen as one of the all-time greats at his position.
good points and stats on mchale. but did he ever drive a cab??  ;D
I believe Gandhi is the only person who knew about real democracy — not democracy as the right to go and buy what you want, but democracy as the responsibility to be accountable to everyone around you. Democracy begins with freedom from hunger, freedom from unemployment, freedom from fear, and freedom from hatred.
- Vandana Shiva

Re: The NBA's all-time starting five: Boston Celtics
« Reply #22 on: July 30, 2015, 07:00:27 PM »

Offline greece66

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if you look at the basic stats (and even if you remove the context of mchale playing with bird,) you still see that cowens put up better career numbers than mchale's career numbers. cowens was the better player and then you add in cowens' passion.

cowens averaged more than 5 rebounds a game in his career more than mchale. scoring was practically a tie.

both were great, but add in sheer passion and world perspective, and cowens is my choice over mchale.

who can forget cowens showing a ref what an offensive foul really looks like.  ;D

  McHale was definitely a better scorer:

  http://bkref.com/tiny/yx1gb

  If you look at their per3 numbers, McHale was 21/9 and Cowens was 17/13. I you look at per 100 possessions McHale was 28/11 and Cowens was 20/15. Kevin was also a much more efficient scorer (and considered one of the best low post scorers in the history of the league). You'd also probably give McHale the nod on defense, where he's generally seen as one of the all-time greats at his position.
good points and stats on mchale. but did he ever drive a cab??  ;D

Hear, hear.

He is modest, intelligent and has a subtle sense of humour.

I submit the evidence to the court and rest my case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRo60MktK-g