50 Greatest NBA Players ever - 41 to 50 on our Best NBA Players list

#45 Bob Cousy

Los Angeles Lakers v Boston Celtics

Career averages: 18.4 points, 7.5 assists, 5.2 rebounds

Shooting splits: 37.5% from the field, 80.3% on free throws

Accolades: NBA MVP (1957), 13-time All Star (1951-63), 10-time All-NBA First Teamer (1952-61), 2-time All-NBA Second Teamer (1951, 1962), 6-time NBA champion (1957, 1959-63), All-Star Game MVP (1954, 57)

Records: 8-time assists leader (1953-60), second only to John Stockton

The story of Cousy's entry into the league is as quirky as they come. The Celtics picked a center with their first pick, but Cousy's contract dispute with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks led him to signing a deal with the Chicago Stags, who folded soon after. The Celtics were in contention for 3 players available in the dispersal draft - Max Zaslofsky, Andy Philip and Cousy - Cousy being their least favorite.

As luck would have it, Cousy ended up on the Celtics in a draw of lots, and the rest, as they say, is history. A hometown hero and someone who a lot of Boston fans were clamoring for to end up as a Celtic, Cousy set the league alight in his very first season with averages of 15.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 4.9 assists while making the All-NBA Second Team and the All-Star team.

Cousy's first 6 years as a Celtic were filled up with playoff disappointments, even as he made the All-NBA First Team for 5 straight years starting with his second season. The Houdini of the Hardwood, however, hooked up with The Secretary of Defense, as Red Auerbach traded All-Star center Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan in one of the watershed moments in NBA history.

Powered by territorial draft pick Tom Heinsohn and Bill Russell, Cousy led the Celtics to a 44-28 regular season record, won the All-Star Game MVP as well as the regular season MVP awards and led the Celtics past the Hawks as their dominant offensive force, alongside Russell as their defensive anchor, in a 4-3 NBA Finals win.

The Celtics made it to 7 straight Finals in Cousy's final years with the Cs and won 6 of them. He was able to take lesser and lesser of a role with the development of Frank Ramsey and Tommy Heinsohn as the franchise's premier offensive players. His best playmaking season came in 1959-60, as he averaged 9.5 assists per game.

Cousy retired in 1963 as a 6-time champion. Although he staged a brief comeback 6 seasons later, that chunk of his career is insignificant enough to be forgotten.

Cousy is responsible for the formation of the National Basketball Players' Association in the year 1954 - the first trade union in the Big 4 American sports leagues. He was an outspoken critic of racism and made it his mission to see through the assimilation of black athletes into American sports.

More importantly from a basketball perspective though, Cousy was the first superstar point guard to grace the league. He made Globetrotter-like dribble moves a part of his arsenal, and was dubbed the greatest offensive player in the history of the game due to his playmaking ability as well as the penchant for bringing the crowd to their knees with exciting plays.

The only knock on his career would be his efficiency, which was decent for his time, but would not be considered even starter-level in the modern NBA. There is no doubt, however, that Cousy is one of the greatest Celtics of all time, with his jersey hung up on the rafters of the Boston Garden in 1971 following his induction into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.