Word: auerbach
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Dave Cowens came here from Florida, where he was a big name in college basketball, but by no means the biggest. Red Auerbach went down to watch him play one day and liked what he saw. Liked what he saw so much that he threw down his program and walked out at halftime in disgust, just so the other scouts wouldn't think he was interested in the player who later became the firiest...
When he came out of Florida State in 1969, basketball afficianados laughed at the idea that this relatively unheralded project of Red Auerbach could bang heads with the Kareem Abdul-Jabbars, Wilt Chamberlains, and Wes Unselds patrolling the keys and live to tell about it. Yet one of the predominant images of pro basketball in the early '70s became that of a grimacing, snarling, Cowens ripping down a rebound as sweat poured down his face and shook off his hair. The league soon respected Cowens, but as much more than that hated athletic stalwart, the all-hustle, no-talent scrapper...
That is high praise indeed from a player who remembers the nightly sacrifice under the boards of Bill Russell, the hustle of John Havlicek and the selfless playmaking of Sam Jones. General Manager Red Auerbach, who built those great teams, also remembers, and the memory rankles: "I was disgusted by what we had become. We made up our minds that we were going to get the right chemistry whether or not we could get ability...
...Celtics got both in Larry Bird. One of the finest shooters since Jerry West, Bird, 23, came from Indiana State with an equally high reputation for the shots he did not take, preferring to give up the ball with deft passes to open teammates. Auerbach made Bird the Celtics' No. 1 draft choice after his junior year. The wait, and Bird's reported $650,000-a-year salary, have proved worth...
...game) and tenth in rebounds (10.4 per game), and he dished off an average of 4.5 assists. The 6-ft. 9-in. forward is a virtual shoo-in for Rookie of the Year honors and has been touted for the league's M.V.P. award as well. Says Auerbach: "Usually a player with his kind of hullabaloo disappoints, but Larry has more than lived up to his notices. As a player, and even more as a person, he has exceeded expectations...