Celtics governor and majority proprietor Wyc Grousbeck visited the Worcester residence of Boston legend Bob Cousy, extending a private invitation to the group’s upcoming Banner 18-raising residence opener, together with a particular reward.
Grousbeck knowledgeable Cousy that he’d be introduced with a championship ring of his personal, too, together with the 2023-24 Celtics. The 95-year-old, who performed throughout the Fifties and early Nineteen Sixties, helped Boston seize its first NBA Finals in 1957 — happening to win 5 extra with the group earlier than retiring in 1970 as a 13-time All-Star earlier than being inducted into the Basketball Corridor of Fame the next 12 months.
“You’ve been instrumental in all of the championships,” Grousbeck advised Cousy, per Invoice Doyle of the Worcester Telegram.
Cousy was (very) attentive all through final season’s dominant Celtics season which produced a league-leading 64 wins within the common season, plus a cakewalk 16-3 postseason report. The player-franchise bond between Cousy and Boston stays tight-knit, and for good cause, too. Cousy was part of the first dynasty chapter of Celtics basketball historical past, enjoying alongside fellow icons Invoice Russell, Ok.C. Jones and Tommy Heinsohn underneath the nice Crimson Auerbach — over seven a long time in the past. Cousy skilled the unique Boston Backyard, performed years earlier than the NBA launched the 3-point line, and was nicknamed “The Houdini of the Hardwood,” ending because the league chief in assists for an eight-consecutive-year span (1953-1960) with passes method forward of Cousy’s time.
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“I believe they’ve the potential to create a mini-dynasty, clearly due to their age, their motivation,” Cousy claimed because the Celtics enter a possible repeat marketing campaign, per Doyle. “Joe (Mazzulla) appears to be a great coach. So on paper, if I’d select who’s going to be the favourite the subsequent few years, I’d say the Celtics once more.”
Thus far, there isn’t a lot conserving the Celtics from bringing Cousy’s imaginative and prescient to life. Although Japanese Convention rivals such because the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers made progressive offseason strikes, Boston is the confirmed group to beat till additional discover. The entrance workplace stood by its phrase, retaining Jayson Tatum and Derrick White this offseason, together with everybody from the championship roster — other than Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk — conserving the dynasty window extensive open. Maybe in 10-plus months, TD Backyard, once more, can be plastered in celebratory confetti and champagne, leaving the group to tirelessly work at designing its subsequent ring. Cousy sees the imaginative and prescient.
