Bob Cousy thinks Terry Rozier is better than Isaiah Thomas
Last season, Bob Cousy, one of the best to ever play the point guard position, was enamored with his successor on the Celtics. He went so far as to compare Isaiah Thomas, then in the midst of a phenomenal season and coming off a 52-point game, to Cousy’s former player, Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald. But a new Celtic guard has surpassed Thomas in the six-time NBA champion’s esteem.
“There’s no question what [Thomas] did offensively at crunch time. To this day, there’s nobody that can stop him when he wants to do his thing, but in my mind I wouldn’t give him the same degree of authenticity as I do from what I’ve seen from [Terry] Rozier the last month. Rozier touches more bases. He’s a much stronger defensive player, we’ve talked about his rebounding, he sees the floor, he creates opportunities better,” Cousy told the Worcester Telegram‘s Bill Doyle.
When Rozier was informed of Cousy’s comments after Game 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers, he responded, “Isaiah Thomas who? Which one?”
Apparently Scary Terry does not think it’s out of the question for Bob Cousy to slot him above the Detroit Piston’s 12-time All-Star.
When he was told that the Thomas in question was instead the former Celtic, Rozier said, “That’s a great compliment from one of the greats. Everybody knows Bob Cousy if you know basketball.”
Cousy told Doyle that he didn’t watch too much of Rozier while he was at Louisville, and never expected to see this kind of progress from a point guard who started the season behind Kyrie Irving. The 24-year-old has exceeded all expectations this postseason as he averages 19.1 points and 6.9 assists.
“Mediocre talent in sports will generally collapse under too much pressure, but if you’ve got exceptional talent it will actually thrive under the greater pressure,” Cousy said. “Usually, the great ones will up their game under the pressure. I don’t know if we can put that term on him [Rozier] at this point, a great one, but he’s displayed his talent. I never thought of him as a good shooter, never mind what he’s shown us lately.”
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