NBA Legend Bob Cousy Defends ‘Plumbers and Firemen’ He Played With From J.J. Redick’s Rant: ‘Wilt Chamberlain, Remember That Guy?’

Amiliano FragosoMay 20th, 2022, 3:27 pm
 
Bob Cousy

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Sports talk shows throw out countless outrageous takes that can end up going in one ear and out the other. But NBA hall-of-famer Bob Cousy isn’t as quick to let these things go, taking exception to J.J. Redick trashing the older generation of basketball, coming to the defense of all the “plumbers and firemen” he played with.

Redick made those viral comments on the April 20th episode of First Take, arguing with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo about the pre-1980 hall-of-famers in the league, where the former NBA sharpshooter sent shots at one player in particular, Bob Cousy.

“He was being guarded by plumbers and firemen,” Redick said to Russo, trying to point out the discrepancy in quality of basketball from the 1960s to present day.

Like most, we thought the debate was over but think again as SiriusXM NBA Radio hosts Justin Termine and Eddie Johnson invited the 93-year-old former Boston Celtic onto the show Thursday, defending his league counterparts, moreso than himself.

“People with less talent will always try to make a name for themselves by criticizing other people and hopefully getting some attention and perhaps increasing their credibility. So when you respond to something like this, you play into their hands. I won’t do that, but I will defend the firemen and the plumbers that he referenced,” Cousy said.

Cousy then went on a mini-rant of all the “firemen and plumbers” he played with, citing some of their achievements as well.

“How about Bill Russell, the aforementioned, not too bad a player. Wilt Chamberlain, remember that guy? He wasn’t bad. I guess he must have fought fires as well,” the former champion said.

“A couple of point guards that weren’t too shabby, my colleague who also had an award created [in his name], guy named Oscar Robertson, who was pound for pound the best player perhaps in the game,” Cousy continued.

The former point guard listed a plethora of players that most of us never saw play but that’s not the point of his argument, which is to give more respect to the foundational players of the league.

It’s hard to argue that dropping a Kyrie Irving or LeBron James in a 1960 NBA game wouldn’t result in the onlooking spectators thinking he was something from another planet. But it is nice to see these old-time players stick up for one another and remind the younger generation of how important those early years were for the league today.

Shoutout to all the firemen and plumbers that sculpted the modern NBA.

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