Post by FLCeltsFan on Sept 12, 2015 20:45:54 GMT -5
Random Thoughts on Tommy and Jo Jo Entering the Hall
It was about time that Jo Jo White was finally elected to the Hall of Fame. I'm glad that he was here and able to enjoy it, as well. They waited too long to bestow the honor on Dennis Johnson and with the brain tumor scare that Jo Jo had recently, I'm glad that they honored him now instead of waiting too long as they did with DJ.
I wrote back in 2012 that the fact that Jo Jo was not in the Hall even back then was a huge travesty. And yet, it took another 3 years for them to make this right. Jo Jo White was a winner at every level of his career. He played on the 1968 USA Olympic basketball team in Mexico. The team went undefeated (9-0) and beat Yugoslavia 65-50 in the title game. After the Olympics, Jo Jo was drafted by the Celtics 9th overall in the 1969 draft. And on the Celtics, White was one of the cornerstones of two Celtic championship teams in 1974 and 1976, and was named the Finals MVP in 1976.
Jo Jo was one of the NBA's first iron men, playing in all 82 games for five consecutive seasons. He was a seven time All Star and was named to the All NBA second team twice. Over his career, he scored 14,399 points, averaging 17.2 points per game. He also averaged 4.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds. That may not seem like a lot of assists for a point guard, but in the Celtics system, they had many good passers and so it came down to roles and as with every Celtic from those years, he filled his role to perfection. Jo Jo was known for his lock down defense as well.
The Celtics could count on White to show up to play every game and play every minute if needed. In perhaps the best game ever played in the NBA, the triple overtime Game 5 of the 1976 Finals, White played 60 minutes. Between 1971 and 1977, White appeared in 564 of 574 possible contests and averaged 39.6 minutes a night while doing so. He also made the all-star team every one of these seasons. White also upped his game in the postseason and his play was even better in the playoffs with averages of 21.5 points, 5.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds.
Of all the players in NBA history with comparable stats, Jo Jo was the only one who wasn't already inducted into the Hall. I have no idea why it took the Hall so long to induct Jo Jo, but I'm really glad that they have finally righted a wrong that went on way too long. Jo Jo's speech was typical of the quiet and humble person that White is and was throughout his career. Congratulations to a great Celtic on an honor that was long overdue.
Jo Jo wasn't the only Celtic that was inducted into the Hall last night. His former coach, Tommy Heinsohn joined him in the 2015 inductee class. Tommy was already inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player way back in 1986. Yesterday, he became only the 4th player to be inducted as both a player and as a coach. Before all is said and done in his career, I expect Tom Heinsohn to be alone in being inducted into the Hall 3 times - as a player, a coach and a broadcaster.
It is no surprise that he was inducted into the Hall as a coach. It was as a coach that his true genius of the game was revealed. Tommy took over coaching the Celtics in 1969 and no one had ever stepped into a coaching job where there were bigger shoes to fill or bigger holes to fill in the team or bigger expectations from fans to meet. He was following Red Auerbach and Bill Russell as coach and taking over a team where winning a championship was the only acceptable result of the season.
After one season in the lottery, where the Celtics added Dave Cowens to the team, Tommy's true genius as a coach began to show. In a league filled with dominating big men and strong low post players including Wilt Chamberlain, Wes Unseld, Willis Reed and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tommy became a pioneer of the small ball running game.
He designed an offense that would play to all of Cowens' strengths which were speed, mobility, and energy and that would minimize his weaknesses which were height and strength to battle beefy centers like Chamberlain, Thurmond and Abdul-Jabbar. In Tommy's system, Cowens would be a low post player, but he would also play farther out than traditional centers in that day. He would outrun taller defenders and over power smaller defenders. Cowens was a great center, but his success in the league was certainly in great part to Tommy Heinsohn's brilliant system designed to maximize his talents. It was very fitting that Dave Cowens was the one to present Tommy to the Hall.
Tommy's smart moves as a coach included moving Don Nelson into the starting lineup and converting Paul Silas to yet another great Celtics sixth man. As a player, Tommy had been know as a scapegoat for Red Auerbach. If Red wanted to make a point, he'd yell at Tommy, knowing that Tommy was strong enough to take it without lashing back. As a coach, he was also shadowed by the scapegoat role. The Boston public still saw the team as Red's and underrated Tommy's role in building the latest championship team.
An example of Tommy's coaching genius and his role as an under-appreciated underling of Auerbach's can be seen in the circumstances surrounding the 1974 Finals vs a Bucks team that featured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center. The whole series was a chess match between Tommy and Bucks' coach Larry Costello. The road team won each of the 4 games leading up to a Game 7 in Milwaukee.
Throughout the series, the Celtics used the same strategy they used all season with Cowens going head to head with the bigger Jabbar. Before Game 7, Tommy met with Red and Bob Cousy and told them that he decided to change his strategy for the final game of the series. He had to convince both Red and Cousy of the merits of his plan. In Game 7, the Celtics double and triple teamed Jabbar with Cowens fronting him and Paul Silas guarding him from behind. Tommy's strategy worked perfectly. Cowens finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds while Jabbar was frustrated throughout the game and was held scoreless for an entire quarter.
Tommy had proved his genius as a coach with his innovative strategy to use Cowens as well as his decision to change his system for game 7. You would think that Tommy would have been hailed as the genius he was for the coaching job that landed the Celtics back at the top. But, the next morning's headlines on the sports pages read as follows: "Cousy Strategy Saves Celtics." Tommy didn't even get the credit for his gutsy call that truly did save the season.
Tommy, as always, stole the show with his speech. He spent much of the speech extolling the genius or Red Auerbach and the benefits of the running game but he started off with a dig at referee, and fellow Hall inductee, (censored) Bavetta saying that he didn't know that Bavetta was so humorous, but that would explain all the funny calls he made. He finished with a hilarious tale of Hank "High Henry" Finkle.
Tommy had asked his big man Hank Finkel to defend Wilt Chamberlain. In going for a rebound, Finkel somehow got his middle finger stuck in the net and, as he ran back up the court, he held up his middle finger to his coach yelling "Finger, finger." Tommy added that this really made him think about communication as a coach. He concluded saying that he failed the test because all he could think of was, "And the same to you, Henry!" To illustrate his point, Tommy held up his own middle finger, in effect, flipping off everyone in the Hall. You just have to love Tommy Heinsohn as a player, coach, broadcaster, and now as a 2 time Hall of Fame inductee.
It was about time that Jo Jo White was finally elected to the Hall of Fame. I'm glad that he was here and able to enjoy it, as well. They waited too long to bestow the honor on Dennis Johnson and with the brain tumor scare that Jo Jo had recently, I'm glad that they honored him now instead of waiting too long as they did with DJ.
I wrote back in 2012 that the fact that Jo Jo was not in the Hall even back then was a huge travesty. And yet, it took another 3 years for them to make this right. Jo Jo White was a winner at every level of his career. He played on the 1968 USA Olympic basketball team in Mexico. The team went undefeated (9-0) and beat Yugoslavia 65-50 in the title game. After the Olympics, Jo Jo was drafted by the Celtics 9th overall in the 1969 draft. And on the Celtics, White was one of the cornerstones of two Celtic championship teams in 1974 and 1976, and was named the Finals MVP in 1976.
Jo Jo was one of the NBA's first iron men, playing in all 82 games for five consecutive seasons. He was a seven time All Star and was named to the All NBA second team twice. Over his career, he scored 14,399 points, averaging 17.2 points per game. He also averaged 4.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds. That may not seem like a lot of assists for a point guard, but in the Celtics system, they had many good passers and so it came down to roles and as with every Celtic from those years, he filled his role to perfection. Jo Jo was known for his lock down defense as well.
The Celtics could count on White to show up to play every game and play every minute if needed. In perhaps the best game ever played in the NBA, the triple overtime Game 5 of the 1976 Finals, White played 60 minutes. Between 1971 and 1977, White appeared in 564 of 574 possible contests and averaged 39.6 minutes a night while doing so. He also made the all-star team every one of these seasons. White also upped his game in the postseason and his play was even better in the playoffs with averages of 21.5 points, 5.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds.
Of all the players in NBA history with comparable stats, Jo Jo was the only one who wasn't already inducted into the Hall. I have no idea why it took the Hall so long to induct Jo Jo, but I'm really glad that they have finally righted a wrong that went on way too long. Jo Jo's speech was typical of the quiet and humble person that White is and was throughout his career. Congratulations to a great Celtic on an honor that was long overdue.
Jo Jo wasn't the only Celtic that was inducted into the Hall last night. His former coach, Tommy Heinsohn joined him in the 2015 inductee class. Tommy was already inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player way back in 1986. Yesterday, he became only the 4th player to be inducted as both a player and as a coach. Before all is said and done in his career, I expect Tom Heinsohn to be alone in being inducted into the Hall 3 times - as a player, a coach and a broadcaster.
It is no surprise that he was inducted into the Hall as a coach. It was as a coach that his true genius of the game was revealed. Tommy took over coaching the Celtics in 1969 and no one had ever stepped into a coaching job where there were bigger shoes to fill or bigger holes to fill in the team or bigger expectations from fans to meet. He was following Red Auerbach and Bill Russell as coach and taking over a team where winning a championship was the only acceptable result of the season.
After one season in the lottery, where the Celtics added Dave Cowens to the team, Tommy's true genius as a coach began to show. In a league filled with dominating big men and strong low post players including Wilt Chamberlain, Wes Unseld, Willis Reed and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tommy became a pioneer of the small ball running game.
He designed an offense that would play to all of Cowens' strengths which were speed, mobility, and energy and that would minimize his weaknesses which were height and strength to battle beefy centers like Chamberlain, Thurmond and Abdul-Jabbar. In Tommy's system, Cowens would be a low post player, but he would also play farther out than traditional centers in that day. He would outrun taller defenders and over power smaller defenders. Cowens was a great center, but his success in the league was certainly in great part to Tommy Heinsohn's brilliant system designed to maximize his talents. It was very fitting that Dave Cowens was the one to present Tommy to the Hall.
Tommy's smart moves as a coach included moving Don Nelson into the starting lineup and converting Paul Silas to yet another great Celtics sixth man. As a player, Tommy had been know as a scapegoat for Red Auerbach. If Red wanted to make a point, he'd yell at Tommy, knowing that Tommy was strong enough to take it without lashing back. As a coach, he was also shadowed by the scapegoat role. The Boston public still saw the team as Red's and underrated Tommy's role in building the latest championship team.
An example of Tommy's coaching genius and his role as an under-appreciated underling of Auerbach's can be seen in the circumstances surrounding the 1974 Finals vs a Bucks team that featured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center. The whole series was a chess match between Tommy and Bucks' coach Larry Costello. The road team won each of the 4 games leading up to a Game 7 in Milwaukee.
Throughout the series, the Celtics used the same strategy they used all season with Cowens going head to head with the bigger Jabbar. Before Game 7, Tommy met with Red and Bob Cousy and told them that he decided to change his strategy for the final game of the series. He had to convince both Red and Cousy of the merits of his plan. In Game 7, the Celtics double and triple teamed Jabbar with Cowens fronting him and Paul Silas guarding him from behind. Tommy's strategy worked perfectly. Cowens finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds while Jabbar was frustrated throughout the game and was held scoreless for an entire quarter.
Tommy had proved his genius as a coach with his innovative strategy to use Cowens as well as his decision to change his system for game 7. You would think that Tommy would have been hailed as the genius he was for the coaching job that landed the Celtics back at the top. But, the next morning's headlines on the sports pages read as follows: "Cousy Strategy Saves Celtics." Tommy didn't even get the credit for his gutsy call that truly did save the season.
Tommy, as always, stole the show with his speech. He spent much of the speech extolling the genius or Red Auerbach and the benefits of the running game but he started off with a dig at referee, and fellow Hall inductee, (censored) Bavetta saying that he didn't know that Bavetta was so humorous, but that would explain all the funny calls he made. He finished with a hilarious tale of Hank "High Henry" Finkle.
Tommy had asked his big man Hank Finkel to defend Wilt Chamberlain. In going for a rebound, Finkel somehow got his middle finger stuck in the net and, as he ran back up the court, he held up his middle finger to his coach yelling "Finger, finger." Tommy added that this really made him think about communication as a coach. He concluded saying that he failed the test because all he could think of was, "And the same to you, Henry!" To illustrate his point, Tommy held up his own middle finger, in effect, flipping off everyone in the Hall. You just have to love Tommy Heinsohn as a player, coach, broadcaster, and now as a 2 time Hall of Fame inductee.