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Dave Cowens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Position | Center |
|---|---|
| Height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) |
| Weight | 230 lb (105 kg) |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Born | October 25, 1948 (age 58) Newport, Kentucky |
| College | Florida State |
| Draft | 4th overall, 1970 Boston Celtics |
| Pro career | 1970
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| Former teams | Boston Celtics 1970-80 Milwaukee Bucks 1982 |
| Awards | NBA Co-Rookie of the Year (1971) NBA MVP (1973) All-NBA Second Team (1973, 1975, 1976) NBA All-Defensive First Team (1976) NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1975, 1980) NBA All-Star Game MVP (1973) NBA All-Star (1972-78) NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996) |
| Hall of Fame | 1991 |
David William Cowens (born October 25, 1948, in Newport, Kentucky[1]) is a former professional basketball player and NBA Head Coach. At 6'8", he played the center position. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990. He is currently an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons.[2]
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Cowans played collegiate basketball at Florida State University from 1966 to 1970. He scored 1,479 points in 78 games at Florida State, a 19.0 points per game, and ranks among Florida State's top 10 all-time scoring leaders.
He is the all-time Florida State leading rebounder with 1,340 rebounds (17.2 rebounds per game). He holds the team record for best seasonal rebound average (17.5 in the 1968-1969 season). He once grabbed 31 rebounds (second best all-time) against LSU in the 1968-69 season.
He was named the Sporting News All-America second team in 1970. His number now hangs in the rafters of the Donald L. Tucker Center.
Despite some critics who felt Cowens was too small to play center, Cowens was selected as the fourth overall pick by the Boston Celtics during the 1970 NBA draft, largely at the recommendation of former Celtics center Bill Russell.[1] During his rookie year, Cowens averaged 17.0 points per game and 15.0 rebounds per game, and shared the NBA's Rookie of the Year honors with Portland's Geoff Petrie. He also led the league in personal fouls that same year.
In 1973, Cowens averaged 20.5 ppg and 16.2 rpg while helping the Celtics to a league best 68-14 record. He was chosen the NBA MVP as well as MVP of the All-Star Game that same season.
During his NBA career, Cowens averaged 17.6 points and 13.6 rebounds per game, was selected to seven All-Star Games, was named to the All-NBA Second Team three times, and was named to the All-NBA Defensive First Team in 1976 and All-NBA Defensive Second Team in 1973 and 1980. He was a member of the Celtics' 1974 and 1976 NBA Championship teams.
Cowens' playing credo was all-out intensity at both ends of the court, a style that never wavered during his 11-year NBA career. Cowens played aggressively, often recklessly, and with great passion. He always gave fans their money's worth.
He played 10 seasons for the Boston Celtics as well as one for the Milwaukee Bucks.
From time to time, perhaps as a way of counter-balancing his zealous commitment to the game of basketball and the Celtics, Cowens exhibited a few unconventional traits.
In 1974, after the Celtics won the NBA championship over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Milwaukee Bucks, he slept on a park bench on Boston Common, purportedly after wandering throughout the neighborhoods adjacent to downtown Boston to celebrate the victory with Celtics fans and an entourage of admirers and devotees.
For a time during the early part of the 1977 season, Cowens stopped working as a professional basketball player and started driving a cab. He went AWOL from the Celtics for a short time just "to clear his head." He later explained that he was "suffering from burnout."
He began his coaching career by serving as a combined player/coach for the Boston Celtics during the 1978-79 season, but he quit coaching after the season, and returned as a full-time player before retiring in 1980. However, he was coaxed out of retirement by the Milwaukee Bucks, and played for them during the 1982-83 season before retiring for good.
He has also coached the Bay State Bombadiers of the Continental Basketball Association in 1984-85. He returned to the NBA coaching ranks by serving as an Assistant Coach for the San Antonio Spurs in 1994-96, and became Head Coach of the Charlotte Hornets from 1996-99 and had a brief tenure as head coach with the Golden State Warriors from 1999-2001 which only lasted 105 games.
In 1990, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Jim Luscutoff asked that his jersey number (#18) not be retired so that a future Celtic could wear it - the number 18 was later retired in honor of Dave Cowens.
On May 25, 2005, he was named Head Coach of the newly-formed Chicago franchise in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team, known as the "Chicago Sky", began play in 2006 at the UIC Pavilion, located in the University of Illinois at Chicago. After only winning five games in the 2006 season, however, Cowens left the Sky to join the coaching staff of the Detroit Pistons on September 12, 2006.
- ^ a b Dave Cowens. Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
- ^ Pistons Roster. NBA.com. Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
- NBA History Profile
- Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame profile
- WNBA Press Release on coaching the Chicago franchise
- ESPN on departure from Sky
- Heisler, Mark (2003). Giants: The 25 Greatest Centers of All Time. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-577-1.
| Preceded by Satch Sanders |
Boston Celtics Head Coach 1978–1979 |
Succeeded by Bill Fitch |
| Preceded by Allan Bristow |
Charlotte Hornets Head Coach 1996–1999 |
Succeeded by Paul Silas |
| Preceded by Garry St. Jean |
Golden State Warriors Head Coach 2000–2001 |
Succeeded by Brian Winters |
| Preceded by Initial coach |
Chicago Sky Head Coach 2006 |
Succeeded by Bo Overton |
Categories: 1948 births | Living people | American basketball players | American basketball coaches | Florida State Seminoles men's basketball players | Boston Celtics players | Milwaukee Bucks players | Basketball Hall of Fame | Boston Celtics coaches | Charlotte Hornets coaches | Golden State Warriors coaches | Chicago Sky coaches | Continental Basketball Association coaches | Northern Kentuckians