NBA Sim | Best Guards 1950's

Max APP+
#	Player	Team	APP+
1	Bob Cousy	1955 BOS	14.02
2	Richie Guerin	1960 NYK	10.80
3	Bobby Wanzer	1952 ROC	9.68
4	Gene Shue	1960 DET	8.34
5	Dick McGuire	1955 NYK	7.87
6	Bill Sharman	1956 BOS	7.80
7	Larry Costello	1960 SYR	7.16
8	Ralph Beard	1951 INO	6.74
9	Jack George	1956 PHW	6.50
10	George King	1953 SYR	5.60

Average APP+
#	Player	Years	APP+
1	Bob Cousy	10	11.02
2	Richie Guerin	4	6.83
3	Bill Sharman	10	4.86
4	Guy Rodgers	2	4.58
5	Larry Costello	5	4.00
6	Dick McGuire	11	3.91
7	George King	6	3.42
8	Ralph Beard	2	3.31
9	Bobby Wanzer	9	3.00
10	Gene Shue	6	2.51

Total APP+
#	Player	Years	APP+
1	Bob Cousy	10	110.23
2	Bill Sharman	10	48.55
3	Dick McGuire	11	42.98
4	Richie Guerin	4	27.33
5	Bobby Wanzer	9	27.01
6	George King	6	20.52
7	Larry Costello	5	20.01
8	Jack George	7	16.54
9	Gene Shue	6	15.04
10	Slater Martin	11	12.04

Best Guards
#	Player	Max APP+	Average APP+	Total APP+	Points
1	Bob Cousy	1.0000	1.0000	1.0000	3.0000
2	Richie Guerin	0.7704	0.6199	0.2480	1.6382
3	Bill Sharman	0.5564	0.4404	0.4404	1.4373
4	Dick McGuire	0.5614	0.3545	0.3899	1.3059
5	Bobby Wanzer	0.6905	0.2722	0.2450	1.2077
6	Larry Costello	0.5108	0.3630	0.1815	1.0553
7	Gene Shue	0.5950	0.2274	0.1364	0.9587
8	George King	0.3996	0.3102	0.1861	0.8959
9	Ralph Beard	0.4809	0.3001	0.0600	0.8410
10	Jack George	0.4637	0.2144	0.1501	0.8282

Average APP+ Per Position By Decade
Position	1950's	1960's	1970's	1980's	1990's	2000's
G	-3.47	-1.14	0.22	0.42	0.71	0.45
G-F	-3.71	1.36	0.93	0.55	0.17	0.77
F-G	-4.05	0.55	2.03	0.03	0.15	0.75
F	-4.94	-0.95	-0.61	0.29	0.64	0.94
F-C	-2.37	1.10	0.57	-0.16	0.19	0.34
C-F	-2.40	0.82	2.18	0.06	-2.30	1.15
C	-2.06	2.39	2.67	0.10	-0.27	-1.41
All	-3.35	0.07	0.72	0.29	0.26	0.41

Bob Cousy
In the first 14 years of the NBA's existence, guards were mainly ballhandlers and setup men. The jump shot didn't fully supplant the set shot until about the halfway mark during this period and shooting skills weren't as sophisticated as they are today. As a result, guards had absolutely horrendous shooting percentages during this era. The average field goal percentage over this timeframe was 0.343. Guards would get more involved in the offense and become better shooters as time went on - eventually hitting their peak in the 80's when they shot 0.465 as a group.

However, as a result of this poor shooting (and stingier assists recording), many of these guards are considered bad players when looking at their APP+ numbers. While it's true that pretty much any active guard in the league today would destroy these guys, I'd like to compare the position against it's peers from each decade.

Cousy has been descibed as being ahead of his time and one of the rare players who could "play in any era." I find this to be true as he clearly dominates his 1950's counterparts. He's the number one guard in all three categories: highest season APP+, career average APP+, and career total APP+.

The 1955 NBA season was special for Cousy. He was third in the league in APP+ (behind monsters named Neil Johnston and Bob Pettit) - an unheard of setting for a guard. And while his Celtics did succumb to Dolph Schayes' Syracuse Nationals in the playoffs, the Cooz recorded a beastly scrubbed line of 20.3 PPG / 5.7 RPG / 7.5 APG, shot 40% from the floor (third in the league amongst guards), 82% from the line and would have scored at 29% from behind the line had it existed.