Cousy was coachable.  He listened.  He was introverted.  Like I said before, I didn’t get on him the way I got on Heinsohn and some of the others.  The main thing was that he didn’t sulk if I pulled him out of a game and told him to cut down on the razzle-dazzle stuff.

When Bob retired, you brought KC Jones off the bench and made him a starter.  Suddenly, your starting lineup is much more defense-oriented.  Did you change your approach to coaching to the Boston Celtics with this change in personnel?

 
My belief is that you coach to the personnel you have on your team, you don’t try to fit the personnel into the system.  When we had Bob we had that fast break – Russell pulling down the rebounds and Bob pushing the ball up the court – and we took advantage of it because I coached to take advantage of it.  While KC was limited on the offensive end, he made up for it on defense.  So I coached to that.  A lot of coaches have their system, and that’s the way it is.  Period.  They fit the players into the system and it doesn’t always work out for the best.  That’s crap.  You’ve got to be willing to look at your personnel and adjust.

Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman were your first great backcourt.  They were eventually succeeded by Sam Jones and KC Jones.  All four men are in the Hall of Fame.  Please contrast these two backcourts.

 
Cousy was a great player.  Sharman was such a good shooter.  When they were playing they were a great combination for us.  Sam and KC were coming off the bench at the time, and you knew they were going to be good.  But the questions about these two guys were still there until they stepped in and proved themselves.  When Sharman and Cousy retired you lost two Hall of Fame guards and you don’t’ know at the time what you’re getting.  As it turned out, they were Hall of Fame guards and we were just a good.  We were a different, more defensive oriented back there, but just as good.

Satch Sanders is another one of those great defensive players.  He knew his role on the team – slow down the opponent’s high-scoring forward, be it a Dolph Schayes, an Elgin Baylor, or a Bob Pettit.  Please tell me about Satch Sanders.

 
Satch Sanders is an extremely intelligent individual.  He knew his role on the team, and he played tough defense.  He’s been involved with the league for over thirty years, first as a player and now as a VP.  I can’t say enough good things about Satch Sanders.