«I don't care who you name, John could
have played with them,» says former Harvard coach Billy Cleary, who starred with Mayasich on the victorious
1960 U.S. Olympic
team in Squaw Valley.
There are some other important facts regarding assists and assist leaders that must be noted here: 1) since Cousy last led the league in
1960, only one assist champion, West in 1972,
played on an NBA championship
team; 2) in none of the last four seasons
has the NBA champion
had a single player among the top 10 assist leaders; 3) in the NBA's 33 years, only five championship
teams led the league in assists.