Bill Russell Greatest NBA Player passes away at 88

[kalinecountry]

Celtics Nation is in mourning. The Greatest Winner and Basketball Player in NBA history has left us. Thank you for all the thrills watching you and Our Boston Celtics Win Championships. Rest In Peace Mr. Russell.

Bill Russell won:
* 11 NBA Championships as a player.
* 2 NBA Championships as a coach.
* 2 NCAA Championships.
* 5 NBA MVPs.
* 11-time All NBA player.
12x NBA All-Star
3x All-NBA First-Team
8x All-NBA Second-Team
14,522 points
21,620 rebounds
4,100 assists
134 games w/ 30+ REB
3 games w/ 30 PTS & 30 REB
8 games w/ 40+ REB
1 game w/ 50 REB (23 PTS & 51 REB)
Most rings by an MVP:
6 ? Jordan, Kareem, Cousy
7
8
9
10
11 ? Bill Russell
Russell has won more rings in a row (8) than other MVPs in history have won in their careers.

Championship streaks in American professional sports history:
Five-peat: Yankees, Canadiens
Six-peat: None
Seven-peat: None
Eight-peat: Bill Russell Celtics

21 deciding games. 21-0
RIP Bill Russell

?55: NCAA champ
?56: NCAA champ, Olympic gold
?57: NBA champ
?58: NBA MVP
?59: NBA champ
?60: NBA champ
?61: NBA champ, MVP
?62: NBA champ, MVP
?63: NBA champ, MVP
?64: NBA champ
?65: NBA champ, MVP
?66: NBA champ
?67:
?68: NBA champ
?69: NBA champ

Way more athletic than you think!

Bill Russell was a legend.
An immeasurable impact off the court and the greatest winner in basketball history. RIP.
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Bill Russell had the most contagious laughter, always filled the room with smiles.
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Bill Russell and Carl Yastrzemski share a laugh after Russell won Sport Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1968, Yaz won the award in 1967.
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Fenway Park honors Bill Russell with a moment of silence.
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"Whenever someone looks up at all 6?9? of Bill Russell and asks, ?Are you a basketball player?" he says, ?No. That?s what I do, that?s not what I am. I?m not a basketball player. I am a man who plays basketball.?
- Barack Obama (2011).
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Bill Russell. Boston Celtics. Champion. Man among men.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1553803707342626816

Bill Russell. Head coach of the Boston Celtics.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1553804319912230912

Bill Russell always has been and always will be what it means to be a Boston Celtic.
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Obama on Bill Russell.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1553803983281692675

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Bill Russell ruled for a lot of reasons. He was the greatest defender ever. Most prolific champion ever. One of the great fighters for racial equality of his time.
Oh, and dude also LOVED flipping people off.
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A civil rights icon and an NBA legend. R.I.P Bill Russell.
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As a five-time league MVP, Bill Russell changed the game, making shot-blocking a key component on defense. And he was a Black athlete who spoke out against racial injustice when it was not as common as it is today.
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Bill Russell. Boston Celtics. The Art of the Block:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1553804839406256133

NBA great who anchored a Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 championships in 13 years ? the last two as the first Black head coach in any major U.S. sport ? and marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr.
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What was Bill Russell's life like while he was racking up 11 rings? His daughter writes:
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Still don?t think Bill Russell is the greatest ever? Could any of these soft mothertruckers today go through this kind of horseshit and still come away with a ring. Never mind 11.
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"Combining a point guard?s quickness with a big man?s size, Bill?s talents refined this sport."
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Tommy Heinsohn always said this play by Bill Russell was the greatest basketball play of all time.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1553803803719307264

Bill Russell was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975. He didn?t accept that honor until 2019 because the NBA had yet to induct Chuck Cooper, the man who broke the NBA?s color barrier. Nobody has ever had a stronger moral code than William Felton Russell.

Most rebounds in the Finals:
1. Bill Russell (1,718)
2. Wilt Chamberlain (862)
He doubled Wilt.

Bill Russell's greatest rival was Wilt Chamberlain.
While "The Big Dipper" was the more accomplished individual player, Russell's Celtics got the better of Chamberlain in the playoffs all but once, including 3-0 in the NBA Finals.
Russell was a 5-time NBA MVP, to Wilt's 4.
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Greatest laugh too:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1553806791338778625

One of my fav Bill Russell stories is this anecdote from 1964 All Star game.
Russell wanted the all stars to strike to force the league to provide a pension plan. Wilt wanted to play the game. They agreed to take a vote and striking won 11-9. The NBA caved 15 mins before tipoff.
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The first Black NBA coach.
A winner since HS in Oakland who sacrificed individual stats for team glory.
A defensive savant. Intelligent AND gifted.
A legend from and beyond basketball.

More than 11 rings, he's an inspiration as a man, period. Long live Bill Russell.

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/31/9614...news&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com
Bill Russell, basketball legend with record 11 NBA titles, dies at 88.
NPR

"Starting in 1955, Bill Russell?s teams played for 16 championships in the next 14 years (NCAA, Olympics, NBA). They won 14, and in one of the losses he was injured (1958). No one can match that resume. Period."
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[Mitchrapp]

Rest in peace Mr. Russell. I always hated the Jordon vs LeBron debate when they forget the best of the best, Russell - and the other greats from way back when.

 

[tomdalton22]

I never watched him play. From what I have been hearing on sports talk today he was a tremendous athlete. He had a high jump of 6'9" and ran the 440 (402M) in 49.6 seconds.

With his athleticism, his game would definitely translate to today's NBA. Definitely a top 10 player in the history of the game.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I never watched him play. From what I have been hearing on sports talk today he was a tremendous athlete. He had a high jump of 6'9" and ran the 440 (402M) in 49.6 seconds.

With his athleticism, his game would definitely translate to today's NBA. Definitely a top 10 player in the history of the game.

Top 10? Come on man..

 

[tomdalton22]

Top 10? Come on man..

I was going to say top 5 but he may or may not be there. Definitely top 10 though.

 

[kalinecountry]

I never watched him play. From what I have been hearing on sports talk today he was a tremendous athlete. He had a high jump of 6'9" and ran the 440 (402M) in 49.6 seconds.

With his athleticism, his game would definitely translate to today's NBA. Definitely a top 10 player in the history of the game.

With comments like this, You belong on espn, because I would never watch.
Bill Russell would repeatedly shut down the greatest offensive force in NBA history, his name was Wilt Chamberlain!!

 

[tomdalton22]

Bill Russell would repeatedly shut down the greatest offensive force in NBA history, his name was Wilt Chamberlain!!

During his career in head to head games vs Russell, Wilt averaged 30 points and 28 rebounds

Wilt's overall career numbers, 30 points and 23 rebounds per game

With comments like this, You belong on espn, because I would never watch.

I don't understand this comment

 

[gotime909]

1. There were 8 teams in the league for pretty much his entire career

2. He never averaged 19 pts in ANY season

3. He played with some amazing guards his entire career.


I feel saying top 10 player isn't outlandish or disrespectful.

 

[kalinecountry]

And there you have it people we have the JJ Reddick twins on the Detroit Sports Forum.

 

[tomdalton22]

And there you have it people we have the JJ Reddick twins on the Detroit Sports Forum.

lol

call a player top 10 all time and it's an insult?

 

[gotime909]

lol

call a player top 10 all time and it's an insult?

I'll give you 1 guess on why this forum is a graveyard

 

[biggunsbob]

Rip Bill.
The 21-0 in deciding games.
I draft him in the top 5 and be very happy to have him.
Great player.

 

[tinselwolverine]

Rip Bill.
The 21-0 in deciding games.
I draft him in the top 5 and be very happy to have him.
Great player.

You draft him?

Into the all Heaven league?

You do know that a lot of the other all time greats might be ineligible for that league, right?

 

[Mitchrapp]

You draft him?

Into the all Heaven league?

You do know that a lot of the other all time greats might be ineligible for that league, right?

Interesting, the all heaven league. Some good players there.

 

[tomdalton22]

You draft him?

Into the all Heaven league?

You do know that a lot of the other all time greats might be ineligible for that league, right?

Interesting concept. Two divisions just like the current NBA. Instead of the east and west, it will be north and south. The north would consist of teams from heaven and southern division teams will come from hell.

 

[kalinecountry]

https://kareem.substack.com/p/the-bill-russell-i-knew-for-60-years
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: The Bill Russell I Knew for 60 Years.

Since I was 14, Bill Russell showed me how to be a better player--and a better man.

 

[kalinecountry]

https://nypost.com/2007/06/24/unforgettable-mister-russell/
THE UNFORGETTABLE MISTER BILL RUSSELL.
NYPost

 

[kalinecountry]

The life and legacy of 11-time NBA champion and civil rights pioneer Bill Russell will be honored by retiring his uniform number, 6, throughout the league. The iconic Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer will be the first player to have his number retired across the NBA.
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https://www.nba.com/news/bill-russells-no-6-jersey-to-be-retired-throughout-nba
Bill Russell's No. 6 jersey to be retired throughout NBA.
The iconic Hall of Famer will be the first player to have his number retired across the NBA.
NBA.com

 

[tomdalton22]

The life and legacy of 11-time NBA champion and civil rights pioneer Bill Russell will be honored by retiring his uniform number, 6, throughout the league. The iconic Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer will be the first player to have his number retired across the NBA.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZ5wJjJXgAAJ_Fz?format=jpg&name=medium

https://www.nba.com/news/bill-russells-no-6-jersey-to-be-retired-throughout-nba
Bill Russell's No. 6 jersey to be retired throughout NBA.
The iconic Hall of Famer will be the first player to have his number retired across the NBA.
NBA.com

This is the kind of shit that really annoys me...they wait until he dies to do this. Why did they wait? Recognize him while he is still alive.

 

[kalinecountry]

https://sports.yahoo.com/nbc-sports-boston-releases-documentary-100047457.html?src=rss
NBC Sports Boston re-releases documentary on Celtics icon Bill Russell?s statue.
YahooSports