Featured Greats

Many people say that what seperates the greats from the goods is championships. Whether or not that particular player can lead his team to a title. If this is so, then Russell has to be at the top of the list. When people think of the great centers of the game, they think of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell. While Russell did not score anywhere near the amount of points as Jabbar or Chamberlain, he won more championships than the two of them combined.

Russell attended the University of San Francisco. Prior to Russell's arrival, this college did not even have a home court, and none of there teams had been fierce contenders. That changed though, as Russell led USF to two NCAA titles. He was selected to the 1956 Olympic Team(which won the gold), which meant that he would not be able to play in the NBA until December. However, that did not stop him from being a hot commodity. The Rochester Royals had the first pick in the draft, but they did not think Russell would want to play for them, so they drafted Sihugo Green. Next up was the Hawks. However, the Celtics brillant General Manager, Red Auerbach, traded "Easy" Ed McCauley and Cliff Hagan for the second pick. So, Russell was a Celtic.

Although Russell was only 6'9", he was a powerful rebounder and shotblocker. He was able to out rebound even 7'1" Wilt Chamberlain! Over his career he averaged 22.5 rebounds per game. And to think that because of his size, today he would have been a forward! Russell led the Celtics to 11 Championships, including 8 in a row. Russell was MVP 5 times, All-NBA first team 3 times, and made All-NBA second team 8 times. There was not a All-Defensive team until 1968, so Russell only made that once. However, there is no question that he was a dominating defensive force.

"Bill Russell was a thinker. He knew what he was doing every minute he was on the floor. He was never a spectator. He was such an intimidating presence out there that he often got the job done by doing nothing at all...I have never seen an athlete who could dominate an entire game the way Russell dominated ours. From the day he signed that first contract in 1956 until the day he called it quits in 1969, he owned the NBA." said the previously mentioned Auerbach. Not bad, considering Auerbach has seen many great players such as Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

SEASON	TEAM	G	FGM	FGA	PCT	FTM	FTA	PCT	REB	AST	PTS	RPG	PPG
56-57	BOSTON	48	277	649	.427	152	309	.492	943	88	706	19.6	14.7
57-58	BOSTON	69	456	1032	.442	230	443	.519	1564	202	1142	22.7	16.6
58-59	BOSTON	70	456	997	.457	256	428	.598	1612	222	1168	23.0	16.7
59-60	BOSTON	74	555	1189	.467	240	392	.612	1778	277	1350	24.0	18.2
60-61	BOSTON	78	532	1250	.426	258	469	.550	1868	268	1322	23.9	16.9
61-62	BOSTON	76	575	1258	.457	286	481	.595	1790	341	1436	23.6	18.9
62-63	BOSTON	78	511	1182	.432	287	517	.555	1843	348	1309	23.6	16.8
63-64	BOSTON	78	466	1077	.433	236	429	.550	1930	370	1168	24.7	15.0
64-65	BOSTON	78	429	980	.438	244	426	.573	1878	410	1102	24.1	14.1
65-66	BOSTON	78	391	943	.415	223	405	.551	1779	371	1005	22.8	12.9
66-67	BOSTON	81	395	870	.454	285	467	.610	1700	472	1075	21.0	13.3
67-68	BOSTON	78	365	858	.425	247	460	.537	1451	357	977	18.6	12.5
68-69	BOSTON	77	279	645	.433	204	388	.526	1484	374	762	19.3	9.9
TOTALS		963	5687	12930	.440	3148	5614	.561	21620	4100	14522	22.5	15.1