Nobody in American Sports history achieved as much as the NBA legend, Bill Russell. The 6ft 10” Celtics great was one of the original superstars of the NBA, who set the bar for success so high that people call that era’s basketball the easiest in the game’s history. That might be the reason LeBron James once forgot to mention him in his basketball Mount Rushmore.
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The 60s surely must have been easier to play than with lesser teams to play against, lesser travel, not as many rules as the current NBA, and less physicality than the 80s and 90s. However, the difference must not be as high as the current players describe it to be.
Otherwise, any other team could have won as many championships as the Cs in that period. But only the Lakers were close to their 11 championships, with 4 by the time Bill retired. So, you know, the 5x MVP was as good as anybody who played the game before or after him.
And so he felt a bit of disrespect whenever the current generation of players used to forget him while talking about basketball’s greatest and the GOAT.
When Bill Russell spoke up as LeBron James snubbed him from his Mount Rushmore
Back in 2014, LeBron James announced his Mount Rushmore of basketball and somehow did without including the greatest achiever in the sport, Bill Russell.
Although it wouldn’t have done anything to his incomparable legacy, the late Celtics big man once set the then-Heat star straight for probably the biggest mistake that came out of a great mind such as James’.
“Hey, thank you for leaving me off your Mount Rushmore. I’m glad you did,” Russell once said. “Basketball is a team game, it’s not for individual honors. I won back-to-back state championships in high school, back-to-back NCAA championships in college, I won an NBA championship my first year in the league, an NBA championship in my last year, and nine in between. That, Mr. James, is etched in stone.”
How could you miss out on an 11x NBA champ and a 5x MVP who averaged well over 15 points, 22.5 rebounds, 4 assists, and probably 8–9 blocks (weren’t counted then) per game throughout his 13-year career? He did finally come to his senses though.
Bill’s resume for GOAT
If Michael Jordan is considered the GOAT over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for his 6-0 record in the Finals, Russell was 12-1 in the NBA Finals. 12-1 is much better than 6-0, isn’t it?
Bill’s best argument for his GOAT candidature is that basketball is a team game and that the man was unarguably the best team player in the history of American Team Sports.
His teams including the Oakland high school, University of San Francisco, and Team USA were 28-2 in the elimination (including championship) games. LeBron James’ candidacy for the best solely rests on his all-round ability and him being a better teammate than Jordan.
Russell could have easily averaged over 20 points per game (he actually did it in multiple postseasons) to make his resume even better, but he preferred winning to stat padding, and that’s what makes him the most deserving GOAT.
I am not a fan of comparison of players from different eras but name a better team player than him, and I’ll rest my case.
