William Felton Russell, better known as Bill Rusell, is arguably the best basketball player to ever play the game. He was born in 1934 in Monroe, Louisiana, and his first exposure to basketball did not lead to a good experience. Russell was cut from the Herbert Hoover Junior High School basketball team. Then, high school came, and after he made the team at McClymonds High School in Oakland, California, the rest was history.
After winning two championships and a West Coast Conference Player of the Year Award at the University of San Francisco, Russell made the jump to the NBA. He was selected to the NBA 25th, 35th, 50th, and 75th Anniversary Teams, and he was the inaugural recipient of the NBA Lifetime Achievement Award. The first four recipients of the award were as follows: Russell, Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. Although Rusell never coached Bird, both made a significant impact on the Boston Celtics franchise.
Russell, an 11-time NBA champion, was a five-time NBA Most Valuable Player Award winner, 12-time all-star, three-time All-NBA First Team selection, eight-time All-NBA Second Team selection, and four-time NBA rebounding champion. Unfortunately, the NBA All-Defensive Teams were not created until the 1968-69 season. Of course, Russell was selected to the All-Defensive First Team that year, but it was his last NBA season.
He was not only a Hall of Fame player for the Boston Celtics, but he was also a Hall of Fame coach. Russell was a player-coach — as he won the 1968 and 1969 NBA titles for the Boston Celtics — and he was the head coach for the Seattle SuperSonics and Sacramento Kings. During his coaching career, Russell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player. Then in 2021, he was inducted as a coach. Russell was one of the best to ever make an impact on the NBA, and he may be the best player for the Boston Celtics in their franchise history.
Bill Russell – College Basketball at the University of San Francisco
Russell played three seasons at the University of San Francisco, and he could not be stopped. For the San Francisco Dons, he scored at least 20 points per game and grabbed at least 19 rebounds per game in every one of his collegiate seasons. The school’s only NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament championships came in 1955 and 1956, and those were because of Russell.
Head coach Phil Woolpert, a future Hall of Famer, would produce a 243–168 record in his coaching career, and he coached Russell throughout the basketball star’s career. During Russell’s final two seasons there, the Dons lost just one game. They went 28-1 in 1954-55 — the year Russell was the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player — and a perfect 29-0 in 1955-56.
Russell’s impact at the University of San Francisco will never be forgotten, but his performance in the professional ranks was at another level. Let us take a look at how many rings he ended up getting and how he put a major stamp on NBA history.
Bill Russell – Boston Celtics
Before Russell entered the NBA, he almost became a Harlem Globetrotter. However, the college basketball star was not happy with how Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein handled the recruitment of him.
Saperstein did not want to talk to Russell directly, and therefore, Russell elected to make himself eligible for the 1956 NBA Draft instead. Prior to the beginning of the draft, the Boston Celtics selected Tom Heinsohn, who would be known as “Tommy,” with their territorial pick. Then, the Rochester Royals — part of the Sacramento Kings franchise — selected Si Green first overall in the draft.
The next team on the clock was the St. Louis Hawks, who had future Hall of Famer Bob Pettit, and they were very intrigued by Boston Celtics all-star Ed Macauley — also a future Hall of Famer. The Hawks drafted Russell, but they decided to trade for Macauley, who grew up in St. Louis and played for the St. Louis Bombers before the team folded in 1950. Macauley, who ended up being very happy to be with his sick child at home in St. Louis, would go on to be successful in St. Louis. He made his seventh consecutive All-Star Game in 1957, and he was a part of the St. Louis Hawks championship team in 1958.
In the long term, the Boston Celtics franchise was forever changed by the teams’ swap of Russell and Macauley, which also included Cliff Hagan — also a future Hall of Famer — going to St. Louis. The Hawks franchise — everyone knows the team as the current Atlanta Hawks squad — has just one title (1958) while the Boston Celtics won in 1957 and then every year from 1959 to 1966. Russell was one of the main reasons for all of these titles. The Boston Celtics big man played every single one of his NBA games with the C’s, and his legacy will be remembered with his statue in Boston.
Bill Russell – Led Boston to Eight Consecutive NBA Championships
Red Auerbach knew what he had in Russell, and Auerbach had an unbelievable tenure as Boston Celtics head coach (1950 to 1966) and executive (1950 to 1984). After the Bill Sharman, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, and Rusell Celtics defeated Petit, Macauley, Hagan, and the Hawks in the 1957 NBA Finals, St. Louis came back the next year and won the NBA championship by taking down the Celtics in the 1958 NBA Finals.
However, the Boston Celtics then took down the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers franchise five times, the Hawks twice, and the San Francisco Warriors once en route to eight straight titles. Boston was the king of the NBA during the 1960s, as Russell could not be stopped on the boards. During 10 of Russell’s 13 seasons, he totaled the most rebounds in the playoffs and he was unstoppable in the NBA Finals during the championship streak. Also, after Houdini of the Hardwood Bob Cousy retired, Russell even had the most assists in the 1965 and 1966 postseasons.
The Celtics could not be stopped, and it was because Russell was arguably the best defensive player in NBA history. According to Basketball-Reference, he led the NBA in defensive win shares during 11 of his seasons, and he leads the league in all-time defensive win shares in the regular season and the playoffs. Russell made the Celtics the best franchise of all time, and he did it with his defense and rebounding.
Bill Russell as a Coach
Not only did Russell win NBA championships as a player, but he also did as a player-coach. The 1966 postseason marked a very important year in NBA history. Red Auerbach named Russell the Boston Celtics coach for the following year. With Auerbach giving Russell the opportunity to be an NBA coach, Auerbach made Russell the first black head coach ever in American professional sports. After being the first black player to be the top player in the NBA, he became the first black head coach to win a championship.
Russell was selected to 12 All-Star Games as a player, and he won two NBA championships (1968 and 1969) as the player-coach for the Boston Celtics and executive Red Auerbach. As a part of Russell’s final season with the Boston Celtics, he and Sam Jones were able to finish their careers with the green together. They finished with the following statistics: 999 games played combined in the regular season and playoffs, 717 wins, and just 282 losses. Their winning percentage together was .718 overall: .730 regular season and .651 in the playoffs. Rusell and Sam Jones were an amazing tandem.
The Boston Celtics center and head coach had a storied career — with many NBA championships — in Boston, but he was done with basketball in Boston in 1969 at the age of 35. Russell coached four seasons for the Seattle Supersonics (1974 to 1977) and brought the relatively new franchise — originated in 1967-68 — to the playoffs for the first time. Russell coached Hall of Famer Spencer Haywood and all-star Fred Brown to the postseason in back-to-back years: 1974-75 and 1975-76.
Russell also had a season of coaching in Sacramento with the Kings, but that was short-lived. He lasted just 58 games there and had a dismal 17-41 coaching record. The 1987-88 Kings, who had Reggie Theus, Otis Thorpe, and Kenny “The Jet” Smith, were not a competitive team, and the franchise struggled for a while. That was the final Russell coaching season, but since then, he has been celebrated for his numerous achievements.
Bill Russell – Russell’s Statue in Boston
Russell returned to Beantown to see his statue unveiled at Boston City Hall Plaza in 2013. He has been celebrated throughout Boston for his play on the court and his work off of it. Russell’s time in Boston will always be remembered, and it seems like he has rekindled with Boston in a great way, which is a very nice ending to a beautiful basketball story.
Bill Russell – West Coast Conference’s Russell Rule
The basketball legend, who was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006, has a rule that is named after him in the West Coast Conference (WCC). The Gonzaga Bulldogs, the NCAA Tournament runner-up in 2017 and 2021, are the cream of the crop in the conference. Russell made sure that this conference would be known for more than just wins and losses though, as he inspired change in many different ways.
The WCC spread the initiative “We are Committed to Change,” which has the same initials as the conference’s nickname. The WCC announced the following regarding the rule named in honor of Russell on August 2, 2020: “The “Russell Rule” requires each member institution to include a member of a traditionally underrepresented community in the pool of final candidates for every athletic director, senior administrator, head coach and full-time assistant coach position in the athletic department.”
Bill Russell – Hall of Fame Induction as a Coach
A Basketball Hall of Famer, a FIBA Hall of Fame, and a Hall of Famer in many respects and in many minds, Rusell was finally inducted as a coach as well. In 2021, he officially joined Lenny Wilkens as a player-coach in the Hall of Fame as both HOF players and HOF coaches. Also in 2021, Russell was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. The San Francisco Dons and Boston Celtics center was an unbelievably tremendous basketball player, and he will have a lasting legacy in the NBA and in the world.
Bill Russell – Net Worth
NBA star Bill Russell has an estimated net worth of $10 million, making him one of the wealthiest professional basketball players in the world. He accumulated his wealth through his successful career as a player and coach, as well as through various business investments. His net worth is a testament to his legendary status in the NBA.
Why is Bill Russell not considered the best?
Bill Russell is one of the most decorated basketball players in history. He won 11 NBA championships, was a 5-time MVP, and is widely considered one of the greatest defensive players of all time. However, when using the “greatest of all-time” standard, Russell falls just short. Although he was an outstanding rebounder and defender, he was not a dominant offensive player. For example, in his final season, he averaged just 10 points per game.
In comparison, other all-time greats like Michael Jordan and LeBron James are consistently dominant offensively, averaging over 30 points per game throughout their careers. Additionally, Jordan and James have also won multiple MVP awards and NBA championships. Therefore, although Russell is considered one of the greatest players of all time, he cannot be considered the greatest of all time using this standard.
What is Bill Russell known for?
Russell, who had the NBA Finals record of 40 rebounds twice — once against the St. Louis Hawks and also against the Los Angeles Lakers — has won the most NBA championships in league history. He also has the NBA record for rebounds in a regular-season half and a playoff quarter. As an NBA player, Russell was purely amazing: in 2009, SLAM Magazine named Russell the third-best player of all-time behind Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. In the post-2009 NBA, LeBron James has made a case for being one of the best NBA players in history as well.
Russell, who averaged 15.1 points per game and 22.5 rebounds per game in his NBA career, was not in attendance for his No. 6 jersey retirement by the Boston Celtics at Boston Garden on March 12, 1972. However, on May 6, 1999, the Celtics re-retired the No. 6 jersey at TD Garden. Russell attended the ceremony, along with Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Then, in December 2008, the We Are Boston Leadership Award was presented to Russell. In 2011, Russell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
How many rings does Bill Russell have?
Like with his first jersey retirement, Russell did not attend his Hall of Fame induction as a player. Russell is well known for his 11 championship rings, but he did not get along with the media very well. He played at a different time. There was not all the hoopla and the constant 24-hour sports news cycle. Thankfully, he did return to Boston for his statue.
