The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have won 15 gold medals in the 18 tournaments they have participated in during the past 84 years, while the women have won 8 gold medals in the 10 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 44 years. Those of you who were looking forward to the 2020 Olympics opening ceremonies in Tokyo on July 24, 2020 will have to wait an extra 364 days, as the coronavirus caused a postponement until July 23, 2021. Due to the absence of college basketball since mid-March, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel decided to fill the void by trying to interview as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible so that you have something to read this summer while not watching the Summer Games. We continue our coverage by chatting with Aram Goudsouzian, author of “King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution”, and Alan Paul, 2-time New York Times best-selling author, about Bill Russell winning a gold medal in 1956 and then 11 NBA titles from 1957-1969 . Today marks the 12th anniversary of team USA beating Spain 118-107 to clinch a gold medal in 2008…but since I cannot get any of those guys on the phone I figure that today is a great day to celebrate Russell’s winning ways.
After walking onto the basketball team at San Francisco Russell averaged 20.7 PPG/20.3 RPG during his 3-year varsity career, was named a 2-time All-American, and won 55 straight games (including back-to-back titles in 1955/1956): where does he rank among the greatest college basketball players of all-time? Aram Goudsouzian: To most people who have assessed his legacy Russell’s college career seems almost an afterthought…yet he was the central player on 1 of the greatest dynasties in the history of college basketball! As some realized at the moment, he was also revolutionizing the sport by leaping to block shots and altering the texture of typical basketball offenses, but we forget about his college career for a number of reasons. For one, the New York journalists who shaped national perceptions barely saw him play, as it was an age before nationally-televised games. For another, USF did not continue as a basketball powerhouse so Russell never got promoted as a program’s key star for future generations like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did at UCLA. Finally, Russell’s professional career was so impressive that it rendered his college career secondary. Alan Paul: I am not a big believer in absolute rankings because different eras are so different, but by any standards Russell was one of the great college players ever, excelling both in personal statistics/team wins. He is in a rarefied group with Lew Alcindor, Michael Jordan, and a few others.
He served as captain of team USA at the 1956 Olympics: what did it mean to him to represent his country, and what did it mean to him to win a gold medal? AG: Russell would later express disillusion with the US Olympic Committee and in 1968 he supported the Olympic Project for Human Rights, which sought to have athletes boycott the Games to protest racial injustice. However, in 1956 he was intensely patriotic and exceptionally proud of his role as an Olympian. In fact, he willingly delayed his pro career since the Melbourne Olympics were held in November-December of 1956, which meant that he did not join the Boston Celtics until just before Christmas.
He won 5 MVP awards with the Celtics from 1958-1965: what did it mean to him to receive such outstanding honors? AG: Privately, one would assume that Russell took great pride in his MVP awards. In college he felt slighted when less-deserving players captured honors that were rightfully his but he never bragged about individual honors. He funneled his competitive desires into team success. AP: He has consistently said that team wins meant more than any individual honors but it is impossible to imagine that as a proud man such honors did not validate him. The great Celtics teams are revered for their teamwork/lack of selfishness/playing as a unit. The MVP awards are a form of acknowledgement that despite everything above it was Russell who made the team go.
He won 11 titles during a 13-year stretch from 1957-1969 (including 8 in a row from 1959-1966) and remains 1 of a handful of players to win an NCAA title/NBA title/Olympic gold medal: what was his secret for being 1 of the greatest winners in the history of sports? AG: On top of being a superlative athlete Russell channeled all of his energy into team success. His focus on defense/rebounding/passing made his teammates better. He always played his best in the most important moments as well. His teammates constantly noted their faith in Russell as they headed into critical games, and opponents such as Jerry West talked about how if they had to win 1 game they would rather have Russell on their team than anyone else. AP: I am unsure whether there is a secret per se but he had a unique set of skills and personality traits. He combined intelligence/hard work/athleticism/indomitable drive/a will to win/pure leadership as well as anyone ever. No great player can be unbalanced or lack one of these skills/traits.
He won his final 2 rings as player-coach after Red Auerbach retired in 1966: how big a deal was it for him to become the 1st African-American head coach in NBA history, and how did he balance being a player with being a coach? AG: Becoming the first African-American head coach of a team sport in a major league was certainly a factor in Russell’s decision to accept the position, but the decision was also a way for him to maintain the winning culture of the Celtics. Winning 2 titles as a player-coach is another incredibly underrated aspect of his legacy. AP: He himself has downplayed being the first African-American coach, not just in NBA history but in American major team sports…but I doubt that he really believes that. I do not believe it: I think it was a huge deal. It is a shameful part of American history that a brilliant man like Russell who had already proven himself as one of the greatest/most dedicated players would have anything to prove or have doubters anywhere, much less in Boston. That he did so, while also starring on the court, is almost unthinkable. I think it is actually one of the greatest, most remarkable, and most consequential achievements in American sports history…and he had no assistant coaches: think about that for a minute!
He played in 11 winner-take-all games in his career (10 Game 7s and 1 Game 5) and won all 11 of them: how was he able to play his best when it mattered the most? AP: I am unsure if there can be a simple answer to this 1. I believe that he would say he did not play his best: he just played the same as he did in every game, which was the best. In other words, he was great and met the challenges that came his way. He did not shy away from big consequential moments. I am sure that applies to the above question as well, about being the first African-American coach and a player/coach. Some people rise to the biggest stage while others shrink: he always rose. Somewhere along the way his opponents’ intimidation had to come into play as well.
He had a career-high 51 REB in 48 minutes in a win over Syracuse on February 5, 1960 (which remains #2 in NBA history), led the NBA in RPG 5 times from 1957-1965, and his 22.5 career RPG remains #2 all-time to Wilt Chamberlain’s 22.9 RPG: what made him such a great rebounder? AP: Amazing statistics! I think the same things come into play here: athleticism/smarts/will. He knew how to be in the right place at the right time. I think what really separated him was his outlet passes coming off of those rebounds. As he told me himself, “To me, I was a better offensive player than a defensive player. By the end of my first year I always put the offense in motion, and after a year or two almost all the plays went through me. In fact, John Havlicek said after I left that he missed me more on offense than on defense.”
How does his role as the NBA’s 1st African-American superstar on the court compare to that of Jackie Robinson in baseball, and what impact did he have on racial justice off the court? AG: Unlike Robinson, Russell did not desegregate his sport. The NBA had Black players dating back to 1950, when Russell was still in high school. Like Robinson, Russell was the first African-American star in his league and galvanized public attention. His status as a superstar/champion, combined with his intense devotion to justice, fueled his outspokenness on racial matters. For instance, he rejected segregated accommodations on road trips, accused team owners of maintaining informal quotas for White players, blasted any form of racial hypocrisy, and participated directly in the civil rights movement (both on a national level and within Boston). He might have rankled conservative writers and fans but also earned their respect. AP: Without downplaying what he went through (because it was long-term/awful/intense), I do not think that it compares to Jackie Robinson, only because Jackie was literally the first to do it and because baseball had such a prominent role. Off the court he was very important, refusing to stay in hotels or eat in restaurants that denied service to Blacks who lacked his celebrity status. He was not interested in leveraging his position for better treatment of himself but for improving society. He faced a lot of blowback/negativity for this but played a giant role in our nation’s long and very much ongoing battle for racial equality.
Coach John Wooden called him “the greatest defensive man I have ever seen” and fellow Olympic gold medalist Bill Bradley called him “the smartest player ever to play the game”: what made him such a great defender, and what made him such a smart player? AP: You cannot separate the smartness from the great defense. Such a big part of playing great defense is playing smart defense, i.e. understanding the game, positioning oneself, feeding opponents towards teammates, etc. He combined athleticism and smarts into being an all-time great defender. He also revolutionized the game by leaping to block shots and keeping them from going out-of-bounds, which was previously considered bad form. That is hard to believe but it is true.
In 1975 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, in 1980 he was voted the Greatest Player in NBA History by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America, and in 2011 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? AG: Since the turn-of-the-century Russell has more consciously marketed himself as the ultimate winner in American sports…and that is a status that he richly deserves. However, it also threatens to obscure how he forced the sports public to deal with racial injustice and how he compelled people to understand him as a complicated individual rather than “just an athlete.” AP: Russell was one of the all-time greatest basketball players because he had it all: athleticism, smarts, intensity, indomitable drive, a hunger for winning, and the ultimate respect of his teammates/opponents. He was an offensive and defensive force and understood the game so well that he won his last two championships as a player/coach with no assistants.