RIP Bill Russell

[Danno]

A giant. In every way. Transcended sports.
https://twitter.com/RealBillRussell/...90050839588865

[Woodsy]

Rest easy big man.
Should be in every NBA GOAT conversation

[ötzi]

Oh man, that's too bad. Pretty recently I was remarking how good he still seemed. His grave should say "Winner" in big block letters.

[Buster Highmen]

class act

[Mazderati]

RIP

[schindlerpiste]

Best big man EVER! RIP

[KQ]

Actually knew the man. RIP Bill

[skiJ]

The Ultimate Champion !
Man with Class -

I have only Great Respect !

peace, Bill Russell.
With love.


tj

[cat in january]

A Great man, so much more than a basketball player. Rest softly

[riser4]

Celtics! Travel well Bill.

[Core Shot]

Actually knew the man. RIP Bill

Don’t leave us hanging. There’s more to that story.

[KQ]

Don’t leave us hanging. There’s more to that story.

Not as exciting as it might seem. The man lived in Seattle. We traveled in the same circles.

[panchosdad]

Actually knew the man. RIP Bill

He'd be top of my list for public figures I'd like to get to know. Loved his cackling laugh. Great player, great man. RIP.

[The SnowShow]

One of the best.

[old goat]

Great as he was, he couldn't rescue the Kings as a coach.
I watched Russell vs Chamberlain on TV a couple of times. I think Russell usually got the better of those matchups, or maybe I remember what I want to remember.

[skiJ]

the nba is about Talent -
no coach has won without talented players.
If a thirty year old Bill Russell could have been a player coach, it might have helped ( oh, he did that in Boston ) ;

regarding Wilt, it was reported last night that Russell would let Wilt score - after the game was decided -
Wilt would have stats., and Russell would have victories.
They were Very different people - and different players.

Eleven Championships.

The End. skiJ

[Danno]

from the twitters

From the great Bob Ryan on Bill Russell: “In his final 14 years as a basketball player, Bill Russell’s team participated in 21 winner-take-all contests (nine NCAA tournament games, one Olympic gold medal game, 10 Game 7s, one deciding Game 5), and Bill Russell’s team won all 21.”

amazeballs. greatest. winner. ever.

[doebedoe]

Such a good dude in so many ways.

My freshman year of college we had a parents weekend. Five us who were quick friends decided we should all go out to eat one night with our families to meet each others parents. One buddy said his parents weren't able to attend but that his granddad would be there and that he made reservations for us at an Italian place.

Turns out my buddy was Bill Russels grandson and literally none of us knew it until he walked through the doors of La Scarola and fucking sat down with us. I'll never forget the look on all the fathers' faces around the table. Then proceeded to just be the warmest, nicest, interested-in-everyone-he-met dude around.

One of the bests.

[old goat]

the nba is about Talent -
no coach has won without talented players.
If a thirty year old Bill Russell could have been a player coach, it might have helped ( oh, he did that in Boston ) ;

regarding Wilt, it was reported last night that Russell would let Wilt score - after the game was decided -
Wilt would have stats., and Russell would have victories.
They were Very different people - and different players.

Eleven Championships.

The End. skiJ

The Kings have had plenty of great players--that is, players who became great after the Kings traded them. And once in a while a player who became great and THEN the Kings traded them. And the occasional player who used to be great until the Kings got them.

[skiJ]

There is an interesting article on NBC Sports ( on-line ) about Russell's time with Sacramento -

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/ki...eneral-manager


the only player I recognize that played on a championship team is Kenny Smith with the Hakeem Rockets during Mike's baseball career -

but anyone is welcome to think the 1987 Sacramento Kings were a championship roster.
1987 ,,, Maybe Magic's Showtime.


peace, Bill Russell !


skiJ

[Woodsy]

Such a good dude in so many ways.

My freshman year of college we had a parents weekend. Five us who were quick friends decided we should all go out to eat one night with our families to meet each others parents. One buddy said his parents weren't able to attend but that his granddad would be there and that he made reservations for us at an Italian place.

Turns out my buddy was Bill Russels grandson and literally none of us knew it until he walked through the doors of La Scarola and fucking sat down with us. I'll never forget the look on all the fathers' faces around the table. Then proceeded to just be the warmest, nicest, interested-in-everyone-he-met dude around.

One of the bests.

Thats just rad at every level

[doebedoe]

Thats just rad at every level

It was a complete mindfuck. I grew up in the midwest country and 4 weeks into college in Chicago was eating dinner at a Chicago institution with a legend.

Plus his grandson was and is rad. He's throwing down tons of classic alpine routes in the Cascades these days and making me really want to get up there for some volcano adventures.

[Self Jupiter]

RIP Legend

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

I'm so old, I actually saw the GOAT play a game. In Baltimore in 1968 or 1969 against Wes Unseld and the Baltimore Bullets.

So much more than a basketball player...a great man.

[Danno]

NBA announces that Russell's #6 will be retired league-wide (though current players wearing #6 can continue to do so).

Highest honor a player can achieve. I think only Jackie Robinson and Wayne Gretzky are there among the major US sports. Well deserved.