Ranking the top 50 players in NBA history…
4. Bill Russell
There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Russell. He’s the greatest and most prolific winner the NBA has ever seen, not to mention the great Boston Celtics player ever. He also has a strong argument for being the best defensive big man in league history.
Drafted No. 2 overall by the St. Louis Hawks in 1956 (traded to Celtics) out of the University of San Francisco, where he won two NCAA titles, Russell played 13 seasons for Boston (1956-1969), averaging 15.1 points, 22.5 rebounds (!) and 4.3 assists per game for his career.
An 11-time champion (1957, 1959-1966, 1968-1969), Russell also won five NBA MVPs (1958, 1961-1963, 1965) and was named to 12 All-Star teams.
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He led the league in rebounds five times, an impressive accomplishment during the Wilt Chamberlain era (or was it the Bill Russell era?).
As player-coach (1966-1969), he became the first Black head coach in major U.S. sports, winning two titles.
Russell was a defensive monster. He used his springy legs and 6-foot-10 frame to register and unspeakable amount of blocks (untracked then); estimates suggest he’d be the all-time block king if they’d been logged. He retired with 21,620 rebounds (second all-time behind Wilt).
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Of course, Russell’s cultural influence went far beyond sports. He was a fearless civil rights trailblazer, and his Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 was long overdue.