Most people consider Michael Jordan the greatest basketball player of all times. I think the greatest player was Bill Russell #6 for the Boston Celtics. Bill Russell was the ultimate team player. All he cared about was one thing-winning. The greatest stat on Bill Russell is this- in 13 seasons with the Boston Celtics the Celtics won 11 World Championships. He wasn’t just a good player on those teams, someone who was at the right place at the right time, he was the best player on the best team. He was the straw that stirred the drink. His goal was always to make his teammates better. Not only did Russell’s Celtics win 11 out of 13 seasons but when Russell was in college at San Francisco they won 2 National Championships in his 3 seasons. He led the 1956 U.S. Olympic Team to the gold medal. So all told out of a possible 17 championships, Bill Russell came out 14 for 17. The greatest winner in American professional sports. If I could have the career of any athlete who ever played I would have wanted to have been Bill Russell.

The key to Bill Russell was his defense. His rebounding and his shot-blocking. He was a 5 time MVP of the NBA. 5 times he won the rebounding title and he was an All-Star 12 of his 13 seasons.

Russell wasn’t an immediate sensation on the basketball court. In junior high he got cut from his team!

His rivalry with Wilt Chamberlain is legendary. The bottom line as to how Bill got the best of Wilt is- he got into Wilt’s head. Also Wilt was fascinated by statistics. The only stat that Russell was interested in was winning.