Opinion by Rick Reilly: Bill Russell was a basketball giant who cared about all his teammates
He would block eight, 10, 12 shots a night. But he was cagey, smart. He’d pick his spots, driving shooters crazy. “The idea isn’t to block every shot,” Big Russ used to say. “The idea is to make themI know it sounds outrageous, but it’s true: He didn’t care about his stats. Give you an example. The Celtics had a play called Six . The idea of Six was to get Russ an easy basket. Except nearly every time they called it, Russ would end up passing to a teammate.
After winning Boston all those titles — the last two of which he was also the Celtics’ coach — he moved about as far from Boston as you can go, Seattle. Up there, he seemed to lighten. Maybe because he had even more time to invest in his favorite hobby — people. One night, “Daily Show” comic Jon Stewart got a call from him, out of nowhere. “He thought I looked sad,” StewartHe’ll probably be forgotten by the time you read this and that’s too bad. They haven’t made a Bill Russell since.
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