Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldcolt
If you replaced Russel the Celtics wouldn’t have had all those hall of famers. Russell was in 22 series deciding games in his career (college, Olympics and pros). He was 22-0. Never lost. Not once. Most prolific winner ever in team sports.
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o
Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn, Bailey Howell, Sam Jones all would have been slam-dunk Hall-of-Famers, with or without Bill Russell ...... they were not inducted into the Hall-of-Fame primarily for their playoff record, they were inducted primarily for their play on the court ...... just as Elgin Baylor, Pete Maravich, Jerry West, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, and Karl Malone were.
KC Jones probably would not be in the Hall-of-Fame had he not played with Bill Russell.
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An argument for Bill Russell being the greatest player ever is that he was the one constant on all of those Boston Celtics championship teams that he played for between the 1956-57 and 1968-69 seasons.
The Celtics' backcourt of Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman in the early portion of Bill Russell's career were replaced by Sam Jones and K.C. Jones in the latter portion.
The Celtics' frontcourt of Tom Heinsohn and Jim Loscutoff in the early portion of Bill Russell's career were replaced by and John Havlicek and Tom "Satch" Sanders in the latter portion.
The star guards and the star forwards came and went ...... but Bill Russell was there the entire time, finding ways to win championships with whomever he was playing with.
o