What distinguishes a great player is his presence. When he goes on to the court, his presence dominates the atmosphere.
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Bill Russell
William Felton "Bill" Russell (born February 12, 1934) is an American retired professional basketball player. Russell played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a twelve-time All-Star, he was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty, winning eleven NBA championships during his thirteen-year career. Russell holds the record for the most championships won by an athlete in a North American sports league (tied with Henri Richard of the National Hockey League). Before his professional career Russell led the University of San Francisco to two consecutive NCAA championships (1955, 1956), and he captained the gold-medal winning U.S. national basketball team at the 1956 Summer Olympics. Russell is widely considered one of the best players in NBA history. He was between 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) and 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) tall with a 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) wingspan. His shot-blocking and man-to-man defense were major reasons for the Celtics' success. He also inspired his teammates to elevate their own defensive play. Russell was equally notable for his rebounding abilitie
The most important thing to me is the friends that I've made.
What distinguishes a great player is his presence. When he goes on to the court, his presence dominates the atmosphere.
The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.
Boston itself was a flea market of racism. It had all varieties, old and new. The city had corrupt, city hall-crony racists, brick-throwing, send-’em-back-to-Africa racists, and in the university areas phony radical-chic racists. . . . Other than that, I liked the city.
Commitment separates those who live their dreams from those who live their lives regretting the opportunities they have squandered.
Most people have a harder time letting themselves love than finding someone to love them.
We learn to make a shell for ourselves when we are young and then spend the rest of our lives hoping for someone to reach inside and touch us. Just touch us—anything more than that would be too much for us to bear.
To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, but to be loved by the one you love is everything.
Retiring was my final victory. Not staying a minute too long, or a season too long, let me leave on my own terms. Knowing when to retire is difficult for any athlete or businessperson. You have to give up so much and start another life. But making that decision and sticking to it is one of the most…
Red was a mathematician as well as a basketball man, and he drew on that as a coach. … Even in the final minutes of games, the abacus in Red’s mind was clicking away: ‘Okay, we’ve got three minutes, we’re up by ten, that means if we play good defense and don’t throw the ball away, we need three more…
When a team is functioning on all cylinders, listening is an essential component of success. A team, whether it’s a sports team, a business, or a family, cannot function effectively unless you and everyone else are prepared to drop the filters that get in the way of effective listening.
In the middle of my playing career, I decided to stop signing autographs. In part, my feelings about autographs is based upon my belief that I’d rather meet someone who approaches me respectfully, talk to them for a minute and look them in the eye, rather than participate in the momentary ritual of…
Most guys have a spot they like to start from, and nothing annoys them more than to see you there first, waiting for them. When I played Wilt, he used to get so annoyed when I would get to his spot because it meant he had to move me off his spot to start his game.
A rebounder, or a shot-blocker for that matter, is always at a disadvantage if he tells himself the only way he can succeed is by outjumping the guy next to him. Sometimes he will have to, but most of the time he will not. … Most of my rebounds came from positioning, where I was able to get the ball…
On offense, it’s possible to take a break, to stand around a bit, let other players take over. On defense, if you take a break, a good offensive team will burn you. On the other hand, when you and your teammates are all doing the job – and you’re all that good – the great reward is watching the…
I loved making passes in from out of bounds because I could see each of my teammates so distinctly in the rush of bodies moving this way and that. … [B]ecause I had acquired enough technique, I could slow those bodies down in my mind’s eye before I released the ball.
From the first day I turned up at practice to the last game I played, I quite deliberately cultivated an air of mystery among my teammates. I liked my teammates a great deal, more than I could ever show them then because I believed, as a matter of choice, that, in remaining unseen, who I was or what…
Because I knew Wilt as I did, I was always seeking to take advantage of his good nature. I did whatever I could to make sure I would never get him angry or fired up. My battle plan with him was always to keep him feeling as comfortable as possible with his own game. If he ever felt pressured or…
The Celtic ‘system’ was designed to permit intelligent, winning players to endlessly use their own curiosity and creativity to accomplish results. That was why each of the players felt such an extraordinary commitment to the team. It was a living, everyday thing, a practice far more than a promise,…