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Speaker 2: So, if you're anywhere within a planet's distance of the
Speaker 2: NBA space, you understand Bill Russell and how legendary, how
Speaker 2: important he was to this space to not only the
Speaker 2: game from the player's perspective, not only the game from
Speaker 2: an explosion, but just activism and civil rights and continuing
Speaker 2: to push the ball forward on the same level of
Speaker 2: say A Muhammad Ali. So I have to take a
Speaker 2: moment to pay respects to the late great Bill Russell
Speaker 2: eighty eight years old, which I feel like he looked
Speaker 2: older than that he did. I was like, dang, I
Speaker 2: thought you had another ten years though, in you because
Speaker 2: it just felt like Bill Russell had been around, no
Speaker 2: matter what documentary, no matter what moment that we shed
Speaker 2: light on the NBA, what Cornerstone, seventy five fifty, he's
Speaker 2: in the mix of that, and he's the guy. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I've been thinking a little bit about Russell because
Speaker 2: I've been thinking a lot about the fact that we
Speaker 2: just continue to resurface the greatest of all Time debate
Speaker 2: over and over and over. And I had just watched
Speaker 2: They Call Me Magic and how good Magic was from
Speaker 2: the time he was a rookie and he was diagnosed
Speaker 2: with HIV, and one could say that if Magic never
Speaker 2: went down, there's a real argument to be made in
Speaker 2: terms of what he could do on the basketball court
Speaker 2: for him to be the greatest of all time, and
Speaker 2: even what he did from a branding perspective, shaping and
Speaker 2: paving the way for guys like Michael Jordan. Even Michael
Speaker 2: Jordan was on that documentary and said, it wasn't me
Speaker 2: that became a huge international pop star. It was Magic first.
Speaker 2: But it's always almost MJ. M Braun. That's the two.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you get some delusional Laker fan bringing up Kobe
Speaker 2: and you know that's what that is. But when you
Speaker 2: wonder about, okay, what is the criteria of greatest of
Speaker 2: all time? And so many people bring up MJ because
Speaker 2: he has one more than Braun, then you have to say, okay, well,
Speaker 2: then winning must be the only or the main criterion
Speaker 2: that we use to hold up the standard. No, if
Speaker 2: we're using that, then there is no debate. If we
Speaker 2: use winning and winning alone outside of the things that
Speaker 2: you've done on the court, your skills, et cetera, there's
Speaker 2: only one answer, and the answer is Bill Russell.
Speaker 1: Dude.
Speaker 2: What won every single level, everywhere he went, everywhere. He
Speaker 2: won state titles his last two years in high school.
Speaker 2: He went to a fourteen and seven school, the San
Speaker 2: Francisco Dons team, and proceeded to go fifty seven and
Speaker 2: one consecutive national titles. What traded on Draft Night to
Speaker 2: the Celtics for a six time All star Ed McCauley
Speaker 2: and another player in what sports historian considered to be
Speaker 2: the most important trade in sports history. Why? Because Bill
Speaker 2: Russell came around and just one of his rookie year yes,
Speaker 2: one at his first year, one at his last year,
Speaker 2: and won nine in between, eleven rings in thirteen years,
Speaker 2: eleven rings in a thirteen thirteen year playing career, and
Speaker 2: those final two championships. He actually coached the Celtics as
Speaker 2: the first black head coaching naim Here history, So if
Speaker 2: you count his coaching titles as double rings, he ended
Speaker 2: up with thirteen rings in thirteen years. The player coach
Speaker 2: thing is wild. That's just such an interesting phenomenon. And
Speaker 2: for those who say that these guys back in the
Speaker 2: day couldn't play in today's NBA, keep in mind this
Speaker 2: little nugget, this little fact Bill Russell was a world
Speaker 2: class high jumper who ran a sub fifty second four
Speaker 2: hundred meter in nineteen fifty nine. Are pair of low
Speaker 2: top chucks. The low top chucks part is important. I feel.
Speaker 2: I feel that that's a critical distinction between we've got
Speaker 2: hokahs or what they called hokahs, hokah wah Wan's waggawan
Speaker 2: and the Nike juaggo on, Yes, we've got the hokahs,
Speaker 2: We've got Nikes, we've got this, We've got that. This
Speaker 2: man's literally playing basketball and running and high jumping in
Speaker 2: some shit that I wear casually and almost sprain my
Speaker 2: ankle just walking, still struggling to get the job done
Speaker 2: in those shoes, just living life. This man used low
Speaker 2: top Chucks as a performance shoe. Not too many people
Speaker 2: could do this now, and not too many people could
Speaker 2: do that at six feet ten. By the way, when
Speaker 2: you think about Paolo Ben Carrol and Bill rust will
Speaker 2: be in the same height. That's that's fucking crazy. So yeah,
Speaker 2: take that goat argument, slice it, dice it, and get
Speaker 2: the fuck out of here. If winning a title is
Speaker 2: what matters in basketball and then Bill Russell should at
Speaker 2: least be mentioned in the debate, especially now that the
Speaker 2: late Great is late and great Rest in peace to
Speaker 2: the greatest winner in basketball history. Bill Russell. Never got
Speaker 2: to meet you. Wish I did. I've seen you across
Speaker 2: the way. Wish I would have said Hi.