Билл Расселл – известный американский basketball player, one of the old-timers of the Boston "Celts". The player was awarded the title of the most valuable player of the National Basketball Association 5 times and was repeatedly involved in all-star matches.
Player's talents
Bill Russell - basketball player, who by rightis considered one of the most successful centers in the history of the NBA. Thanks to an increase of 2.08 m, the player coped well with the blocking of rival shots. This skill was one of the reasons for achieving success in the top league team "Boston Celtics".
Russell was a fine performer.According to this indicator, the player was four times on the list of the best NBA basketball players. Only two players in the history of the league managed to make 50 rebounds during one match. And one of them is Bill Russell.
На самом деле игрок никогда не считался основным scorer in the team from Boston. Bill rarely hit the rival's basket. However, this lack fully compensated for the ability to assist partners.
Bill Russell: Statistics
For the professional career in the NBA player managed to achieve the following indicators:
- participation in games - 963;
- points scored - 14,522 (an average of 15.1 successful hits on the opponent's ring during the match);
- transfer - 4100 (an average of 4.3 per game);
- rebounds - 21 620 (an average of 22.5 per match).
Bill Russell: Biography
William Russell was born on February 12, 1934of the year. At that time, his mother Cathy and father Charles lived in the provincial town of West Monroe, located in Louisiana. Due to racial persecutions, the family soon had to move to Oakland, California. Here the family did not go well. The main part of the childhood Bill spent wandering together with his parents on the apartments allocated by the state housing fund.
Since the head of the family had to constantlyto be in search of work, the boy initially received maternal education. When Bill turned 12, Cathy Russell died suddenly. He had to deal with his father, who said goodbye to the work of a trucker and was promoted to a steelworker at a local factory. This was the impetus for the development of small Bill's interest in sports, as his father often brought him to the basketball court on weekends.
To play in youth teams Russell began withearly years. The main advantage of the boy in front of his peers was high jumps, long arms. However, Bill's tactical thinking left much to be desired. As a result, the young player had to leave his first school team.
The coach was able to uncover the potential of Bill from the neweducational institution. Active training under the guidance of a mentor allowed the player to develop a unique style of conducting defensive actions on the site. Several years passed, and Russell was attracted by a sports agent that represented the interests of the team from the University of San Francisco.
University years
Once in high school, BillRussell came under the care of the new coach Phil Fulpert, who made him the center of his team. Unlike many of the previous mentors of the guy, the head of the university basketball team was not interested in the racial affiliation of the players, which became a real inspiration for William.
Основным преимуществом перед партнерами по the team in his student years at Russell had the ability to move lightly across the site from one opponent to another. Aggressively exposing the unit, Bill forced opponents to change the direction of the shots. In combination with impressive growth and size, these abilities subsequently became key in the career of the young player. At the end of several seasons, Russell managed to find the glory of one of the strongest defenders in student basketball.
Starting a career in the NBA
The success of Bill Russell in the university teamThey did not go unnoticed by agents from the National Basketball Association. For the first time the interest to the player was shown by Red Auerbach in 1956, who at that time was the coach of the Boston Celtics. It was in this team felt a shortage of players who can perform rebounds and cope with the opponent in the position of the center.
In addition to Russell, the team was inviteda university friend of young talent Kei Si Jones. As a result, during a single viewing of young players, a professional team from the NBA was joined by two young men from the college. Subsequently, the decision of Red Auerbach was recognized as one of the best in the history of sports transfers between university and professional teams.
Speeches for Boston Celtics
For the team from Boston, Bill Russellwas fortunate enough to make his debut in the season of 1956-1957. Thanks to the successful actions of the basketball player from the very first matches, the effectiveness of the team's actions in defense has significantly increased.
For many years, Russell played for the "Celtics" at a highstable level. This allowed him to enter the list of legendary NBA basketball players. During 12 seasons of appearances in the big league, Bill each time added to his treasury of achievements of at least 1000 rebounds at the end of the year. Subsequently, the glory of the player allowed him to be on the post of head coach of his native team, and later lead the teams of the Seattle Super Sonicks and Sacramento Kings.
Games for the national team
Russell's leadership team from Boston servedthe reason for his invitation to play for the US national team. The most successful for the player was the year 1956. William was faced with a difficult choice - either to play the debut season for the Boston Celtics or to demonstrate the talents at the Olympic Games in Australia. Subsequently, Bill decided to bow to the second option.
Russell, who received the rank of captainnational team, together with partners managed to win gold awards at the world sports forum. In the final, the US team led by Gerald Tucker beat basketball players from the USSR with a score of 89:55. During the Olympic tournament, Bill managed to hit the ring of rivals on average more than 14 times, and his team won the match with a difference of about 50 points.
Coaching activities
In 1966, Bill Russell received an offerbecome a playing coach for the home team from Boston. However, William did not long manage to cope with new responsibilities - until the 1969 season. For a time, the player’s coaching activity was motivated by the moral upheavals that left a deep imprint on his soul after the unexpected collapse of his own marriage, the assassination of President Robert Kennedy, and the Vietnam War. William gave up keeping fit, gained weight, stopped attending coaching meetings.
However, Russell did not finally say goodbye tobasketball. He returned to the post of coach of the once legendary player in 1973, when he was offered the post as the head of the Seattle Super Sonics team. In the 1987-1988 season, Bill led the Sacramento Kings team.
Goodbye in due time with “Boston”, Bill Russell was not able to find his use as a successful coach. His work with Sacramento and Seattle was unsuccessful.
At the end of his career, the legendary player took upcommentary activities, participation in television projects. Today, Bill lives a secluded life on the outskirts of Seattle, regularly attends the matches of his native Boston Celtics team and acts as a kind of spiritual mentor for young team members.
