Maclean's Interview: Bill Russell
By Kenneth Whyte - Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 6 Comments
Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell on his big ring, his favourite coach—and why he won’t visit the Basketball Hall of Fame
Q: I read that your grandchild once asked you if you were as good a basketball player as Michael Jordan, but I never read your answer.
A: I told him, that’s the wrong question. The question is, was Michael Jordan as good as me.
Q: Wayne Embry, who’s been in Canada with the Toronto Raptors, said that you were not the greatest player to play basketball but you would be the first player that he would want if he was going to start a team. That makes no sense to me.
A: Aha! Well, there’s my whole history, okay? The reason is that when people talk about great players they’re always talking about the offence, there are no real adequate stats for defence. When I was in college, my junior year in college we were 28-and-1. I was MVP at the Final Four. We won it, okay? I was first team all-American, my team was the number one defensive team in the nation. At the end of the season they picked another centre as player of the year. And my second year in the NBA the players voted me MVP, and the writers voted me second team all-league. So I’m used to that. But by my way of thinking, individual stats are great for golf, tennis, and most track and field [events].
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The truth about Paul Pierce
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 2:36 AM - 0 Comments
If nothing else, the 2008 NBA Finals will be remembered for proving several theories…
If nothing else, the 2008 NBA Finals will be remembered for proving several theories beyond a reasonable doubt.
For instance, we can now be sure of the following.
1. Sasha Vujacic is the most annoying professional basketball player since Bill Laimbeer (and the worst part of the ongoing soccerization of the NBA).
2. The idea of Lamar Odom is always preferable to the reality (see also Gasol, Pau).
3. If you are a pregnant woman on a television sitcom and your water breaks and you need to be rushed to the hospital, Kevin Garnett is the not the person you’d want driving the car. (To use another medical-related analogy, if KG were a heart surgeon, he’d punch a hole in your chest and rip the still-beating organ out with his bare hands. Impressive in his intensity, physical ability and determination, sure. But not the guy you want to save your life.)
4. Jack Nicholson is now slightly more interested than Phil Jackson in coaching the Los Angeles Lakers.
5. Chris Mihm is still alive.
6. Paul Pierce is a Hall of Famer.
With all due respect to Sasha, Lamar, Jack, Chris and KG’s ultimately crushing fear of failure, it is this sixth confirmation that is most intriguing. Because previous to this Paul Pierce was the least remarkable superstar in the NBA. Or at least the least celebrated. And this was probably unjust. If not at all that surprising. Continue…
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Today in uncomfortably sexual sports quotes
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 1:00 PM - 0 Comments
Kobe Bryant, as reported by ESPN.
“I knew I could make a push and…Kobe Bryant, as reported by ESPN.
“I knew I could make a push and once I made that push, it felt like it energized us a little bit, get the game back under control, get it under 10 where we knew we could be in striking distance. I just tried to read the flow of the game and tried to manage the game. I can get off at any time. In the second half I did that.”
Erm. Ok. Continue…
