Explaining why Bill Russells Help is Overrated

 

Why Bill Russells Help is overrated

         Bill Russell. The greatest winner in all of sports...a man so dominate he would rack up eleven NBA championships in his short 13 year career. And at one point would lead the Boston Celtics to a dominate 8-peat from 1959-1966. But it basically goes without saying that no player can accomplish a feat this impressive single handedly. Bill Russell had some great help throughout his career and it is almost impossible to deny that. But using terms like the ''8 hall of famers" is really just an argument that is severely lacking the right form of proper context...

During Bill Russells impressive NBA career he played with a total of 12 Hall of Famers  and at one point had 8 other Hall of Famers on just one team. Which at first sounds like he had all the help in the world. And it's common to hear an NBA  fan say something along the lines of "imagine if {insert Legend} had that many hall of famers on his team" but lets take a look at NBA legends Hall of famers or future hall of famers played with:

Shaq: 16

LeBron: 12

Wade: 12

Bill Russell: 12

Moses malone: 11

Wilt Chamberlin: 10

Kareem: 10

Larry Bird: 8

Kobe: 8

So looking at this statistic you might think that this stat also lacks context because  for example Shaquille O'Neal played with guys like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Steve Nash but that was near the end of his career so he was not in his prime. So yes..this statistic does lack context. But this is the same argument used with Bill Russell. And heres what i mean:

Bill Russell had 12 hall of famers correct? So why not take some time to look at those Hall Of Famers...

Frank Ramsey made the Hall of Fame in 1982. But During his career WITH Bill Russell he never made an  All-Star team and never made an  All-NBA Team and averaged just 13 PPG on 48% TS with Bill. And when you look at K. C. Jones, he made the HOF in 1989 but when you look at his career with Bill Russell he never made an All star team or All NBA team. And he averaged 7.4 PPG on 43.5% TS in his career with Russell. Lets go through some more...

Andy Phillip: 2 seasons with bill | 0x All star or All NBA member with Bill | 3.9 PPG on 41.6% TS with Bill (made HOF)

Arnie Risen: 2 seasons with Bill | 0x All star or All NBA member with Bill | 6.8 PPG on 42.9% TS with Bill (Made HOF)

Clyde Lovellette: 2 seasons with Bill | 0x All star or All NBA member with Bill | 6.6 PPG on 46.4% TS with Bill (Made HOF)

Carl Braun: 1 season with Bill | 0x All star or All NBA member with Bill | 3.7 PPG on 40.2% TS with Bill. (Made HOF)

So when you use the HOF argument it is very misleading as some of those players are only in in the HOF because they were on those Celtics teams. Lets go back to K. C. Jones, who spent his whole career with Bill Russell. He made the HOF and averaged 7-4-3 on 39% FG shooting for his career. Does that really sound like enough to make the HOF? No..of course not but he was on a team that won an incredible amount of championships therefore he was inducted into the HOF. And also other players were not inducted to the HOF because of what they did while playing with Bill Russell but instead what they did when they were not playing with Russell. 

Bill Russell All NBA teammates Breakdown (in the 1960s)

Season playing with 2 All NBA members: 6

Season playing with 1 All NBA member: 4

So this shows he didn't have the amount of help people make it out to be. Now lets look at Celtics All Star members vs other teams.

1957 Celtics had 3 all stars (4 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1958 Celtics had 3 all stars (3 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1959 Celtics had 3 all stars (4 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1960 Celtics had 3 all stars (5 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1961 Celtics had 3 all stars (5 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1962 Celtics had 4 all stars (1 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1963 Celtics had 3 all stars (4 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1964 Celtics had 3 all stars (1 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1965 Celtics had 3 all stars (3 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1966 Celtics had 3 all stars (3 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1967 Celtics had 3 all stars (2 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1968 Celtics had 3 all stars (3 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

1969 Celtics had 2 all stars (8 other teams had the same amount of All Stars)

So despite the misconception the Boston Celtics never dominated the league when it came to All Star talent. By what i just showed it's clear Russell played on a talented team for the entirety his career. But using the Hall Of Famer argument make his supporting cast seem better than what it truly was...