Just read Bill Russell's "Go Up For Glory" (1965), a few comments

I just read this book yesterday after picking it up a couple of weeks ago, and thought I'd share my thoughts with the board. Russell was a very intelligent man, though at the time (1965) he was pretty angry at the world. The book primarily focusses on Bill's thoughts on cultural phenomena and social philosophy, but he talks some basketball as well. Psychology was big to Russ (playing referees, intimidating opponents, letting guys get there own one day to build up false confidence only to shut them down the next time, some trash talking), and a big part of his game. Bill was also very prideful, and had an extremely high opinion of himself. Here are some points of note:

• Russell and Cousy (who evidently everybody called Cooz affectionately) weren't particularly close, but they each respected what the other brought to the game (though fwiw, Cousy was shy in general)

• After Cooz retired, the Celtics took it upon themselves to show that they weren't a one-man team; Russell actual believes the backcourt of Jones and Jones upgraded the team, since it allowed them to have three dedicated defenders on the court most of the time (with Russ and Heinsohn, who the former considered to be the best defender at forward of the time)

• Russell's favorite two teams (to that point) were 58 and 65; 58 because it was his first title, 65 because Walter Brown, the team's owner had died earlier in the year and they promised each other that they'd win for him

• Bill took offense to being slighted with regards to accolades, particularly MVPs at the hand of Wilt; he felt he was the best in the game from 57 (start of the 57-58 season, though he feels he was big in the 57 playoffs) to 65 (he felt he would no longer be the best player at that point, as his knees felt "like those of a 300 year old" man as opposed to a 31 year old); he also was admittedly envious of Cousy's place as captain, and wanted to take that stake (though after Cooz retired, he was self-conscious about being named co-captain)

• one constant recurring theme throughout the book (or perhaps this is a 'motif'? hey I was a math major, literary analysis isn't my thing) is Russell's need (stronger than desire) to be what he considered 'a man'; he didn't care about being liked and disliked (and felt he would "never be a Williams or Cousy to Boston"), but did care about being respected

• he considered the best players through that point to be Cousy, Pettit, Robertson, Baylor, himself (he tried to distance himself from basketball during its infancy, when the AAU was still king; regarding the AAU, he disliked them for their overbearing influence during his time leading up to the Olympics)

• racism was never an issue on the court in the pros for Bill, and there were "no cliques" based on race, religion, or anything of the sort on that team; Russ had to face racism once when playing in college (he was called a "black gorilla"), and that was the first of three times in basketball he got into a fight to that point (I believe it was an elbow, but I can't remember the quote off hand; he also punched a player directly and threw one forearm in the NBA); Bill wasn't an enforcer, and said he almost never got into disputes because he wanted to "preserve his pretty kisser"; he notes that Loscutoff did a good job of making up for him in that regard, and says that Jim taking care of the dirty end of defense let Bill worry about actually shutting the other team down

• he and everybody else in the league was fearful of Wilt one day going off out of anger; one time Wilt looked as if he was going to annihilate Auerbach, but Russ stepped in and restrained the player (he also mentions that one time Wilt knocked a player down with barely a swing)

• money was very important to Bill; everybody knows about the $100,001 paycheck due to Wilt (which actually had more to do with Auerbach selling his 10% in the team, doubling his money); he felt it was his duty to play so he could be seen on the court for 48 minutes, since salary workers were paying to see him

• he never felt gambling would be an issue in the pros, since he says a superstar would have to be in on it, which wouldn't partially be worth it since he'd be making nothing compared to his current salary; he was willing to stake his life on it never happening at the hand of a player; he knew it was prevalent in college/AAU, though had no issue with it there, since people were desperate for money (he admits to taking money to go to AAU track meets); Bill didn't think colleges were without fault, and hated how players were on display to earn money for universities; he felt players should be guaranteed scholarships even if they can't fulfill athletic commitments, and education should be the number one priority; Russell says he took reduced courseloads during his varsity time so as not to short his education (he cared more about "becoming a complete man" than living out "the life of a game"), and went back to finish his last semester earnestly after he had started in the pros over the summer so he could fully focus on his studies (though he had to pay his way when going back)

• refs were an issue since they were inconsistent; Auerbach made sure his bench would be on the side of his own team's basket during the fourth quarter; they were making at most $10,000 each at the time, and Russ felt they needed to be paid $12,000 at minimum each with guaranteed protection

• Russ felt that it was wise not to push his injury in 58; he believes true superstars will make it to the Finals multiple times, so there's no reason to blow a career and/or a dynasty to win a single championship

• he also believed that he was a great player that happened to win championships, not a player who was great because he won championships; he hated losing immensely and wanted to win because there was no feeling greater than that of being "the best in the world"; in particular he describes the guy-wire game, and noted that if a charge wasn't called (I believe) on Baylor and they lost, he'd feel awful for losing since he cost his team, but wouldn't feel any lesser as a player

[I](continued below)[/I]

[I](continued from above)[/I]

• his teammates were great (as well as complete "characters"), but he didn't believe he played with superstars other than Cousy (though he noted that Havlicek, still young at the time, had a bright future in the league); he describes several times in his chapter on championships how important it was for him to make his teammates look good, and how he had to pass correctly to an open man as an outlet pass after a block/rebound, or when a man was in his position in the post

• he practiced jumping at the rim excessively; every season he'd make sure he could jump continuously and touch the backboard 35 times

• Russ attributes a lot of Boston's success to getting into playing shape before the season; Auerbach would run guys until they collapsed, and actually forced some guys like Willie Naulls into good condition; Russ felt this allowed them to get out of the gate quickly in top form, as opposed to having to deal with stars playing into shape

• regarding defense, Russ felt the upper limit on shot blocking was to block between 10 percent and 20 percent of shots by your man or in your vicinity; the key was to intimidate your man into believing that that time would be one of the times he would be blocked

• he cared a lot about forcing a guy to take a bad shot; by forcing a guy to go left when he wanted to go right (or vice versa), you'd greatly reduce his comfort; by making a guy take a shot from even two feet away (closer, farther, left or right of his desired position) from one of his hot spots, you drastically reduce his chances of making a shot; this wouldn't work with true superstars, who were generally ambidextrous and proficient at making shots out of nothing

• he felt Wilt was a great shooter for his position, but couldn't compare to some of the perimeter guys (Robertson, Sam Jones, West); he also noted that Wilt had a subpar hookshot, which limited his ability to make a shot when not in the paint (though he noted that his fallaway was near unstoppable); in the 65 EDF he recognized the inbounds play and knew Wilt was going to fall away once he got the ball (he spends 2-3 pages describing them staring into each others eyes, both knowing that the other knew exactly what was coming next) from the pass to the inside (this never happened though, as we all know)

• Russ felt that when the superstars were ready to protest the All-Star game it was one of the most noble acts of solidarity he had witnessed by men; he thought the lack of monetary security for young players and journeymen was abhorrent, and knew they had to take a stand (he had no issues with his own owner though, Brown was one of the men in his life he respected the most, up there with his father)

• he respected K.C. Jones immensely (when Bill first went to USF, after one month of silence since K.C. was shy, Jones basically took him under his wing and paid for Russell's food, clothes, entertainment, dates, etc.), and felt awful for him a few times: most notably when K.C. was said to be drafted only has Russ's friend, though also when K.C. could not participate in the NCAA tournament in 56 (he had used up his eligibility)

• when Bill first got to the team, Auerbach told him that "your points are your rebounds", and not to worry about scoring; Bill never felt inadequate about his offense, and merely felt he chose not to assert himself on that end; he felt that everybody coming into the league was an All-American and could score without issue, but he wanted to truly separate himself; he attributes this to helping smooth the transition after Cooz retired, since Russ felt he had to run both the defense and offense (at least for those two seasons in 64 and 65, as the book was written during the summer after the 65 Finals ended); he felt most confident in his dunks, layups, reverse dunks, alley-oops (which he describes as "guiding into the hoop an intentionally errant shot aimed at the backboard"), hook shots (he felt confident in his hook, and noted that he felt it was as good as any big man in the league); he also felt he was a fine shooter, and said "you don't clear 50% shooting in college if you can't shoot"

• Auerbach ran seven basic plays with options that amounted to about 30 (outside of transition plays); the other teams often knew what was coming (they'd call plays by cities, like "the number 2 play might be called 'New York' on the court"), but they never knew which option they'd face so they were effective (at least through 65)

• Russell considered Baylor extremely strong, possibly "second only to Wilt"; while he was feared on drives, this reputation allowed Russ to draw charges against Baylor; West was a consummate pro, and "the guy you didn't want to see with the ball in his hands at the end of the game"; Russ felt Sam Jones came close, but Russ took credit for making the passes to Sam for the shot, as opposed to West who Russ felt "could make a shot out of nothing"; Russ thought both of these players were amazing, but felt they might never win a championship due to bad fortune (Baylor getting injured at key moments), poor supporting casts, inability to make his teammates better as Russ himself did

• Russ considers Pettit to have had a great signature turn shot, but noted that he'd be "dead if he took more than one dribble"; Russ felt Pettit and Cousy were the two big stars in league history before he entered, but doesn't think that Pettit would have had a great series if he wasn't hurt in the 58 Finals

• Russ said that earlier in his career, during his first season in particular, he used to feel he failed on a personal level when he was outscored by an opponent, even if it was a guy dedicated to offense; Bill said he "tried not to get into personal battles" of worrying whether his man scored "18 against his season average of 20 as opposed to Bill scoring his normal 12 or so", and felt he improved as a defender when he stopped worrying about playing his man straight up; guarding a player was an important responsibility for most players, but Bill felt by covering for all of his teammates' defensive shortcomings (particularly before K.C. started over Cooz), he was able to impact the game on a greater level than anyone had; Russ considers himself to be the first great defensive player in league history

I tried to parse out as much of his non-basketball as possible in writing the above, though some is too deeply ingrained so this is impossible. All in all though it was a great book, and I feel like I know a lot more about Bill, his stances, and his times. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about Bill Russell the man, though if you're only interested in the pro basketball aspects I think I've summarized them above (albeit with no semblance of organization). Hopefully some of the information above is of use. Again, this book was written in 1965 so some of the writing is conditional to Bill's first few years. Russ wrote his next book in 1980 entitled "Second Wind", which I also bought and will get to reading some time over the next few weeks. Part of my intention in posting here is to set it up so I can draw a comparison with what I read in the second book when I have time to do so.

Outstanding post. Will rep you when I can.

[QUOTE=DatAsh]Outstanding post. Will rep you when I can.[/QUOTE]

:cheers:

When I have a chance I need to break this down somehow, as it's too dense at the moment. Any recommendations for formatting (maybe I'll add some headings or something)?

[QUOTE=fpliii]:cheers:

When I have a chance I need to break this down somehow, as it's too dense at the moment. Any recommendations for formatting (maybe I'll add some headings or something)?[/QUOTE]

Not really, but I'll throw out some ideas.

Russell's views on himself
Russell's views on other players
Russell's views on the league
Russell's views on defense(might overlap with the first one a bit too much)

Thanks. That was awesome. I loved the part about Auerbach using seven basic plays with about 30 options. That was golden. :applause:

Great stuff op! repped! :cheers:

[QUOTE=DatAsh]Not really, but I'll throw out some ideas.

Russell's views on himself
Russell's views on other players
Russell's views on the league
Russell's views on defense(might overlap with the first one a bit too much)[/QUOTE]

sounds good

Have you read "[URL="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1077812/index.htm"]The Psych...and My Other Tricks[/URL]" by Russell written that same year (1965)? After I read this a couple of years ago I began to wonder whether Russell was actually the smartest player to have ever stepped on a basketball court.

[i]Go Up For Glory[/i] and [i]Second Wind[/i] are two of my favorite sports-related (not just basketball) books. I own both, and I would highly recommend them to anyone legitimately interested in learning more about Russell.

[QUOTE=jlip]Have you read "[URL="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1077812/index.htm"]The Psych...and My Other Tricks[/URL]" by Russell written that same year (1965)? After I read this a couple of years ago I began to wonder whether Russell was actually the smartest player to have ever stepped on a basketball court.[/QUOTE]

He was, IMO. And he was a visionary in having an intuitive understanding of what to do in order to help his team win. No one ever coached him how to "play the right way," as much of what he did went against prevailing conventions. He just knew what to do to help his team win.

Russell is always interesting to me. I read a bit from something he had written about his time as player coach. How at times he would just let sam Jones or someone talk to the team for 30 minutes and he wouldnt say a word. Made sure everyone knew they were respect as men and in no way lower than him. Bill might really be the best teammate in american sports history when you consider his impact on team performance, chemistry, and winning mentality. He didnt practice much once he got worn down a bit...but im sure nobody took it the wrong way.

Only Russell book I own and have read is [I]Red and Me[/I] which was a good read, but I need to read this and some others. I'm completely enamored by anything Russell has to say about basketball. When starting a list of the most cerebral players of all-time, he has to be towards the top somewhere.

Great post fpliii.

Good read Fpliii! Good work. I read it awhile back and will try get back at it now that you brought it up.

Repped

I always enjoy hearing what Russell has to say. He's an interesting fellow.