Where does Bill Russell rank among the All-Time greatest NBA players?

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I think he’s one of the most overrated players ever. He won 11 rings, but he played at a time when there were only 8 teams in the entire league and the entire Celtics starting 5 and the 6th man were perennial all-stars and hall-of-famers. Half the teams were in the playoffs and you win 1 series and you’re in the Finals.

His defense and rebounding may have been elite, but his offense was horrific. He averaged 14 pts a game on a putrid percentage.

The only reason he is considered one of the best ever is because of the overrated rings argument and the fact that he played in an era where his unique ability as an athletic rebounding shot blocker could stand out.

He played a ton of minutes… often averaging over 40 per game. If you put his scoring on a per 36 minute basis, he averaged 12.8 pts per game. His TS% was a god-awful 47%. For a big man. 47% for a big man is absolutely atrocious. For reference, of all Centers last season who played at least half the season and at least 20 minutes per game, the Center who is dead last in the league in TS% shot 54%. Bill Russell shot 47%. A gigantic, distant dead last.

If you include forwards today under that same criteria, he still ranks dead last. Dead last in the NBA last year was Herbert Jones, who averaged 49%. Still two points ahead of “all-time great” Bill Russell. In fact, I just ran it and included every single player in the NBA. The very last player in the NBA in TS% is Nolan Traore, who shot 47.9. Bill Russell shot 47.1. Still comfortably dead last.

That’s fine for a defensive specialist, shot-blocking, rim protecting, rebounding machine. That is absolutely a winning player you’d want on your team regardless of offensive limitations. However, we’re talking about all-time greats here. In order to be considered an all-time great, you have to be elite on both sides of the ball. Or at least respectable on the other side.

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