No. 10 - Bill Russell

In a system purposely tilted towards winning, how can the greatest winner perhaps in North American sports history only be ranked No. 10?

Because if you’re honest about Bill Russell, he was a role player.

Russell played 13 years in the NBA. His Boston Celtics reached 12 NBA Finals and won 11. He was named MVP of the league five times. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with six has won more. He led the league in rebounding in the regular season five times. His career rebounding average remains No. 2 to Wilt Chamberlain. He led the playoffs in rebounding seven times. His teams won 72.3 percent of their regular season games. That ranks fifth all-time behind just Kawhi Leonard, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Tom Heinsohn.

But Russell averaged just 15.1 points per game during his career. His career high for a season was 18.9. And it’s not a situation like Bobby Jones, who averaged just 12.1 points per game in his career. Jones shot 57 percent for his career. Bill Russell was truly just a bad offensive player. Russell shot just 44 percent for his career in the regular season and 43 percent in the playoffs. And it’s not as if he was shooting 3-pointers. His game was limited to putbacks, screen-and-rolls and running the break. When the ball went in to the post, his go-to move were hook shots with his both hands. He was just a 56.1 percent free throw shooter. Today, his game would be similar to DeAndre Jordan.

Although Russell was an outstanding passer, with a career average of 4.3 assists per game, it’s hard to believe he would have thrived as a No. 1 option. If you look through all of the Celtics video and clips, you’ll be hard-pressed to find an instance where Russell came up with the winning basket. When the Celtics needed points, they ran plays for Bill Sharman, Sam Jones or John Havlicek.

The key statistic in this system is PER or Player Efficiency Rating, which is a statistic that “sums up all of a player’s positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments and returns a per-minute rate of a player’s performance.” PER is tilted towards scorers.

Here’s the list of players who have had a 30.0 PER in a season at least once a more: Wilt Chamberlain, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Tracy McGrady, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Paul, David Robinson, Dwyane Wade and Russell Westbrook. Every one of those players was the leading scorer on his team. Chris Paul averaged the least amount of points at 22.8 in 2008-2009, but he also shot 50 percent and led the NBA in assists with 11.0.

Because of Russell’s pedestrian offensive numbers, he only topped 20.0 in PER four times and never after 1959-1960. His career high was just 22.8. His career PER of 18.87 ranks No. 110 all-time, below players such as Mark Aguirre, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Kemba Walker.

Russell did far better in win shares, which is understandable considering the Celtics’ success. He topped 10.0 win shares 11 times out of 13 years. His career total of 163.5 ranks 20^th, ahead of Hakeem Olajuwon and Jerry West, but behind players such as Reggie Miller and John Stockton.

Russell did up his game in the playoffs. He topped 20.0 in PER seven times and had a career playoff PER of 19.4. He led the NBA in playoff win shares five times and his 27.8 career postseason win shares ranks No. 9 and undoubtedly would have been higher if he hadn’t played in an era where there were just two playoff rounds.

Another thing that hurts Russell in these rankings is that he played before Box +/- and VORP were calculated. Box +/-, in particular, favors outstanding defensive players. Jason Kidd, Joakim Noah and Bobby Jones are great examples. Kidd ranks No. 28 all-time in Box +/-, Noah is 30^th and Jones 23^rd. Kidd had a career PER of 17.9, Noah 17.6 and Jones 18.2. Russell, by all accounts, revolutionized basketball with his shot blocking. It’s hard to imagine Russell not being in the top five in Box +/- if they could calculate it that far back.

Still, every player ahead of him in this ranking was the focal point of his team’s offense, players who, when the game was on the line, were responsible for getting that winning bucket. Under that definition, Russell was a role player, the greatest role player in NBA history.

Bill Russell bio info
Career	1956-1969
Games	963
Points	15.1
Rebounds	22.5
Assists	4.3
FG Pct.	44.0%
All-Star games	12
NBA MVPs	5
NBA titles	11
Playoff seasons	13
Playoff games	165
Points	16.2
Rebounds	24.9
Assists	4.7
FG Pct.	43.0%
Hall of Fame	1975

Top 100 rankings
	Points	Top 100 ranking
1-year	395.41	17th
5-year	1,934.68	9th
10-year	3,654.63	5th
Career	4,476.27	12th

               

Bill Russell at his peak
1964-1965	Russell	Top 5	Points
PER	19.5	24.91
Win Shares	16.9	15.68
Box +/-	NA	NA
VORP	NA	NA
Total Advanced Stats	36.4	40.59	89.68
Playoff PER	20.9	22.99
Win Shares	3.3	2.30
Box +/-	NA	NA
VORP	NA	NA
Total Advanced Stats	24.2	25.29	93.98
Reg. Season Win %	78.21		78.21
Playoff Win %	66.67		66.67
MVP Voting (75 points)	53/99		40.15
Playoff MVP (25 points)	25.0		25.00
Total Score			395.41

               

Russell’s 10 greatest seasons
1964-1965	395.41
1960-1961	392.75
1959-1960	387.81
1961-1962	387.46
1962-1963	371.26
1958-1959	367.59
1963-1964	365.61
1957-1958	354.68
1965-1966	338.46
1968-1969	293.61

Career winning percentage
	W	L	Pct.
Regular Season	687	263	72.32%
Playoffs	107	58	64.85%