Sports

Bill Russell Roasted LeBron James At All-Star Game Over NBA Mount Rushmore Comments

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The chatter originated when Steve Smith asked LeBron James what his NBA Mount Rushmore would be. Put on the spot, the Miami Heat superstar named Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson almost immediately, paused to say how extremely difficult his task was, and finally landed on Oscar Robertson as his fourth player. Pressed on whether he should be included in the top four after his career concludes, James replied yes.

Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell has a strong case to be included on the fictional NBA Mount Rushmore. According to TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager, Russell approached James at All-Star weekend to discuss his recent comments.

“Before the game,” Sager said on the telecast, as featured in the video below, “LeBron James was talking to Bill Russell and Bill said, ‘Hey, thank you for leaving me off your Mount Rushmore.’ He said ‘I’m glad you did. Basketball is a team game, it’s not for individual honors. I won back-to-back state championships in high school, back-to-back NCAA championships in college, I won an NBA championship my first year in the league, an NBA championship in my last year, nine in between. And that, Mr. James, is etched in stone.”

Boom. Roasted. Facialized. Emasculated. Eviscerated. Embarrassed. Schooled. Smoked.
There are dozens of other words that could be used to describe what Bill Russell just did to LeBron James this All-Star weekend, but none of them really do it justice. Russell is everything that is right about sports, and LeBron is everything that is wrong about them. The Celtics big man is the consummate winner. That’s literally all he ever gave a shit about his entire life. LeBron is by nature a loser. He can’t help it. He couldn’t win on the Cavs so he brought his talents to South Beach, where the referees helped the Heat win titles in his second and third years there. He joined two other established All-Stars, and he still doesn’t win the second ring if Ray Allen doesn’t literally bail his ass out with that miraculous shot in Game 6. You know, the shot that most Heat fans missed because they had left early.
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Bill Russell won five MVP’s. Think he gives a shit? Nope. All about those 11 rings baby! Russell had 40 rebounds in three separate NBA Finals games, two of which were Game 7’s. I repeat: 40 FREAKING REBOUNDS in a single game. Do you understand how insane that is? Do you understand how good 20 rebounds is? And he did it when it counted most. On several occasions. Meanwhile, LeBron’s career until Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2012 was defined by turtling in the biggest of moments. Time and time again we saw him pass the ball in a critical situation so that the blame wouldn’t be placed on him after he missed the game winning shot. Think Russell would ever do that? Nope.

The LeBron defenders will tell you that he couldn’t win in Cleveland because he didn’t have enough players around him. LOL. That’s cute. Who did Russell play with? An aging Bob Cousy? Yea, he really had it made. LeBron gets to play in a league where teams like the Milwaukee Bucks compete with a dozen other teams to try and lose every game. The talent is completely diluted amongst the 30 NBA franchises.

Russell played in an era where the league had a grand total of 8 teams. That means of course that each team was therefore filled with more talent, and on a nightly basis he was challenged in a way LeBron never could against the Washington Generals he gets to beat up on.

Oh yea, and you know all those Celtics banners that hang in the TD Garden? None of those were there before Russell. They hadn’t even MADE a Finals until he arrived, despite having the Cooz and Red Aurbach. He literally made the Celtics the greatest basketball team in the history of the NBA.

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The LeBron defenders will tell you that Bill Russell didn’t have to go against the type of defense that he sees on a nightly basis. Well, because there were only eight teams in the league back then, he had to face off against Wilt Chamberlain once every seven games. The two went head to head 142 times in his career. The Bird-Magic NBA rivalry was all of 37 games. During Russell’s career the Celtics never lost more than five consecutive games. And when they did lose five in a row in 1969 Russell was out with an injury. The first season after Russell retired, the Celtics went from 48 to 34 wins and missed the playoffs.

Don’t believe me? Ask Wilt Chamberlain what he thinks:

“That team (the Celtics) wasn’t so great until he got there. Once he got there, he (Bill Russell) was the piece that they were looking for. A lot of people have said to me, “Wilt, what if you had that team? Boy, you would never have lost!” NOT TRUE. If I was on their team, I would be taking away from some of what the other guys were doing. Everybody had a role on that team. (Tom) Heinsohn wouldn’t be getting the same number of shots, nor would (Bill) Sharman, nor would (Bob) Cousy because I’d be shooting the ball a whole lot more. Bill Russell gave them just what they needed. I would’ve given them a little bit more in certain things, which I think would have made the team NOT AS GOOD. I’ve always believed that he made that team exactly what it was supposed to be. And you couldn’t get any better.” 

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

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You know how Bill Russell would’ve answered that question from Steve Smith? He would’ve said as follows:

“That’s a really stupid fucking question Steve.”

That’s because all Bill Russell cared about was winning. Unlike the collection of jackasses that were on display at the All-Star game, Russell is from a generation of players that never once even considered imaginary lists of the four best players of all time. First of all, LeBron knows absolutely nothing about the history of the game he plays and he showed it with his list. The first three guys he named all were playing in his childhood. They were what he remembers. He thinks people like Bill Russell and Bob Cousy played in an era of short-shorts and black and white TV so they obviously can’t hold his jock strap. He might be right. They were not as talented or roided up strong as he is. But they were better team players, and they’re overall just better people.

So yea LeBron, keep thinking that you’re even remotely close to being in the same conversation as Bill Russell. Here in Boston, where basketball and sports in general actually matter, you have us rolling on the ground laughing.

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4 Comment(s)
  • Biggie Archibald
    February 18, 2014 at 12:39 pm

    In 1969 Bill Russell and Johnny Havlicek were All Stars. It was the first and only time in Russell’s career in which the Celtics sent fewer than three guys to the game.

    • Biggie Archibald
      February 18, 2014 at 12:46 pm

      Lebron knows no nba history so he’s probably never even heard of Bill Sharman or Sam Jones.

      • February 18, 2014 at 8:56 pm

        He probably doesn’t even know about Dino Radja, Joe Klein, and the General either.

  • SUL
    February 18, 2014 at 2:25 am

    The Nba Finals MVP is named after Bill Russel, end of discussion

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