Russ offered Red a job as Celtics head coach in 1966.
Bill Russell said "Hell, no!"
I watched you go through what? Russell wrote in Red and Me that he didn't want any part of that.
Russell won two titles despite an aging Celtics roster and an unfamiliar role as an under-the-radar coach.
The most common initial response when the idea for a player- coach is similar to that of Russell is a variation of "hell no."
Max disagreed with Williams and said he liked the idea. You could have a coach.
Yes, why not?
This is not the 1960s with Bill Russell, according to Williams.
Why can't it be?
Javale is also a fan of the idea.
I used to hear that Bill Russell was a player-coach, and I asked Shannon how he was.
Some people in the Lakers leadership circles have considered the idea. On his On the Ball show, he elaborated on a text he received in November.
It has been suggested to the Lakers' governor and majority owner, that the team should have a player-coach in the future.
The NBA media and fans are very appreciative of those two points. There is a third reason. The Lakers have a good chance to win another championship if King James is player-coach.
There are four reasons why.
When he's not on the court, he can often be seen coaching from the sideline, but Javale said that he's also a coach on the court.
When he plays the games, he is thinking the game as well as two other players. I think he is more of a coach than a player when it comes to the cerebral part of the game.
The cerebral part of the game is aided by a photographic memory. Both former coaches and players think that he is a basketball genius.
Iman Shumpert, a former teammate of his, said it was unbelievable. One of them is James.
This generation is Bill Russell. Russell is the smartest player ever to play the game according to former Knick, Rhodes Scholar and Senator Bill Bradley.
Giving the player full control is a good way to reduce conflicts in strategy. Russell had three good years left.
Jay Williams expressed concern about the added workload of the player.
Both Auerbach and Russell had the same concern. The player-coach model was not the first option because it compromised the player and the coach.
Both men initially preferred hiring past retired Celtics, but for various reasons, including the fact that Auerbach had promised Russell he wouldn't hire any coach without his approval. Russell accepted the offer after rejecting a couple of head coach names from outside the organization.
The workload concern is not new. There are new assistant coaches in the NBA.
The Lakers head coach had eight of them.
Coach Russell did not have any in 1966.
It showed early on. Russell made early coaching mistakes that would make Skip Bayless explode if it were his son.
K. C. Jones played 46 minutes in Russell's very first game. The Celtics won. He left out John and Sam in the fourth quarter. Even Sam Jones, Russell's career-long Hall-of- Fame running mate, expressed his concerns about the player-coach concept.
Coach Russell made changes. By the middle of the year, he made him an assistant coach to help with in-game decisions.
The Celtics won 60 games in Russell's first year, but lost to the 76ers in the NBA finals. No shame there.
Before games are even played, the coach would have no shortage of assistant coaches to delegate specific responsibilities. If he wants to change the patterns based on the flow of the game, then he can. He often does. It would be with full authority.
It is easy to understand why NBA Player-Coaches have gone the way of the dinosaur.
In the 1960s, Hall of Fame Players such as Bob Cousy, who played for the Cincinnati Royals, were mostly shells of their former selves as player-coaches. The NBA's Player-Coach Era was mostly unsuccessful because the players couldn't coach themselves to be five years younger. It makes sense to have a full-time coach if your player-coach is replaceable.
The Sonics had a 30-win roster, which improved all three years as a player-coach, but only one veteran player-coach, who played at a high level, was given a 30-win roster.
Bill Russell had a unique situation. Russell could still dominate even if he was older.
Russell averaged 19.3 rebound in his last season in the NBA, good for third in the league and ahead of younger Hall of Fame centers like Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld, and Walt Bellamy.
Player-coaches are usually a bad idea in any era.
Bill Russell was an exception then.
Bill Russell won his final two seasons on an aging team that never won their own division.
Russell's Championship Celtics in 1968 and 1969 weren't the Auerbach-Russell Celtics of 1957.
The luxury of the most dominant roster and past Hall of Fame teammates was gone. Russell and Sam Jones were both in their mid-thirties.
The 1968 Celtics were the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win the title.
Boston's come-from-behind triumph over Philadelphia was considered one of the greatest accomplishments of the Celtics dynasty.
The 1969 Celtics beat three teams who had home-court advantage and went on to upset the Lakers.
Bill Russell is the only new coach that these Celtics will win with.
The Lakers should pay attention to history because if an older, healthy, and key off-season roster addition can win another title, they will also do it the hard way. They would need to maximize their veteran savvy, smarts, and every strategic advantage to manipulate playoff match-ups against younger stronger teams.
The most qualified coach to pull that off is James.
He will be 38 years old next year and there isn't much time for new coach experimentations.
The Lakers would have to make an offer, and the King would have to accept it.
Both parties can learn from the Celtics.
Russell cited his own change of heart in Red and Me.
I concluded that I had Red over a barrel and shouldn't leave him in that position. I called him up and said, "Okay, Red." I will take the job.
He said that you made the right choice. Bill Russell is the one who should be motivating.
Who better to motivate a player than him?
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