Boston Celtics: the 3 eras most deserving of a docuseries

The Bill Russell-era (1956 – 69)

Speaking of not being able to tell the story of the Boston Celtics without a specific player, no tale of the winningest NBA franchise can be told without the inclusion of the game’s winningest player Bill Russell.

Recently, we saw Russ rank in as the fourth greatest player in NBA history according to ESPN, and, frankly, the placement within the top-5 all-time is without a doubt fitting.

Prior to his arrival, the C’s had never won an NBA championship, let alone gone to an NBA Finals. By the time he was done with his playing days, the team had gone to the big game 12 times, won 11 — eight in a row from 1959-66 — and saw the postseason every year.

By the end of his career, on top of his rings, Russell mustered together accolades such as five league MVPs, 12 All-Star selections, 11 All-NBA selections, and registered impressive career averages of 15.1 points, 22.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists on 44 percent shooting from the field.

Outside of the numbers, however, Bill Russell proved to be more than just an all-time athlete.

His courage and strength to withstand the rampant racism that followed him throughout his career, even by fans of the organization, turned him into a true civil rights hero. Legendary figures such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and so many others have rightly sung his praise for his commitment to the game and his approach during a time where prejudice and injustice was not just accepted but, rather, expected.

"“The thing that most affected me was that he approached injustice with passion, but he expressed himself rationally rather than with anger,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote in an email to The Undefeated. “Anger never persuaded anyone to your side, but logic did. That was an approach I tried to adopt.”"

Russell not only proved that an African American can hold his own against the, then, predominantly white sport of basketball but simply dominate as well, thus paving the way for future generations.

From his everlasting excellence as an athlete and even as a coach — won titles as a player-coach from 1967-69 — to his impact as a pioneer in regard to furthering the integration of professional sports, it can certainly be stated that, aside from being a great winner (arguably the greatest) Bill Russell was/ is a great human being.

His story and legacy deserves to be screamed from the highest mountain, the tallest building, and through the world’s loudest megaphone… but we’d settle for a documentary-style telling of his tale.

If any era of Boston Celtics basketball warrants an in-depth series, it is Bill Russell’s historical 13-year tenure, and his forever lasting impact on the sports world.

"“I hope that one of the things that will come from this Courage Award is that the young athletes today will recognize this didn’t start with Kaepernick and [Michael] Bennett and those guys. It didn’t start with me and [Tommie] Smith and [John] Carlos and Muhammad Ali. It started at the turn of the 20th century, went through Jackie Robinson, and the heir to that whole Robinson struggle was Bill Russell.” –  Harry Edwards"