#BestNBAPlayer: 1957-58 This is the second year of the Celtics dynasty, with Boston finishing first in the NBA at 49-23. But Bill Russell got hurt in the Finals, and the St. Louis Hawks won the championship in six games — one of only two years in Russell's career when he didn't win the title. - ThreadSky

dallinturner.bsky.social • 4 days ago

#BestNBAPlayer: 1957-58

This is the second year of the Celtics dynasty, with Boston finishing first in the NBA at 49-23. But Bill Russell got hurt in the Finals, and the St. Louis Hawks won the championship in six games — one of only two years in Russell's career when he didn't win the title.

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dallinturner.bsky.social•4 days ago

Bill Russell averaged 16.6 points and a league-high 22.7 rebounds per game en route to winning his first MVP award. Naturally, he also led Boston in Win Shares with 11.3. This is the first time my Winner Award has coincided with the actual MVP.

dallinturner.bsky.social•4 days ago

Bizarrely, Russell was on the All-NBA Second Team this season. (This happened to him several times in his career.) Joining Russell in the All-Star Game were Bill Sharman and Bob Cousy, who both made the All-NBA First Team and received MVP votes. And Cousy once again led the league in assists.

richardmarxist.bsky.social•4 days ago

I think they still had the rule about only allowing one center on the first team. NBA got rid of it after Jokic was MVP runner-up but was listed on the second team.

dallinturner.bsky.social•4 days ago

Yeah, it certainly happened a lot with Wilt Chamberlain. In this season, though, it appears that Bob Pettit was listed as the center, which is a bit strange as he usually was a power forward.

richardmarxist.bsky.social•4 days ago

I was just looking at the all-NBA teams in the 60s and it’s almost comical how Russell and Wilt had such a lock on the first and 2nd teams.

dallinturner.bsky.social•4 days ago

Bill Russell was born in Louisiana, but grew up in Oakland, California. He attended the University of San Francisco and was drafted by the St. Louis Hawks with the second pick but traded him to Boston for Ed Macauley, who requested to return to St. Louis to be with his sick son.

dallinturner.bsky.social•4 days ago

After being drafted, Russell had to delay his entrance to the NBA so he could compete in the 1956 Olympics in Australia, where he naturally won a gold medal. The Games were held in November and December, which is why Russell only played 48 games his rookie year.

dallinturner.bsky.social•4 days ago

A slight spoiler alert: Bill Russell is going to show up a LOT on my Winner Award list. So I'm not going to recap his entire career here. For now, I'll just point out the NBA has retired his number across the entire league and I can think of no player who better deserves that honor.

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