The Boston Celtics certainly have no shortage of candidates to consider when trying to nail down exactly which of the storied ball club’s many stars is the team’s greatest Olympic basketball player of all time. But one name in particular stands above the rest, a towering figure on and off the court, and quite literally.
This player was the choice of Bleacher Report NBA analyst Andy Bailey, who also came to the only logical assessment of the Celtics’ Olympic G.O.A.T. — and of course it is none other than William Felton Russell. Bill Russell was an Olympic-class athlete, and not just in basketball, where he would win gold in 1956.
Russell would have competed as a high jumper had he not been permitted to play for Team USA in basketball, and may well have medaled there too.
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“Throughout his NBA career, Russell was obviously known more (or at least as much) for his defense, but he led the 1956 Olympic team in scoring at 14.1 points,” writes Bailey.
“And his leadership in that tournament proved prognostic. The summer of 1956 was Russell’s last before joining the ranks of the NBA, where he won 11 championships.”
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