Bill Russell was back blogging again yesterday. He focused on the San Antonio Spurs and Tim Duncan. As usual he had some great insight:
Russell praised the Spurs for their passing ability, which he views as the key skill in today's NBA:
Somewhere Paul Pierce is nodding his head, hoping that Rajon Rondo is legit. As Tommy Heinsohn likes to say, Rondo could add a few seasons to Pierce's career by making offense easier for him.
Meanwhile, Russell also speaks highly of Tim Duncan's movement without the ball, passing ability, and overall contributions on both ends of the court. It is important to note that Russell did not call Duncan a great player. This is something I have noticed with Russell. He is reluctant to call anyone great. In fact I have heard him say that he has only seen a few great players. Contrast that with people today, myself included. I call Paul Pierce great. Well if Duncan is not great, who is from this generation? For the record Russell described Duncan as the following:
Finally Russell praises the Spurs team in general:
This is what worries me about the Celtics. There is this assumption that if they obtain the #1 or #2 pick they will contend for the title within a year or two. Granted the east is so terrible that they should be a playoff team for sure. But I worry that they are just a random assortment of talent. How will everyone fit together? That seems to be the fatal flaw with Danny Ainge's "gather as much young talent as possible and then trade some of it" plan. Well that and the fact that everybody else values that talent less. Contrast that with the Spurs roster, which was built to win. And to top it all off I do not trust Doc Rivers to define roles, set a rotation, and overall make this team a winner.