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R.I.P. Bill Russell

citay said:
Zirg said:
I've read a lot of positive things in the past week about Russell, and I know he took a lot of crap, but nobody seems to want to acknowledge that he was quite the A-hole right back. Jackie Robinson took as much crap, and probably much more, but I never heard one story about Jackie whining about it. Russell got paid 24K as a rookie (1956'), only 1K less than all-star Cousy and was the first 100K b-baller/yr ever, so he wasn't slighted financially. Jackie Robinson's rookie pay was only 5k in 1947, but he never whined about it. Russell refused to sign autographs for white kids. Fact! He admitted it, but we should admire him? To quote him:"You owe the public the same it owes you, nothing! I refuse to smile and be nice to the kiddies." He WAS a pioneer, and he dealt with a lot of crap, but he was also a jerk. There, I said it.

One thing to point out here that I'm sure Russell and all players of his era were and still are bitter about: The timing of their births!
Just for the hell of it, I plugged Russell's 1956 salary into a CPI Inflation calculator. In today's dollars, Russell made $265,353 a year.
Okay, not a bad salary--but not the generational wealth that today's players command.
The big difference of course is the incredible TV contracts that didn't exist during Russell's playing days.
But remember too, there was no free agency in Russell's day. That didn't begin in the NBA until 1976, thanks to the "reserve" clause, which stands today as further testimony to the many godawful laws that the Supreme Court has sanctified throughout history. And which meant that a player was bound to one team forever and ever, unless the club gave him his "unconditional release." The Celtics weren't about to do that with Russell, but imagine the salary he would have commanded had there been free agency his day, TV contracts or not.

Thanks, Andy Messersmith.
 
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