Let’s take things back to the days of the PF Flyers and poodle skirts; to a time when I Love Lucy ruled the television world, or when the Cadillac Eldorado shined in its exquisite beauty, this marked the beginning of Bill Russell’s reign over the basketball world. Russell a native of Oakland, C.A., went from a complacent and obedient young man, to the winningest player in the history of the NBA. His key to success: complete domination over all opponents.
Russell, at 6 feet 10 inches and 220 pounds, played 13 seasons in the NBA, all with the Boston Celtics. He was the 2nd pick in the 1956 NBA Draft behind Maurice Strokes, and in a draft day trade, the St. Louis Hawks sent him to the Boston Celtics in exchange for 6-time All-Star, Ed Macauley. Little did anyone know that Russell would lead the Celtics to 11 championships in his 13 seasons, win 5 regular season Most Valuable Player awards (MVP), and make 12 All-Star appearances. Russell finished his career with an astounding 14,522 points, 21,620 rebounds, and 4,100 assists.
During All-Star weekend, Bill Russell was bestowed with the honor of having the NBA Finals MVP award named after him. A month after losing his wife to cancer and 2 days after his 75th birthday, Russell found himself in tears while he accepted a gift many can only dream of, "This is one of my proudest moments in basketball, because I determined early in my career the only important statistic in basketball is the final score. And so I dedicated my career to playing, to make sure as often as possible we were always on the positive side of the final score.”
All I can say is "Salute the man in green." Russell was one of the best big men in the history of the NBA and also one of the classiest players to don a Boston Celtics jersey. To win so many championships in a hostile environment and era, and still keep your beliefs and morals still in tact is amazing feat. One should be honored to be awarded the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP award.
As the trade deadline approaches, teams have been busy making their rounds and trying to either find that missing piece or dump salaries to clear up salary cap space. Big news tonight as the trade between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Orleans Hornets, involving Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith, and Tyson Chandler has been rescinded. Chandler did not pass his physical so Wilcox and Smith will be returning to the Thunder and Chandler will return to the Hornets. I'm sure Hornet executives are besides themselves right now as they will virtually be unable to trade Chandler before the deadline, unless they are in their offices now, calling around the league. If the Hornets are unable to dump Chandler's salary, they will undoubtedly be in the luxury tax and lose even more money than what they have already lost.
In other trade news, Sacramento traded John Salmons and Brad Miller to the Chicago Bulls for Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni, Cedric Simmons, and Michael Ruffin. The Kings then went on to trade Ruffin to Portland for Ike Diogu and waived Quincy Douby and newly acquired Sam Cassell. Do I see any of these trades helping Sacramento? No, but hey, they are in a severe rebuilding stage. They were obviously looking to dump some of their most expensive contracts and bring in some young, new, and cheaper faces. The Bulls got a little better with the trade as they were able to add Miller and Salmons, two experienced veterans, to a young pool of talent. Portland's move confused me but I know they are among the teams looking to borrow from the new $175 million loan the NBA is planning on taking out, so I'm assuming they were looking to clear up salary cap space as well. For Boston Celtics fans, expect Cassell to wait the required 30 days for waivers to clear and resign with the Celtics. He will once again, be held out until the playoffs to provide more experience for the Celtics' guard rotation.
Could this be the last time we will see Tracy McGrady in a Houston Rockets jersey? After news that he withheld the severity of his knee injury from the Rockets, it quite certainly could be. Earlier in the week there was news that McGrady had been seeking more opinions about his knee but in no way did he ever indicate that he could be facing season-ending knee surgery. It was announced on McGrady's website on Feb. 17 that he would be undergoing season-ending microfracture surgery on his knee. His announcement immediately silenced all rumors of a possible trade sending McGrady to New Jersey and Vince Carter to Houston.
Rockets head coach Rick Adelman, took his frustrations out on the media Wednesday morning after practice, "There should be a protocol, there should be a procedure where we have a chance to sit down and talk about the situation and not be announced in the press. I don't know why that happened, why he did that. Certainly, that is not the way things should be handled."
McGrady has already missed 47 games this season due to an ankle and knee injury. In recent years, microfracture surgery has produced mixed results, Phoenix Suns forward Amare Stoudemire has returned a better player than he was before, while Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas has played only 13 games between the start of last season and this season.
That's it for this installment. Expect to see another tomorrow, as the trade deadline would have passed and we will be discussing any other deals that take place throughout the night. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!
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