Bill Russell Quotes
Playing thirteen years for the Boston Celtics, Bill Russell won five NBA Most Valuable Player Awards and an absolutely amazing eleven NBA Championships over that span.
Russell’s shot-blocking and man-to-man coverage skills were a major reason for the dominance of the Celtics during the late 1950’s and most of the 1960’s.
Bill Russell also received the Most Valuable Player award of the 1963 All-Star game.
Therefore, as part of our Superhero Basketball Quotes Series, we bring you “Bill Russell Quotes”.
When you’re done enjoying the following Bill Russell quotes, you can visit our Great Basketball Quotes for hundreds of more basketball quotes.
Now, on to the Bill Russell Quotes!
Bill Russell Quotes (1-5)
“Durability is part of what makes a great athlete.”“The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.”“Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.”“What’s more important than who’s going to be the first black manager is who’s going to be the first black sports editor of the New York Times.”“The last five or six days, I’ve been running. The last two days, I’ve been running pretty hard. Everybody’s got to be someplace.”Bill Russell Quotes (6-10)
“Most people have a harder time letting themselves love than finding someone to love them.”“The morale and the camaraderie that we had for one another earlier in the year is starting to come under duress because of all the losses. Some of the guys are feeling the pressure now from the last year when they were not successful.”“I think what has happened to our basketball team, we’ve been badly distracted. They’re not reading too many positive things in the paper.”“After I played him for the first time, I said ‘Let’s see. He’s four or five inches taller. He’s 40 or 50 pounds heavier. His vertical leap is at least as good as mine. He can get up and down the floor as well as I can. And he’s smart. The real problem with all this is I have to show up.” – on Wilt Chamberlain“We couldn’t sustain it. And they got a lot of kids that can shoot. We just couldn’t close out well enough.”Bill Russell Quotes (11-12)
“I think that David Stern is probably the greatest commissioner that any sport has ever had in the history of this country.”“People say it was the greatest individual rivalry they’ve ever seen. I agree with that. Let me assure you that if either Wilt’s or Russ’ coach had ever told one of them he couldn’t guard the other guy, he would have lost that player forever.” 
