All at once, the puzzle pieces of Russell’s confounding personality started fitting together. He didn’t score many points because his team didn’t need him to. He didn’t care about statistics or personal accolades and didn’t mind letting teammates take the credit. “It was never about contracts or money,” he once said. “I never paid attention to MVP awards or how many endorsements I had lined up. Only how many titles we won.” Russell devoted himself instead to defense, and to doing whatever grunt work fell through the cracks. It occurred to me that Russell’s radically defensive, team-oriented
All at once, the puzzle pieces of Russell’s confounding personality started fitting together. He didn’t score many points because his team didn’t need him to. He didn’t care about statistics or personal accolades and didn’t mind letting teammates take the credit. “It was never about contracts or money,” he once said. “I never paid attention to MVP awards or how many endorsements I had lined up. Only how many titles we won.” Russell devoted himself instead to defense, and to doing whatever grunt work fell through the cracks. It occurred to me that Russell’s radically defensive, team-oriented approach to basketball and his prickly, credit-deflecting posture off the court were two sides of the same coin. His resistance to basketball awards was a rejection of the universal instinct to separate individuals from the collective. His brand of leadership had nothing to do with the outside world or how he was perceived. It was entirely focused on the internal dynamics of his team. So long as the Celtics won titles, he didn’t mind if nobody noticed his contributions. Russell’s teammates didn’t think he was complicated and aloof; to them he was more like an action hero: simple, consistent, pure of heart. “Russell was the winningest person I’ve ever been around,” his teammate Tom Heinsohn said. “He had helped us out so many times, and we believed in him so much, there was a communion of spirit and a belief in each other.” Bill Russell wasn’t a defective person, as some suspected him to...
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This is what Andy Grove called "the right kind of ambition."
