Book report "The Rivalry" by Taylor (Red, Wilt, Bill...)

[Point forward]

I just finished reading "The Rivalry: Russell, Chamberlain and the Golden Age of Basketball" by John Taylor, and it was a fascinating 400 pg read. Here some interesting tidbits, thought it would be nice to share. All opinions are by Taylor, I am just condensing them.

BILL RUSSELL comes over as a proud, cold man. He was a consummate professional on court, super competitive (he vomited before games b/c of tension) and used his only real talent (jumping) to become a GOAT. He also had guard like foot speed and made shotblocking into an art. It was also virtually impossible to get a rebound vs him. As a coach, he was blunt and played simple but effective ball. Stinging from early poverty and always feeling that whites discriminated him, he shunned fans and media –even f/m of the Celtics—to the point ppl accused him of reverse racism. Russell indeed joined the Black Power movement, identified with Malcolm X and saw the US as corrupt and decadent. The main blot on his career is that he called Wilt a malingerer after the 1969 Finals, thus trodding on an opponent who was already down. Also, he retired so suprisingly that Auerbach neither could find a center and a coach that quickly. He became a sort of hermite, but in the end, like all radicals, he realised that he himself was part of the system, and reconciled.

WILT CHAMBERLAIN is described as a spoilt, but warm hearted man child whose athletic abilities are off the charts. He had one problem: he was like Harrison Bergeron, too big and too good, and simply scared the S*** out of anybody who talked to him. B/c everything was easy for him, coaches catered to him, so he never learned authority. He also had his blunt, arrogant, childish moments, which made him fall out with simple, hardworking men like Bill Van Breda Kolff (LA coach) or Franklin Mieuli (Warriors owner). This paved the way for him to become a (very very glorified) loner and coach killer in his career. He also never admitted a weakness, and thus was reluctant to improve his horrible foul shooting, his tendancy to shoot a fadeaway rather than taking it to the hole and his general dedication to the game, as he was always occupied with women and cars. But remember, Blacks in the 1960s were often treated as subhuman, so Wilt enjoyed being exempt from racism. He always came over as larger than life, but he was very successful in his later life, proving that he was street smart.

BOSTON CELTICS are the team of WALTER BROWN, who almost bankrupted himself to get the franchise, but it really paid off. His right hand was of course RED AUERBACH. Red comes over as a streetwise, fiercely protective, arrogant a**hole who goaded refs, opposing coaches and players to hate him instead of focusing on the game. However, Red was also famous for drafting black players, honing talents and for introducing defensive pressure and fast break ball. In the end, he comes over like Sir Alex Ferguson of today: so much emphasis on baiting others that you never realised what a genius he is.

Apart from Russell, he had TOM HEINSOHN, a chainsmoking run-and-gunner high on talent and low on work ethic. Russell never got along with him, but Heinsohn was a clutch shooter and had backbone: he was vital in setting up the first NBA Players Union and for taking a stand vs the almighty owners/skinflints. BOB COUSY was the playmaker of course, a elegant dribbler with extreme peripheral vision who brought street ball elements into the NBA. Also, he was white and felt uncomfortable seeing his black comrades getting heckled racially. JIM LOSCUTOFF is described as the prototypical hardman, low on talent but high on hustle. His stand-in FRANK RAMSEY was the first sixth man, described as a tweener who was too small for SF and too slow for SG, but turned this mismatch into an advantage. SAM JONES is described as the silent assassin, with a silky Tim Duncan like game (plus the bank shot) and clutch like Horry. JOHN HAVLICEK came to Boston as a clueless guy from left field, capitalising on the only 2 talents he had (running and a knack for getting a hot hand once per game), to transform himself into the greatest swingman not named Jordan. KC JONES appears as a smart, polite but immensely shy player, forshadowing his "winner and nice guy" image as a coach. For role players, LARRY SIEGFRIED is described as a very good defender, and CLYDE LOVELLETTE as a "30 yr old juvenile delinquent", the first big man with a super jumpshot but also a high willingness to hit his opponents teeth out. One of his victims was Wilt. Back then, medical treatment was so bad that Wilt's broken teeth became inflamed, got him blood poisoning and may have comprimised his heart and indirectly led to his death.

Part of the Celtics culture was also the legendary discrimination of the opposing clubs. Just ask the LA Lakers, they sometimes found the guest locker rooms at 100F, only the cold water faucets working, the towels wet, the keys to the equipment missing etc etc.

LOS ANGELES LAKERS was the team of Bob Short and later of the media savvy Jack Kent Cooke. Short rescued the floundering franchise by offering ELGIN BAYLOR the then-astronomical salary of 22,500 bucks per year; if Baylor had said no, the Lakers would have failed again and relocated. Super jumper Baylor was the ultimate offensive weapon – he INVENTED moves – and also highly intelligent. He also was the first to take a stand vs racism. The bad thing was that he always had knee trouble (calcifications) even before his big injuries. Baylor and Chamberlain had a alpha male rivalry, not directly hostile but with a lot of testosterone involved. JERRY WEST comes over as the epitome of goodness, a shy boy from left field with a tweety bird voice who made himself into the greatest guard of his time by sheer work ethic. His body was fragile, he played hurt most of his career. His antithesis was hard drinking playboy ROD HUNDLEY, even more talented than West but utterly devoid of hustle. JOHNNY EGAN later was super tiny (5-11) and an utter defensive liability, but had a streaky J. MEL COUNTS comes over as a good role player, a big jumpshooter who could play C (for Wilt) and PF (alongside Wilt). Coach FRED SCHAUS was an ok coach who emphasised a free flowing game. The tragedy of the 1960 Lakers was that they had a plethora of good guards anf forwards, but a big hole at center.

ST LOUIS HAWKS
Believe it or not, there was a time when the Hawks were the 2nd best NBA team. BOB PETTIT was an unstoppable low post scorer, and he was allround: he could rebound, pass, initiate and finish fast breaks, and was never tired. Coach BEN KERNER was a passionate maniac like Auerbach. Kerner and Auerbach loathed each other and even punched each other once. But even with good guys like CLIFF HAGAN and the low post master ED MACAULEY, they were just not enough to beat the Celtics when Russell was there. As a side note, they wanted Wilt badly when he was available in 1964-5 but they simply could not pay him. They were a small market team like SAS today.

All in all, I think it is a fascinating book, You really feel teleported back into the 1960s. The bad things are despotical owners, racist officials, and unruly fansm, but they are overshadowed by awesome performances, legendary players and coaches, pure idealism, and the birth of basketball as we know it today. If you can get it, read it!

[Warspite]

Thankyou very much for your time and insights. Ill take a look at it myself.

I realy appreciate the light shed on the racism, classless fans and horrible owners who for the most part were not interested in winning but making a buck. Red and Russell get all the credit for the Celts success but Walter Browns desire to win and his willingness to sacrifice allowed Red and Russell to be successfull.