1) A 1955 article pointed out that Bill Russell had a higher standing reach than 7'3" barefoot Swede Halbrook.
As for his standing reach, its undetermined. There was however this 7'3" white dude named Swede Halbrook from Oregon and in a photo-op before jumpball in an NCAA regional finals, he raised the ball as high as he could but Russell was still able to place his hands on top of the ball Swede was holding up.
A lot of coaches foremost among them is Red Auerbach maintains that a basketball player's true height is not from his feet to the top of his head but rather from his feet to the tip of his upstretched arms.
Bill beating Swede in a jump ball:
2) There was a story about how Bill Russell had a higher standing reach than 7'2" barefoot Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
'Rumor has it that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was 7 feet 2 inches without shoes, and over 7 foot 3 with shoes, once stood next to Bill Russell, holding a basketball. He then looked at Bill and said, "Hey, can you touch the ball without standing on your toes?" He then held the ball as high up above his head as he could, asking Bill to try to touch the ball without standing on his toes, and which point Bill walked over, and standing completely flatfooted, stretched on of his arms up as high as he could... and placed the palm of his hand over the TOP of the basketball (which Kareem's hand was underneath).'
3) There was a story about how Bill Russell had a higher standing reach than Ralph Sampson, who wasn't 7'4" but around Kareem's height. The anecdote came from a Sacramento Kings announcer back when Bill Russell was coach. I believe it was Jerry Reynolds.
The third has been confirmed multiple times by the poster SNPA:
SNPA wrote:I can confirm this story is told by Jerry Reynolds. It’s from Bill’s time as Head Coach of the Kings. According to Jerry it happened in Bill’s office and Bill asked Sampson to standup and put his hand in the air. Bill stood next to him and put his hand up. Jerry says most of Bill’s hand was over the top of Sampson’s hand. Jerry says that’s when he realized Bill wasn’t like other 6’11’’ guys and things started making sense around his dominance.
SNPA wrote:I’ll tell the story again.
Jerry Renyolds was Russell’s assistant coach in Sac (also head coach before and after him). Jerry is a lifer. Proof? He goes back to riding on the garbage truck with Bird. Literally. He rode on the truck with him.
Jerry tells a story of trading for Ralph Sampson and Russell having him into the office when he arrived. At some point Russell asked Sampson to stand up and put his hand in the air. Standing next to him Russell put his hand in the air too, it was almost the full hand higher.
I believe all three to be truthful, especially given the fourth anecdote I've just come across from a very reliable source. A Washington Post article from 2022 written by Thomas Boswell detailed a story about a Russell-Chamberlain photo op that occurred when Wilt came into the NBA.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/05/bill-russell-death-championships/
In a famous anecdote, Russell met his perfect foil — Chamberlain — for a photo op when Wilt entered the NBA. The photographers wanted a side-by-side, the subtext being that the chiseled, 7-1, 275-pound Wilt was Goliath to the lean David of Russell.
Then Russell asked for a shot with both holding their hands as far as they could reach over their heads. With his long arms, Russell had a fingertip advantage. Bill was taller in some basketball sense — and as a champion high jumper in college, Russell probably had a vertical edge.
Anybody who thinks Russell didn’t “play big enough” for this century is probably wrong.
A little on Boswell's credentials:
Tom Boswell was a Washington Post sports columnist from 1984 until retiring in 2021. He started at The Post in 1969 as a copy aide, and he spent 12 years as a general-assignment reporter, covering baseball, golf, college basketball, tennis, boxing and local high school sports.
Russell broke into the NBA in 1956, the same year I became a sports-addicted child. The Celtics dominated the NBA’s weekly national telecast, so Washingtonians got to see him often. That he became one of the most prominent athletes to take strong political stands in the 1960s — and through his life — only added to my admiration then and keeps his memory powerfully relevant now.
I didn’t go to college in New England because the Celtics were on TV there. But, considering what I got to see from 1965 to ’69, that might have been a good reason.
I believe this story because I've read old forum posts talking about how Wilt mentioned in interviews that Russell and Thurmond had greater standing reaches than him. But there's only footage from one of them about Thurmond.
Wilt Chamberlain's standing reach was measured at 9'6" barefoot, which would be 9'7.25" in the standard-sized 1.25" shoes players tend to wear today. That's more or less Rudy Gobert's measurement from the 2013 NBA Draft to put things into perspective.
To think Russell has a most likely slight edge over Wilt here despite being several inches shorter is remarkable. And it might surprise many because Chamberlain's wingspan was three to four inches greater. But the wingspan measurement includes shoulder width and Bill was noticeably narrow in the clavicles while Wilt was quite broad.
Look at that photo of Shaq, Wilt, and Ewing pre-game to get an idea of his frame width. Bill was built more like KD, Bosh, or Jermaine O'Neal.
We do have official hand length measurements and Wilt's is 9.5" while Bill's is 10.5". Russell's wingspan is all in his arms and hands. Combined with a short neck, small head, and very flexible shoulders and you get a 9'7"+ standing reach on a 6'9.5" to 6'10" guy. Nate Thurmond's probably the only guy who has Bill beat when it comes to standing reach.
It suddenly makes sense how Russell was able to dominate defensively. Add freakish functional size and GOAT-level athleticism together with A1 basketball intelligence and intangibles.
