GOAT Index

Two legends at a time. Thousands of votes. One ranking.

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Bill Russell: the case for the GOAT

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    Bill Russell: the case for the GOAT

    Center · Celtics · Born 12 February 1934, Monroe, Louisiana, USA · Died 2022 · Career 1956–1969

    A defensive center who anchored the Boston Celtics dynasty with shot-blocking and rebounding, and became the NBA's first Black head coach while still playing.

    Career highlights

    Why Bill Russell could be the GOAT

    Eleven championships in 13 seasons is the greatest winning record in team sports, and the last two came as player-coach. Russell won every winner-take-all game he played, and he changed basketball by making defence a weapon. If the GOAT is about winning, the debate ends with him.

    What fans say

    Bill Russell is #27 of 30 in the fan ranking, with a 1–6 head-to-head record from 157 NBA votes. See the full NBA GOAT ranking

    Bill Russell head to head

    How the ranking works. Every head-to-head vote is a result, like a game. The standings use a Bradley–Terry model, the same idea behind chess ratings: beating a highly rated legend counts for more than beating a long shot. Ratings are shown on a chess-style scale centred on 1500.

    One vote per matchup per person. If you see a pairing again in another session your new answer replaces the old one, so nobody can stuff the ballot by repeating a matchup.

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