Carl Braun was not one of those people. The veteran Knicks guard had played against each of the pivot greats during the exhibition season, and he figured he knew what made Bill Russell tick after watching him play from the moment he entered the NBA, fresh from winning an Olympic gold medal, in December 1956.
“This challenge by Chamberlain is going to make [Russell] better than ever,” Braun forecast. “He’s got a lot of pride, and nobody is going to knock him off that All-Star team without a fight.”
Red Auerbach couldn’t have said it better. Nor could Bill Russell, of course. You want to talk about an A-1 prophecy, start with this one: The Bill Russell reign of terror was only beginning.
But so was the greatest individual subplot in American team sports history. For Wilt Chamberlain was every bit as gifted as his advocates believed. He would rewrite the NBA record book many times over. He would become the greatest individual force in the sport’s history. And he would prod Bill Russell into playing some of his very best basketball. Absent Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell would have been great. But because of Wilt Chamberlain’s terrifying presence, Bill Russell became, as the old Army ad said, all that he could be.