Russell’s magnificent Documentary “Legend” tainted by players scripted insincerity and hypocrisy

While watching the near excellent Bill Russell Documentary on Netflix, a thought came to mind.

While having watched several different docs on Bill’s life and career, there wasn't a lot that I didn't already know.
However, there were instances within the current documentary that brought to light (as well as vintage footage) a number of things that I had not read about or seen in the past.

Another question came to mind when younger players, many that were not even born when Russell was playing were giving their impressions of Russell as a player, coach, team leader and social activist.
I thought to myself, these players are talking about Russ as though they actually did some homework on his life.
It is my opinion that only a few, Kareem, Bill Bradley and Jerry West etc. can talk about Russell first hand. The rest, Shaq,(who tends to lie just a wee bit a lot of the time)  Tatum and Curry were the recipients of one hell of a script written for them and
A crash acting course in which they passed with flying colors.
One Steph Curry had a lot to say about Russ’ personality and recognized and lauded Russ’ social activism.

Then I came across this recent article regarding the little mousey face hoopster and his wife’s attempts to, in their own little way block affordable housing in their neighborhood.
Hypocrite is the first word that comes to mind.
Decide for yourself.

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/atherton-backs-curry-opposed-housing-17755551.php

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/steph-currys-california-nimby-housing-scandal-complicated-rcna69408

Opinion
By Ned Resnikoff, policy director for California YIMBY
Atherton, California, is a prosperous little town in Silicon Valley, a few miles south of Meta’s headquarters. The town’s average home value, according to Zillow, is just shy of $7.5 million; median household income exceeds a quarter of a million dollars per year. It’s one of the poshest ZIP codes in a state riven by homelessness, housing insecurity and wealth inequality.
So when Atherton residents oppose the development of new housing in their backyards, they hardly make sympathetic figures. Local homeowners Steph and Ayesha Curry learned as much recently when they wrote a letter to the town opposing a multifamily housing development at 23 Oakwood Blvd., the lot abutting their property.
In theory, I could hardly ask for a better foil than an Atherton multimillionaire who doesn’t want to live next to some apartments.
I’m a professional YIMBY (meaning “Yes in My Back Yard”). I spend most of every day thinking about how California can relieve its housing crisis by building more homes. In theory, I could hardly ask for a better foil than an Atherton multimillionaire who doesn’t want to live next to some apartments.

But this particular story isn’t quite so simple. For one thing, Steph Curry is the starting point guard for the Golden State Warriors, one of the greatest basketball players ever, and something of a secular saint to the people of the Bay Area. For another, the Currys raised some not unreasonable privacy concerns in their letter opposing the project.
“We hesitate to add to the ‘not in our backyard’ (literally) rhetoric, but we wanted to send a note before today’s meeting,” they wrote, according to Complex. “Safety and privacy for us and our kids continues to be our top priority and one of the biggest reasons we chose Atherton as home.” 


The issue, the Currys clarified in the letter, is that residents of 23 Oakwood would have clear sightlines into their property. For most people, that would be a trivial concern; unless you live in a truly remote area, odds are you close the blinds before you change out of your clothes. But Steph Curry’s fame means he faces more attempts to invade his privacy — and his family’s privacy — than the rest of us. If I were a mega-celebrity trying to give my children a relatively normal life, I’d probably do everything in my power to make sure people couldn’t peer into my house. To that end, the Currys proposed a compromise: “taller fencing and landscaping to block sight lines onto our family’s property.”
No doubt part of the reason the Currys’ objection to the 23 Oakwood proposal made national headlines is the convenient framing: It’s very easy to dunk on (sorry) wealthy NIMBY celebrities who talk a good game about social justice while policing wealth segregation in their own neighborhood. The Currys’ acknowledgement of their reluctance to “add to the ‘not in our backyard’ (literally) rhetoric” shows they realized the narrative is basically a layup. (Sorry again.)
The wealthiest enclaves have been the worst offenders when it comes to blocking new housing development.
But even if the Currys were engaged in some more clear-cut villainy — like their neighbor, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who, despite being worth nearly $2 billion, is apparently apoplectic at the possibility that any multifamily housing in Atherton would “MASSIVELY decrease our home values” — they wouldn’t be the real problem.
The real problem is structural. It has little to do with the Currys and everything to do with the anti-housing land-use policies of tony suburbs like Atherton.
Consider the cause for Atherton’s insane home values. It helps that the homes are very big and very nice. But even more important is the scarcity of those homes.
Atherton is in the center of one of the world’s richest and most economically productive regions: the home of Meta, Stanford University, Alphabet and Apple, to name a few of the most important multibillion-dollar institutions in Silicon Valley. Hundreds of thousands of people are employed in the region’s tech sector, and thousands upon thousands more clean their homes, deliver their groceries and drive their rideshares.
But as the labor force of Silicon Valley swelled over the past 20 or 30 years, housing production stayed largely stagnant. The highest-wage earners outbid everyone else for the existing housing stock — raising prices to their current astonishing levels.

The wealthiest enclaves have been the worst offenders when it comes to blocking new housing development. This further enriched the residents of those enclaves by guaranteeing staggering growth in their property values, which in turn helped lock out undesirables (read: non-rich people). What was left of the Valley’s working class was confined to nearby towns like Redwood City and East Palo Alto. 
Atherton enforced this income segregation by outlawing the construction of virtually anything except single-family homes — which had to be built on lots that, according to the town’s zoning code, could be no smaller than 1 acre. The City Council even voted to shut down its local commuter rail station partly over fears that the state would mandate more housing development near transit stops.
Atherton isn’t the only city that took such pains to maintain its exclusivity. Local governments throughout the state — including big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco — have strangled housing development, and plunged the entire state into a social, political and humanitarian crisis. Atherton is only exceptional because of the sheer magnitude of the wealth locked behind its walls.

Can someone clear up the details on the Macauley trade for me. I'm reading "The Boston Celtics" by McClellan and it doesn't go into enough detail like it does in Legend and the Ice Capades, etc. But they don't seem to match up. If I understand correctly, Red had to trade up to get to 2nd pick, then Red told the team picking #1 not to pick Russell and included the Ice Capades, so legend has it. Was Macauley trade to St Louis part of the move to get Boston to the #2 pick or was it part of the not picking Bill Russell? Thank you in advance!!

Confused in NC,

db

If you google that question, you will find the answer on a story on Boston.com from 2016 The Celtics made the decision that they wanted Russell, Rochester had the first pick, and the story was that they were going to pick Syhugo Green number 1, Celtics traded Ed McCauley and the rights to Cliff Hagen for the #2 pick. With that they planned on picking Russell. But, and there is the rub, there was no guarantee that all of a sudden Rochester would change their minds and go for Russell, this is where the Ice Capades came in. Walter Brown owned the Capades at the time. He gave them the Capades as a guarantee they would not go after Russ. Remember now, Tommy Heinsohn was also picked first as a territorial pick that year too. When Red drafted Russell, he later drafted KC Jones.................not bad huh?

db,

I've gone into it here before, but the whole Ice Capades story was fiction made up by Red. It never was real.

The Rochester Royals already had Maurice Stokes at Center/Forward, and although Russell was a tempting possibility, they knew there were three factors against them. 1. He wanted to play for the Olympic team first, 2. He in no way was interested in coming to Rochester, and 3. he was going to cost far too much for what the Royals could afford at the time. Stokes had just won Rookie of the Year the previous season and they did need a shooting guard and went with Sihugo Green.

Escaping notice in the whole story about the 3-team deal with Boston, St. Louis and Rochester, was the fact that Rochester's Les Harrison already had the Ice Capades, then owned by Walter Brown, locked up and under contract to come and perform in Rochester's new arena.

Ultimately, Russell to Boston was more a factor of St. Louis acquiring a needed enforcer in Macauley as well as Rochester feeling they were covered at center and not able to keep Russell happy.

This would be my shortened for space and time version, but was the way it went in summary. The Ice Capades story is entertaining and funny, but not the least bit true.

Regards

Thank you both NYCelt and Rosalie!!

db

Red carried that story on for years and years...until people believed it/ I was quoting the story from one of Red's books. Oh well, he always turned things around to make it look like they were one up on everyone, Same thing goes for the story of the Laker lockerroom being hot as hell because Red had turned the heat on/ The Celtics locker roo was the same way. They just played along with it He admitted to that later on in life!!

They included the Ice Capades story in the “Legend” documentary as well.
The tail took on a life of its own and the fallacy is etched in stone.

“Don’t believe you’re lying ears”
-Red

Didn't know there was a new Netflix documentary on Russell. I'm looking forward to watching. Thanks Ktron

Celtics17 wrote:Didn't know there was a new Netflix documentary on Russell. I'm looking forward to watching. Thanks Ktron

Netflix. 2 parts