While the Miami Heat proceed to go about the business of trying to build out the best roster for next season, happenings and occurrences around the league just continue going. Unfortunately and in the last week or so, one of those occurrences was the passing of NBA and Civil Rights legend, Bill Russell.
Widely considered one of the greatest NBA players of all time and one of the top 1-5 defenders of all time, Russell didn’t only do historic and legendary stuff on the basketball court.
Being one of the foremost influencers of his day, he also took on the charge and task of making himself a figurehead for the better treatment of many different people across the United States. Basically, when you think about Bill Russell, you shouldn’t just think “NBA Legend” but a “humanitarian legend” as well.
Here is his resume:
- Hall Of Famer
- NBA 75th Anniversary Team
- 11 Time Champion
- Five-Time MVP
- 11 Time All-NBA
- 12 Time NBA All-Star
- 1962-63 All-Star MVP in
- Four-Time Total Rebounding Champion
- 1968-69 All-Defensive Team
When you consider all of those accolades on the court, along with his off-the-court heroics and work, he is totally worthy of the honor. As a matter of fact, it’s necessary and he should be honored by every team, player, and member of the NBA.
The Miami Heat and every other team in the league will honor Celtics legend, Bill Russell, this coming season. However, one part of it all leaves you a bit queasy.
And he will be.
Bill Russell becomes the first player in NBA history to have his jersey retired across the league. All NBA players will also wear a patch on the right shoulder of their jerseys during 2022-23 season, and every arena's court will display a clover-shaped logo with No. 6. https://t.co/bhNSldVKz0
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 11, 2022
This is where things get a bit tricky though. When you think about teams that are mortal enemies or teams that have recent heated history, the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics can be two of the teams that come to mind the quickest.
When you think about the battles of the Big 3 Era, Ray Allen coming to join that era of Miami Heat ball, the NBA Bubble, and most recently, the Eastern Conference Finals showdown that forever immortalized Jimmy Butler—these two teams don’t like each other that much.
And that’s the way it should be. Miami Heat supporters shouldn’t like Boston and Boston supporters shouldn’t like the Miami Heat.
There’s just a natural order to it all and the “arena” part of the coming Russell tributes disturbs that a bit. The part about every team having a “clover-shaped logo” on their floor will definitely take some major getting used to.
At the moment and at best, “torn” is the way to describe the sentiments.
It’s appropriate, necessary, righteous, an obligation, and definitely the thing to do when it comes to a league-wide supported tribute to one of the best people and players to ever lace them up on the NBA hardwood—however, the idea of having the Celtics’ clover on the Miami Heat’s court just doesn’t sit right at the moment.