Russel reflects

["Shailendra Mishra" <skmishra@sprintmail.com>]

BOSTON -- Coaches are too controlling, the struggling Boston Celtics need
patience and he stops watching NBA games on television only to switch to
"Jeopardy."

And Bill Russell says he does pretty well at that, too.

Thirty years after he retired with his 11th title in 13 seasons with the
Celtics and 25 years after he was elected to the Hall of Fame, Russell
returned to the parquet floor full of opinions Wednesday night.

The floor, though, is in the FleetCenter that stands adjacent to the site of
the Boston Garden, where Russell played.

"The old Garden was really a dump," he said with his characteristic cackle.
"This new building is quite sterile, but then the Garden did have character,
and rats. But this is a nice building."

Russell returned for the official announcement of a May 26 ceremony in which
his No. 6 jersey will be officially re-retired.

It originally was retired privately the morning of March 12, 1972 before a
Sunday game in which Russell was a color commentator. He and current Celtics
vice chairman Red Auerbach simply pulled on the ropes that raised the banner
with his number to the rafters.

That's the way Russell wanted it.

"I still don't particularly like awards and things because I always felt I
was just doing what I was supposed to do," he said. "I had the same reaction
when they wanted to put me in the Hall of Fame. I just never liked that kind
of thing."

The May 26 ceremony should draw a sellout crowd with proceeds going to The
National Mentoring Partnership and the Mass Mentoring Partnership, a state
organization. Bill Cosby is scheduled to play host to The Bill Russell
Tribute and the guest lineup includes Julius Erving, Wilt Chamberlain, Hank
Aaron, Aretha Franklin, Tom Brokaw, NBA commissioner David Stern, Celtics
coach Rick Pitino and Auerbach.

The playoffs will still be going on by then, almost certainly without the
Celtics. They entered Wednesday night's game against Washington with a 10-22
record and end their regular season May 5.

Russell, who lives on the West Coast, said he watches his former team about
twice a week and usually sees three games a day on television, starting at
4:30 p.m. with East Coast contests. He takes a break to see "Jeopardy" and
wraps up his evening with "Star Trek."

The Celtics?

"Their best friend is patience, but right now everybody's taking a shot at
patience," he said. The proof that patience pays off is the Chicago Bulls'
string of championships with Michael Jordan.

"They had to learn to play together because Michael's first five or six
years, they couldn't get past the first round," Russell said, "but they kept
their team together and they learned to play together and they got to be a
pretty good team, a little better than average."

Pitino does the teaching on the Celtics, often shouting directions from the
sidelines. He's not the only NBA coach doing that.

"If I have a complaint, which I don't usually have because I like the game,
I think the coaches are in charge and so there is no creativity among the
players, not very much anyway," Russell said. "I like to see creativity."

With teams playing illegal defenses, he said, the game "is a little dull
sometimes. ... Those are coaching things."

Russell coached Boston during his last two years as a player when he
succeeded Auerbach. He originally told Auerbach he didn't want the job, then
accepted.

"That's the one time I could make sure that I have a coach I like as much as
I like you," he told Auerbach, recalling the moment with a hearty laugh,
"maybe more."