I watched this 2 part series and thought it was excellent. At my house, with my Irish Dad, Sunday afternoons in the late 60’s in the winter were the Celtics vs Wilt or the Lakers (before and after Wilt). My Dad was a huge admirer of Russell…the player and the man…why my Dad felt that way about Russell (which I was losing over these many decades) comes out fully in this series.
He was a complicated and thoughtful guy…angry about the status of race relations and his own treatment in Boston (and you end up understanding/supporting his point of view)…
Looks like he lost his way a bit after he retired and then softened and opened up in his later years…accepted the love…much of it was always there.
Two observations…
1. The general eloquence of so many of these guys, even in their playing years…Sanders, Russell, Cousy, Sam Jones...West, Bradley, Walt Frazier in later years. Makes you wonder about “progress”.
2. For those who want to argue the simple case (stats) of Wilt’s greatness (that he should viewed as THE greatest of all time or VERY close to #1), this series does a good job of giving the younger crowd some context of the counter argument about Wilt…e.g., game 7, 1969...Wilt has a knee injury of questionable severity in a game that the Celtics are cruising in late. Wilt takes himself out. Mel Counts (his picture is next to ”journeyman” in the dictionary) comes in, does a good job…the Lakers storm back. Wilt (through an intermediary), informs Butch van Breda Koff that he wants to go back in. Butch…”F—- him”. Tells you a lot about how this coach…and others...felt about coaching Wilt.