The worst chapter of Bill Russell’s otherwise charmed basketball life played out in Sacramento.
His career was undone by a Kings roster thin on talent and drive, of picking first in a luckless 1989 draft and punctuated by abject tragedy. The sport’s most accomplished player was a forced fit in Sacramento. He was hired as coach before the 1987-88 season after 10 years away from the bench, signed to a seven-year deal with plans to take over as general manager and then become part owner. Russell was a smart man. He liked the sound of this business proposal, of being wanted, of being in a city that backed its only major sports team. Russell’s Bay Area roots, and his father, were just over an hour away.
But the 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics lasted 58 games as Kings coach — and half the next season in the front office — before the club pulled the plug and spent years eating his contract. It’s the most disappointing big-name miss in franchise history, a curious tale for a club mired in them.
