Every championship team has one thing that the other teams don’t have. They have players who are willing to be less if it allows their teams to be more. This is how it’s been since the Bill Russell era and how it will be until the NBA folds. The secret is how the game works. But it’s not really a secret, people just aren’t willing to follow the rule.
Looking back to the first real instance where we saw the secret we had the 1960’s Boston Celtics. The main man was Bill Russell, he was the one who revolutionized the secret. Looking at his matches against Wilt you would see that he often won but put up worse stat lines. While Wilt was putting up 40 points and 25 rebounds 82 games a year, Russell would put up 20 points and 25 rebounds. The difference was that Russell was winning. He passed his entire career, he was the first great passing big. Wilt only passed when he realized it was more empty stats to make himself look better. Russell would consistently win because he elevated his teammates. Looking at the shots they blocked you would see Wilt swatting everything into the stands like a volleyball. Russell would hit it into his teammate’s hands and start a fast break, though it doesn’t show in the stat sheet, Russell’s defense had a bigger impact on the offense. That’s why he was the first example of the secret.
Another great example is the ‘88 and ‘89 Pistons, Zeke, Dumars, Laimbeer, and the whole cast worked together, not intruding on each other and working together to be great. At the deadline they traded star scorer Adrian Dantley for Mark Aguirre. Even though Aguirre wasn’t as good as Dantley he understood the secret and fit the scheme better. They ended up winning the championship that year because everyone played defense and worked together. They were able to beat Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic and Kareem, and so many other legends because their guys understood the secret and knew what they needed to do in order to win.
Some recent examples include the 2024 Celtics and the 2025 Thunder. The Celtics had 5 guys who could all be all stars if they were in different places, Jrue Holiday took his scoring average down by about 8 points and was one of the best off ball point guards in the league during that stretch. Derrick White was elite on help defense and was a great catch and shoot weapon, he was running everywhere on the court. Kristaps Porzingis started working on a low post role and shot less. Jaylen Brown played the perfect Robin all season. And finally, Jayson Tatum was the superstar. They also had incredible depth with Hauser, Horford, Pritchard, and Kornet leading the way. The Thunder were similar, they had their superstar and two elite role players, they finished off their lineup with two more elite role players and had one of the best benches we might ever see.
In an interview between Bill Simmons and Bill Walton, Walton had some great words about the secret. He said that the secret wasn’t really a secret. People just chose not to follow it. Bill Walton followed the secret better than almost anyone else who played in that era. That’s why he won 2 rings.
The secret is something that everyone knows. It’s just a matter of following the rule. We have seen many championship teams lose because of greed being the biggest destroyer. We have also seen so many teams that shouldn’t have had any business winning win because they understood the secret. You can only win if you work together and understand the secret.