I know the NBA won’t seem the same without Red Auerbach, though it’s been well over a decade since he was involved to any great degree with the Celtics.
But, he was so iconic in a way that nobody, at least in our generation or the one or two past, was in any other of America’s professional sports, that you couldn’t help but think of him as relevant in some way, shape or form even today.
He did many things as a coach and general manager in the NBA. Much of that was on the front of racial progress, not only having the first all-black starting five but naming Bill Russell the first black head coach in any professional sport.
There’s one other thing he did that is highly relevant today. He largely invented, then popularized and developed, the concept of a sixth man and the use of actual players for that position.
The NBA ought to immediately honor Red Auerbach by renaming its Sixth Man Award for him.
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