FanHouse Sam Jones

Sam Jones won 10 NBA championships, more than anyone in history except for Bill Russell. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984. He was named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1996. He scored more than 15,000 points in his 12 seasons with the Boston Celtics (1957-69), carving a reputation as one of the greatest clutch shooters -- and winners -- that the league has ever seen.

Yet despite his legendary career, he can walk through a shopping mall or a downtown hotel lobby today without being recognized, arguably the most under-exposed great in basketball history.

Jones, 76, sat down with FanHouse earlier this week to discuss a variety of topics, ranging from his strange disconnect with the franchise he represented so well, to the racism that drove him out of coaching in the early '70s, to his sometimes unflattering view of today's NBA stars.

His opinions might surprise you.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Monday, there are 8 days remaining.

This was the kind of domination that puts to shame the Los Angeles Lakers of this decade and the Chicago Bulls of the '90s. It's something those outstanding teams could only dream about.

It's the kind of domination that professional sports will never ever see again.

The Boston Celtics won eight consecutive championships from 1959 to 1966, the most impressive streak in high-profile team sports, a mind-boggling string that sounds almost mythical today.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Monday, there are 50 days remaining.

Back in 1996, the NBA asked a group of basketball experts to come up with a list of the 50 greatest players in the history of the league. It was the 50th anniversary of the NBA, after all.

It was an impressive list, of course, with the likes of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Rick Barry, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan, etc. The full list can be seen here.

A hundred years from now, those players likely will still be on any list of top-50 players in league history. But what about some other players on that list, the ones toward the back end of 50 ... Paul Arizin, Dave Bing, Sam Jones, Hal Greer, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Walton, Robert Parish and a few others?