The Celtics were what you described BECAUSE of Bill Russell. The players that he won his first title with in his first year, were all gone by the time he won his last title. He played against the most dominant offensive player ever in the history of the NBA. Wilt went head to head with Russell and won one title. He had a great team surrounding him in LA when Russell won his last title with an aging Celtics team, and beat Wilt and Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. Russell was so unique. He was the one true superstar, ever, who cared not a bit about his stats or personal achievement.
With Russell, it was always about WE. And he did all the little things necessary to win every season. It's all about winning and that's all he ever did. And Havlicek would tell you it was all about Russell. Havlicek didn't win after Bill retired. They won the title Russ's last season. They were 33-48 a year later without him.