the best 20 players of all time

[Indy]

i think big-o is being underrated on this forum, i have tapes of him playing, and he just absoloutly dominated people. coaches would run all kinds of plays on defense to stop him and he exploited all of them.

and someone said that robertsons numbers went down in the playoffs while magics went up, but oscars numbers in the playoffs were still better then magics were except for in assists, which he still had good numbers in.

and i do think i overrated mikan you are right.

and i just think bill russell was such an incredibly dominant player, and a much better defender then bird, so i put him ahead.

[J-Smoove]

no offense, but this thread is just GAY. how many times has something like this reappeared? STOP MAKING THESE KIND OF THREADS!!

[Indy]

no offense, but this thread is just GAY. how many times has something like this reappeared? STOP MAKING THESE KIND OF THREADS!!

its the same guy that made 3 other very similar threads, some kings fan what a fucker

[Andrew]

no offense, but this thread is just GAY. how many times has something like this reappeared? STOP MAKING THESE KIND OF THREADS!!

If you don't have any interest in a thread, don't read it and don't post in it. It's that simple.

Prime example of what Jeffx said. It's real easy for someone to misinterpet the number of players that Bill Russell played with who were inducted into the Hall. But what it's really showing you is how great a player he truly was. Russell was such a dominating force he made players appear better than they actually were. He didn't demand the majority of the shots like a Michael Jordan or definitely a Wilt so there was room for other players to shine, and Celtics could play up on opponents aggressively because if they got by them Russell was waiting and he shut down everything. He's the reason it seemed he always had the best team, and when he retired the so called team of "Hall of Famers" couldn't even crack the playoffs for the next two seasons. IMO Bill Russell is just in a class by himself.

There's no question, I still consider him one of the greatest to play the game. Beyond the stats and the rings, there's his knowledge of the game, especially his craftiness and logic at the defensive end, not to mention an underrated offensive game. But Bob Cousy and John Havlicek (just to name a couple) were great players with or without Russell - he, like every other great player to win a title, had some help from some fine players.

My main point was really the double-standards and contradictions that are made when talking about the greats, that being Russell is often ranked as being the greatest player because he has 11 rings, while for players such as Michael Jordan, "teams win championships, not players". And any way you slice it, Russell's Celtics were much more talented from top to bottom than any Bulls outfit, no matter what illusions Russell's abilities as a leader may have created.