Kobe's Lakers v. LeBron's Cavs

Keep in mind those stats were amassed during the bogus statistic era (also when Wilt's scoring records were amassed). There was a period in early to mid-60s when defenses seemed to take a hiatus, teams were regularly scoring like 140 ish pt games and highly dubious statistical numbers were amassed (somewhat analogous to what happened with late 90s baseball offensive stats).

And if you've ever seen footage of those games, its clear that it wasn't because of greater offensive skills. Typical possessions rarely lasted beyond 12 seconds before someone forked up a shot, and defenses were downright primitive compared to today. Particularly team defense, in the 60s there was virtually no doubling down on big men, on most nights Wilt and Russell were guarded by 1 man with no help who was usually a painfully slow white guy in the 6'8"ish range who would never be allowed anywhere near an NBA roster today. Anyone who thinks Russell or Wilt could've amassed similar stats in today's game are clueless or deluding themselves.

 

With Magic? I beleive you mean Jordan. Honest mistake, I guess, but it was one of the best set of commercials ever.

 

Yea, my bad on that one. I absolutely loved that commercial, thanks for the youtube video.

 

I wouldn't say similar stats, but I would venture to say Russell could grab at least 15 a game in this era with today's conditioning. I began to think to compare a today's version of Russell to Ben Wallace, but I think his offense would be better than Wallace's.

 

Umm, have you ever seen Russell shoot? It was ugly, and he had no outside shot whatsoever. He got nearly all of his points off offensive rebounds, layups, putbacks and dunks. His offensive skills were no better than Wallace's.

But I do think Wallace is a good comparison for the type of player Russell could be today. Both have an utterly uncanny shotblocking ability, same sort of tough interior presence and defensive mindset, same height, and I imagine Russell would have a more muscular physique if he came up with today's weightlifting and conditioning.

 

Wilt would do just fine in today's game. No, his stats wouldn't be as freakish, but he'd still be an outstanding center.

 

I'm not sure how many of you have access to all of the Laker games, but if you saw Odom game in and game out, I doubt you'd be giving him the love he's getting on this thread. The guy is a great No. 3 option. He just lacks the fire to be a No. 2. Bryant has proven in the past he's willing to share the ball with a dominant player (and if you say he didn't share with Shaquille O'Neal, I'll show you his three rings). Odom is so reticent to assert himself, it's almost embarassing to hear the praise he gets. Also, it's getting tiresome to hear people say "If Odom can finally live up to his potential ..." He's been in the league far too long now to not have reached it. There's a reason he hasn't: Not enough heart.

Also, I think Magic Johnson deserves more love in the "Best player of all time" talk. Magic proved he could score, and score big when needed (1980 NBA Finals in his rookie season, no less), pass, rebound and play any of the five spots on the floor. I think a case could be made that he made almost all of the Lakers better players, except Kareem, who was already an elite player, better than they would've been had they played on another team.

1. Jordan
2. Magic
3. Russell
4. Bird
5. Wilt

 

Ding ding ding:

Larry Hughes= Lamar Odom
Gooden >>>>>>>>>>> Ronny Turiaf
Ilguaskas >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Andrew "we're not gonna trade him for Jason Kidd" Bynum
Varajoe>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kwame Brown
Pavlovic=Luke Walton
Daniel Gibson>>>>>>SMUSH Parker

P.S. Oh yeah, the Lakers are in the west.

 

I'll second the love for Magic. Best all around player in NBA history. He could do it all. Jordan, as great as he was, couldn't hold a candle to Magic's all around game. No way Jordan could play all five positions in one game and duplicate the result Magic had in the 80 Finals.

My list of best players ever
1. Magic
2. Jordan
3. Wilt
4. Russell
5. Bird

I'm always confused where to put Shaq, not necessarily in the overall best player category, but even in the best centers of all time category. At gun point, I'd go Wilt, Russell, Shaq as centers. I may put Shaq at 6 overall behind Bird.

 

All I know is if I was building my team from scratch, I'd take LeBron first and not even think twice about it. Not a slam at all on Kobe, but LBJ's just a freak.

 

We'll never know because he never had to. One thing I do know is Bob Knight thought he could.

 

Magic was what, three inches taller than Jordan? That makes quite a difference when you're playing down low with the big boys. What the Pistons did to Jordan when he got into the lane -- it didn't work as well against Magic.