Tim Duncan vs Bill Russell

[Lebron23]

Who's the better basketball player?

[dankok8]

I think they are very comparable players from different eras. Duncan is the ultra competitive, intangibles guy that Russell was and the all-around player who didn't need to take a lot of shots to be effective. Russell was more vocal and had more of a mean streak though. I think I'd go Russell because athletically he was a greater specimen and I feel like there are things that he could do on the court that Duncan simply couldn't.

[8Ball]

Duncan.

If you were to draft either player today, Duncan goes #1, all 30 GM's are picking Duncan.

[bizil]

GOAT wise obviously Russ. Peak-prime wise obviously Duncan. The scoring aspect is the main reason why. Duncan LEGIT was a great scorer-rebounder-passer-defender from the PF spot. Or if you consider him a center the same thing. Russ' scoring is ALWAYS going to be his Achilles heel when to compared to Duncan, Shaq, Dream, Wilt, Robinson,etc. In an era where the game was designed to by played inside-out, his scoring left A LOT to be desired. I'm talking PPG and his FG%.

Russ' magic was his floor game. If you are talking PURE FLOOR GAME (defense-rebounding-passing) as a package, he's the best center of all time. And in terms of his defensive positional versatility, was probably the first guy in the 60's who could LEGIT defend damn near every position if he was asked to. He just never was asked to do that.