Russell to LeBron: "Thank you for leaving me off your Mt. Rushmore."

[QUOTE=Pointguard]Its obvious that those three players [B]did not pattern their game[/B] after Russell because Kareem and Hayes had whole different priorities on the court. They came in taking 24 and 25 shots per game. They played a skilled game. They didn't look to facilitate on offense. They didn't outlet like Russell. Its been years since I seen the Haye's clip but I recall he came in a gunner and later on became defensive minded, but it didn't stick either. It would serve Reed no advantage at all to think like playing like Russell. That's like Barkley emulating Gervin.


I only said he wasn't skilled with the pill in his hand and its been written he didn't like to practice. Everything else you are saying. I have him in my top five all time. So, that's no diss. And I am one of a few, that argues about the strength of defense when comparing players here. He has a flaw and its a flaw that few people would let go. In the Mount Rushmore of all sports in the OTC section, all of the people seriously mentioned were SUPER duper skilled players and were magical with the tool they worked with. Not average or below average. Its not a crazy request on my part. And people have a right to want skilled craft as the pillar of their criteria of greatness.[/QUOTE]
Sorry but you are just straight up wrong here.

[QUOTE=FrobeShaw]No, because Jordan already did 37. He could feasibly do 40 with the relaxed defences of today if he was chucking it away on a fast paced team.[/QUOTE]

Do you know how difficult it is to increase your career high ppg by three points over an entire 82 game season? We're not talking about a 5-7 game stretch. How do we know that MJ didn't max out in 1987 in terms of the energy required to take that many shots a game over an entire season?

Russell so salty :oldlol:

[QUOTE=DaSeba5]You simply can't have a Mt Rushmore of basketball players.[/QUOTE]

Well stated.

[QUOTE=tpols]How does one pattern their game off Bill Russell? Hes a defensive and rebounding beast, master of intangibles and team play. He wasnt flash..Pointguard, by your definition of greatness, Allen Iverson is a top 5 GOAT candidate :oldlol:
[/quote]
I have no idea of what you are saying. Where did you see my definition??? Asking to have skill isn't a giant request at all. If you lack skills at work you won't have a job. If you have few skills with your wife she will leave you. If you have no parenting skills your kids will resent you. Being a team player will help you but it isn't a substitute.

[quote]
Kids want to play like whats in style.. what looks cool. Crossovers, dunks, fadeaways.. thats why Dr. J, Jordan, Kobe etc. are the ones you see kids copying and trying to be like.

Who patterns their game off of a guy like Russell or Rodman? Thats just hard work lol.. no oohing and ahhing over it but its what wins. Such a arbitrary and unimportant way of judging something. Has absolutely nothing to do with the impact they had.[/QUOTE]
Actually it is disrespectful to call Russell a hustle player. I have said he had great impact. While I have seen seen Reggie Evans pump up the Junk Yard Dog and Faried talk of other hustle players glowingly, they respect the work. But at the top, there is always somebody in every thing we do, that has mastered his craft.

[QUOTE=Pointguard]I have no idea of what you are saying. Where did you see my definition??? Asking to have skill isn't a giant request at all. If you lack skills at work you won't have a job. If you have few skills with your wife she will leave you. If you have no parenting skills your kids will resent you. Being a team player will help you but it isn't a substitute.


Actually it is disrespectful to call Russell a hustle player. I have said he had great impact. While I have seen seen Reggie Evans pump up the Junk Yard Dog and Faried talk of other hustle players glowingly, they respect the work. But at the top, there is always somebody in every thing we do, that has mastered his craft.[/QUOTE]

Well that just all depends how you define 'mastered his craft'.

I could, for example, say Jordan didnt master his craft because he never made his teammates better at an elite level like that of Russell or Magic. He couldnt facilitate a great team/offense as well as Russell/Magic could and that is every bit a 'skill' in the game of basketball. Everyone has a hole you could poke in their game..



And your analogies are absolutely ridiculous btw

:applause: :applause: :applause: the only thing he forgot to mention was "I won not 4 but 5 MVPs and still have a full head of hair"

[QUOTE=tpols]Well that just all depends how you define 'mastered his craft'.

I could, for example, say Jordan didnt master his craft because he never made his teammates better at an elite level like that of Russell or Magic. He couldnt facilitate a great team/offense as well as Russell/Magic could and that is every bit a 'skill' in the game of basketball. Everyone has a hole you could poke in their game..



And your analogies are absolutely ridiculous btw[/QUOTE]


This. Honestly...

You judge players by the era in which they played. For all we know...Russell would have developed completely differently in this era. He might have aged better...he might have been able to gain more muscle with advances in diet/training...etc.

And the opposite. A guy like Jordan might not develop the way he did...in fact, he wouldn't....he couldn't carry the ball and travel as frequently as he did...he wouldnt' get as many iso touches...etc. if he played at the time of Russell.

What we do know is that no matter when and where Russell played...he won...and he won more than anyone ever all things considered. And he was known by his peers as being as good as Wilt...which is truly shocking considering the beast Wilt was and the "skill" and athleticism with which he played.

Yes, those he didn't see him play should proceed with caution when ranking him, but there is nothing wrong with using the evidence at hand to place Russell near the top all time.

I could just imagine someone like Pointguard saying all the same shit about Magic in 30 years. How he wasn't a great defender or shooter....how he didn't score enough to be great. In fact, I'm sure people are already saying that shit that didn't watch Magic play.

All the evidence points to Russell being great...and a true master of his craft.

unrelated, but did you guys see the KD interview during the rising stars game?, he said his mount rushmore was Vince Carter, Tmac and two other players... think another was KG, Ive been trying to look for the clip or a story on it, but have had no luck.

Stupid "generation gay is cool" children defending Bron and talking crap about Russell. Newsflash: LeBron is nothing more than a male prostitute compared to Russell.

[QUOTE=Ca$H]Stupid "generation gay is cool" children defending Bron and talking crap about Russell. Newsflash: LeBron is nothing more than a male prostitute compared to Russell.[/QUOTE]

:biggums:

you say that while typing on a computer to whine about nonsense on the internet

a luxury that allows you to make trillions of threads on lebron

but yeah, cool generation as you've accomplished a lot in this life :applause:

[QUOTE=jlip]“Coach Don Nelson of the Bucks equates Abdul-Jabbar's transformation with that of Wilt Chamberlain in his final years of pro basketball. Chamberlain, once a great scorer, concentrated on defense and passing as he led the Lakers to an NBA title...

Kareem responded by saying: "Wilt had all the stats and personal glory. But Bill Russell won the championships and was held in higher esteem. [B][U]Russell was the first player I ever watched closely, and I'm playing similarly to Russell now.[/U][/B]"

[URL="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EmMaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MyoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6402,3265566&dq=wilt+had+all+the+stats+and+personal+glory+but+bill+russell+won+the+championships+and+was+held+in+higher+esteem&hl=en"]--Kareem in 1978[/URL][/QUOTE]

Funny I just posted last week in the Giant Steps folder that you can count of Kareem saying the bitter thing toward Wilt, and nothing real about Magic. CavsFTW just posted a video of Kareem talking about big men, and the question came up about Magic vs. the guards today and, as expected, Kareem scurried away from talking about Magic (Note: that the question begged for Kareem to say the obvious about his Magic being a big guard who was able to feed the post, and see over people). Kareem went on to talk about the hand checking rule which was an aversion tactic. He will scurry away from most Magic questions. But the bitter pill is steep with Wilt.

Then you provide a link where he goes in on Wilt which is all he did in the later part of the '70s even made a sexual reference to having Wilt any way he wanted, which I'm sure caused problems with his Mosque. When coming out into the professional world Wilt took Kareem under his wing when he was coming up. To suggest that he was studying somebody else is comical. When the legend Wilt, whose height and game was definitely more similar to Kareem's height and game and was taking him under his wing letting him hold his car and letting him come see him play - not Russell. There early clips of Kareem doing finger rolls.

All of this to say if you think this is about Kareem really patterning his game after Russell instead of away from Wilt, read Kareem more often. Kareem would be trashed harder than ever that year that followed this article.

Calls basketball a team sport, proceeds to list his personal accomplishments:facepalm

[IMG]https://www.google.ca/search?q=lebron+james+playing+violin+gif&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&imgil=iITcBCC7PQNIOM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcRpY-kyAryayA0VM9HSHGlN94ndJRiPjLK6eVQTPmClezO2EAS6%253B400%253B300%253BIg2p-llMFXTGzM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fgifrific.com%25252Flebron-james-playing-the-worlds-smallest-violin%25252F&source=iu&usg=__LdqVeA7QiktAQTo8RhepTUXCm7A%3D&sa=X&ei=qncCU5XlE8uNqAGhioD4Aw&ved=0CCoQ9QEwAA&biw=1241&bih=599#facrc=_&imgrc=iITcBCC7PQNIOM%253A%3BIg2p-llMFXTGzM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgifrific.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2012%252F04%252FLeBron-James-Smallest-Violin-Gif.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgifrific.com%252Flebron-james-playing-the-worlds-smallest-violin%252F%3B400%3B300[/IMG]

[QUOTE=heavensdevil]unrelated, but did you guys see the KD interview during the rising stars game?, he said his mount rushmore was Vince Carter, Tmac and two other players... think another was KG, Ive been trying to look for the clip or a story on it, but have had no luck.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1960965-kevin-durant-names-his-all-time-nba-mount-rushmore[/url]

Bird, Magic, Jordan, Kareem.