What exactly makes Bill Russel better than Wilt?

[Mr Exlax]

Was it only because of the championship rings? That's a team award correct? Anybody know what their head to head matchups looked like? Anybody old enough to have watched them play each other? I see the argument on here all the time.

[Umad101]

Nothing really the dudes overrated. The only thing that makes him stand out Campared to others is his 11 rings

[Owl]

The usual argument (in a simplified form) is:

Greatest defender of all time
Elevated teammates
Won Titles

Personally I'd take Wilt though.

[KG215]

Because, as cliche-ish as it sounds, he is the poster boy for "stats don't do him justice." Not to mention there's not any stats that can truly show how great he was and impactful he was on defense.

Not saying he's hands down better than Wilt but you can't just compare their numbers and draw your conclusion.

[jlip]

Nothing really the dudes overrated. The only thing that makes him stand out Campared to others is his 11 rings

I guess the fact that he has more MVPs (the highest individual award) than anybody not named *Kareem didn't happen?

*He's tied with MJ.

[goldenryan]

If Duncan is the modern Russell, Wilt would be Lebron. Except Wilt was a much tougher matchup back than Lebron is now.

[Kblaze8855]

If hes better its because he generates a winning atmosphere. You can call it cliche...I call it personally taking the leagues worst defense and making it #1 for like 12 years in a row...I call it playing hard all game every game and it rubbing off on teammates....I call it starting fast breaks to get guys who otherwise cant contribute involved in the game and having fun...I call it being ap layer/coach who runs plays chosen by his teammates and lets everyone have his say just to show them he respects them as men...I call it making your teammates respect you and your will to win so much they play harder as not to let you down.

Bill russell makes a team play better than it could otherwise and his contribution goes well beyond what you can measure.

[Mr Know It All]

Because most people are ignorant to the fact that basketball is actually a team sport. It's a crazy concept, I know, but many of the posters here are still learning that fact. It takes time to figure out I assume, so we should probably cut them some slack.

In all seriousness, as another poster mentioned: elevates teammates, great defensive player, great leader, blah blah blah. Wilt has him beat as an individual basketball player in almost every single way, and he has the monster statistics to prove it.

For some reason in the NBA and in other sports great players with very talented rosters are ranked above transcendent and more individually dominant players who have mediocre rosters (because of the fiction that sports romantics love to spin).

[lilgodfather1]

I didn't see Russ play becaus i'm not in my 60's, but I would loved to have seen him play based on what I have heard of him. He sounds to me like he is the perfect player. Defense, rebounding, passing, and I would imagine he would have blocked 4 shots per game or more. Type of player I would love to have on my team.

With Wilt he had great stats, but great stats don't translate to wins. For the record though I have Wilt above Russell despite the monsterous gap between the title count.

[Legends66NBA7]

I guess the fact that he has more MVPs (the highest individual award) than anybody not named *Kareem didn't happen?

*He's tied with MJ.

And if Finals MVP existed since the beginning of the league's inception, he would have had like 8-10 of them.

So were looking at a guy with 11 rings (which most would argue that he was the best on all championship teams), 5 MVP's, and 8-10 Finals MVP's.

Also, this:

- In 1969 Sporting News ran a feature on why Russell was the Greatest Player Ever. It cited the opinions of over 25 all-star players and NBA head coaches from the era.

- In 1971 when the NBA voted for it's Silver Anniversary team, only Russell was a unanimous selection.

- In 1980 when they selected the 35th Anniversary team, Russell was voted the greatest player ever.

If they were voting Russell over Wilt back then, I don't see what's going to make anyone put Wilt over Russell now, at least from view.

[Mr Know It All]

I didn't see Russ play becaus i'm not in my 60's, but I would loved to have seen him play based on what I have heard of him. He sounds to me like he is the perfect player. Defense, rebounding, passing, and I would imagine he would have blocked 4 shots per game or more. Type of player I would love to have on my team.

With Wilt he had great stats, but great stats don't translate to wins. For the record though I have Wilt above Russell despite the monsterous gap between the title count.

[DatAsh]

He has a point though. Greats stats don't always correlate with winning basketball.

Wilt was at his best and improving his team's offense the most when he was putting up 24/24, not 50/25.

[Kblaze8855]

I dont think its by chance that Wilt won the most when he played more like Russell. But even then...even as a playmaker...he did it selfishly. Ive heard his teammates say he would get mad if you didnt shoot it off his pass on an offensive rebound so he got the assists. Ive watched him pass out after a rebound 2-3 times in a row when he could have just dunked it. Wilt was great...but he had too much to prove. Too much concern about numbers.

[Pointguard]

There is a poster here claiming he got the statistical evidence that Bill's defense was more than the 31.4 ppg difference Wilt had on him. I highly doubt it and don't believe it. His defense would be the daily equal of totally shutting down most of the scoring champions in history is a bit wild to me.

[lilgodfather1]

There are more examples than just Wilt's great stats not translating to wins. Look at David Lee who put up great numbers on a garbage team. Good players get more touches on bad teams, and can put up better stats.

Not saying Wilt was on garbage teams like the Knicks, but good stats don't = wins.