post wrote:HeartBreakKid wrote:A lot of Russell's teammates are in the HOF because they were part of a dynasty...not because they were superstars. Hakeem has played with guys just as good if not better than a lot of Russell's teammates. A lot of them were roughly as good as Robert Horry, the only difference is now way more people are in the HOF now so the standard is higher.
If you won a lot of rings then obviously you were going to go into the hall of fame in the 1960s/70s - Robert Horry with his 11 or so rings would have been a hall of famer also back then for the simple fact of winning so much.
Vernon Maxwell, Robert Horry and Otis Horpe were all really good players around that period - people who barely know 90s basketball just assume Hakeem played with scrubs. Almost like assuming the 2019 Raptors were just Leonard and some jabronis. They were a deep and well coached team - even Sam Cassell couldn't get major minutes on that team.
Not to mention the next year they got Clyde Drexler who is better than anyone Bill Russell ever played with except for John Havilcek. They eventually got Scottie Pippen and Charles Barkley also lol - and yes, I know they were old, but since we are ignoring context (clearly, otherwise the statement about Russell's celtics are weak) then we can say Hakeem couldn't win a title with three first ballot HOFers on his team. Hakeem had a team with far bigger names than what Russell had.
Bill Russell didn't have an unfairly stacked team for the majority, if not his entire career - and he did as much carrying of his team as Hakeem did. Anyone who took any time to educate themselves on 60s basketball for longer than 10 minutes knows this.
as has been pointed out in this thread already cousy was the mvp of the nba in russell's rookie year. that alone destroys your point because hakeem never played with anyone that was even close to being the mvp of the nba when they were on hakeem's team
Bill Russell helping Bob Cousy get an MVP destorys my point....how? You do realize Bill Russell was easily better than Bob Cousy even as a rookie right?
Bob Cousy was credited over Bill Russell for the MVP because
1) Bob Cousy is white and it was 1957
2) Bob Cousy is a flashy and popular player
3) Bill Russell was only a rookie and the Celtics were more heavily associated with Bob Cousy
4) Bill Russell missed half the season due to other obligations
So actually you're supporting my argument, that a lot of Bill Russell's teammates got accolades only when they started playing with Bill Russell - because Bill Russell got his teams a lot of wins.
Bob Cousy had been in the NBA for 6 years before Bill Russell played, yet didn't win an MVP. Strange how he got one only when Russell joined his team - and never won one after when the media realized how dominant Bill Russell was.
Bill Russell didn't even get rookie of the year - he was underrated that season, and did not play a lot of games - oh....and he's also black in the 50s, thats kind of a big deal?
And even if somehow we ignored all logic and said you were right....that's literally just one season, which was his rookie season in his 13 year career. So nice job there. Hakeem Olajuwon played with other great players, and he played with players who were clearly better than Bob Cousy through out his career as well.
If Hakeem was as Godly as you suggest that he could win with "bad teammates" then why didn't he win before 1994?