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Who in your top 10-all time played with the most talent throughout their careers?

I would have to say Bill Russell.

Played with like 10 Hall of famers.

Played under the best system ever which is why most of the other Boston players on those teams that coached won titles.

As they copied Red”s system to great success.

See Sharman with an old Wilt or tommy with John or kc with Bird.

Usually had two or more All NBA players alongside him.

Team was so stacked that they went 16 and 8 without him in 1957.

while having the best defence despite trading away two hall of famers to get him.

Furthermore even when Russell went down in the 1958 finals.

the Celtics still went toe to toe with the second best team in the league.

and it took bob scoring 50 in game six to beat them by just one point.

The sheer talent disparity between the Celtics and the rest of the NBA.

Made it to where other superstars had to thoroughly outplay Russell to even have a 50/50 shot at winning.

See Baylor”s 1962 finals as an example or Oscar’s 1963 Ecf.

Probably Magic overall. Shaq has a strong case as well in my opinion.

coastalmarker99 wrote:The sheer talent disparity between the Celtics and the rest of the NBA.

Made it to where other superstars had to thoroughly outplay Russell to even have a 50/50 shot at winning.

See Baylor”s 1962 finals as an example or Oscar’s 1963 Ecf.

Why said you that Baylor and Oscar "thoroughly outplayed" Russell in these matchups? I think Russell was clearly the best player on the floor in 1962 finals.

Magic played with a lot of talent to be fair.

But the other teams in the NBA also could go toe to toe with his teams in terms of supporting cast unlike Russell”s Celtics.


See Bird”s Celtics or doctor j 76ers.

If Bird had been drafted to a crap team and front office as Wilt did.


Magic would have ended his career with 7 to 8 titles lol.


I can imagine that Russell likewise would have ended up with fewer rings.

Had Wilt been drafted to the Hawks in 59.

coastalmarker99 wrote:Magic played with a lot of talent to be fair.

But the other teams in the NBA also could go toe to toe with his teams in terms of supporting cast unlike Russell”s Celtics.


See Bird”s Celtics or doctor j 76ers.

If Bird had been drafted to a crap team and front office as Wilt did.


Magic would have ended his career with 7 to 8 titles lol.


I can imagine that Russell likewise would have ended up with fewer rings.

Had Wilt been drafted to the Hawks in 59

Russell didn't have the best supporting cast in all seasons either. Wilt actually had better teams in the last 3 years of Bill's career. Some may argue that Lakers and Sixers were more talented in 1966 as well.

Russell is up there, but I give Magic the edge. I think Magic weakest supporting casts are considerably more impressive than Russell's.

70sFan wrote:

coastalmarker99 wrote:Magic played with a lot of talent to be fair.

But the other teams in the NBA also could go toe to toe with his teams in terms of supporting cast unlike Russell”s Celtics.


See Bird”s Celtics or doctor j 76ers.

If Bird had been drafted to a crap team and front office as Wilt did.


Magic would have ended his career with 7 to 8 titles lol.


I can imagine that Russell likewise would have ended up with fewer rings.

Had Wilt been drafted to the Hawks in 59

Russell didn't have the best supporting cast in all seasons either. Wilt actually had better teams in the last 3 years of Bill's career. Some may argue that Lakers and Sixers were more talented in 1966 as well.

Russell is up there, but I give Magic the edge. I think Magic weakest supporting casts are considerably more impressive than Russell's.

I would agree about Wilt”s teams being more talented from 67 to 69.

66 I would say no as Boston had the higher srs and only won one game fewer then the 76ers who had to win their last eleven games to edge them out.

Plus Boston dealt with a lot of games missed by their stars that season.

A funny hypothetical would be to see how our top 10 careers would have gone if you drop or lift them by a pick.

Say LeBron gets drafted number two to the pistons in 2003 that= undisputed goat Status.

Hakeem goes number two to Portland= more rings than just the two he got.

Jordan goes number 4 to Dallas that now would be wild to see.

Magic. I don't talk about how stacked Lakers were, but the gap between Lakers and other WC teams through whole decade.

Russell - Shaq - Magic - Curry

Russell and Duncan played on pretty much exclusively good teams but more so because of good team construction and depth than because of insanely talented teammates. Bird probably also fits this category.

Jordan, LeBron, Kareem and Wilt all played on teams with a lot of strong teammates but they've all had multi-year periods where the teams around them were barebones as well.

Hakeem was my answer for having played with the least talent as he really didn't have a ton to work with untill a couple of years towards the end of his prime so he's obviously out here.

That leaves Magic and Shaq. Shaq always had backcourt stars alongside him and generally played on teams with good depth as well but Magic being drafted to a team with prime Kareem and then they add Worthy soon after takes the cake for me.

Magic and Bird, but the latter is not on my all-time top 10.
HM Shaq.

Careers on/off good indication for me

Kawhi off +3.8 netrtg
Duncan off +1.7 netrtg
Harden off +1.0 netrtg

Durant off +0.2 netrtg
Westbrook off 0.0 netrtg
Kobe off -0.4 netrtg
O'Neal off -0.7 netrtg
Nash off -0.7 netrtg

Wade off -1.1 netrtg
Embiid off -1.9 netrtg
Kidd off -2.0 netrtg
Giannis off -2.3 netrtg
Paul off -2.8 netrtg
Curry off -3.1 netrtg
Dirk off -3.4 netrtg
Lebron off -4.2 netrtg
Jokic off -4.3 netrtg
Garnett off -6.1 netrtg

Has to be Shaq. An All-Shaq Teammate starting 5 is Nash-Wade-Kobe-LeBron-KG with Penny as the 6th man.

ardee wrote:Has to be Shaq. An All-Shaq Teammate starting 5 is Nash-Wade-Kobe-LeBron-KG with Penny as the 6th man.

But they're staggered and half of that is post-prime or washed Shaq, I think I'd take Bird and Magic playing with like 4-5 all-star caliber players mostly in their primes, at the same time, nearly every year.

LeBron, Russell.

ardee wrote:Has to be Shaq. An All-Shaq Teammate starting 5 is Nash-Wade-Kobe-LeBron-KG with Penny as the 6th man.

It appears you are coming at this question focusing on the players they played with over the course of their years rather than focusing on the bulk on their meaningful, impactful prime [in which case guys like Nash, LeBron and KG all are non-existent here].

If that's the case, does your positioning change from Shaq to someone else?

rim213221 wrote:LeBron, Russell.

Bird and Magic aren't in your top 10?

Russell, Magic, Bird, Kareem and LeBron all played with some great HOF players.

1. Magic Johnson
2. Bill Russell
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
5. George Mikan
6. Larry Bird
7. LeBron James
8. Tim Duncan
9. Michael Jordan
10. Hakeem Olajuwon