KayDee35 wrote:PhilBlackson wrote:KayDee35 wrote:
Yeah, Russell only had to play against bums like Willis Reed, Nate Thurmond, and Jerry West.
Wilt averaged 50 PPG in a season considered by many the best athlete to ever wear an NBA uniform. Isn't he an impact player like MJ and LeBron? Yet, he went 1-7 against Russell in the playoffs.
MJ is 2-1 in game 7s. LeBron is 6-2. Russell is 10-0.
The only impact Bill cared about was winning. MJ and LBJ are in love with themselves and their stats. Bill loved only winning and did it better than anyone else.
Bill was the GOAT teammate which contributes to his being the GOAT. MJ and LBJ have never been considered GOAT teammates.
Are you really pretending the league as a whole was even remotely as skilled as today?! You can’t be serious.
Of course, the league today is more skilled than it was compared to past decades. The influx of international talent has pushed the skill level up even further. But that applies to all eras.
So, we can never crown anyone GOAT until the skill and talent level in the league stagnates? That's not a position that anyone who participates in GOAT debates holds because it's inconsistent.
KAJ, MJ, and LBJ played against the talent that was around at that time. So did Russell.
If winning 11 rings was so easy, then someone else from eras past should have done it. Winning a ring was so easy that HOF'ers like Wilt won only 2 and Jerry West only won 1.
You can try & twist things as much as you want but it’s impossible to herald someone as the best ever in easily the least skilled version of the league who also wasn’t all that skilled themselves in relation to the other players they’re being compared against, with the most stacked roster of all time in relation to their competition ie/ the most HOFs on a single team ever, with the least amount of competition to play against. You can tap dance around that however you want but no one is buying what you’re selling.