Nvnervous45 wrote:Hakeem was the best I ever saw. Blocks, steals, boards, he had it all. He had the quickness to guard centers, pf, and sf's.....
Hakeem was great but Russell was definitely the best I've ever seen. He had the supreme athleticism (he was a world-class high jumper that could have made the Olympic track team and also ran the 440 in under 50 seconds) to guard someone on the perimeter and still manage to zip back into the lane to protect the rim and grab the rebound. Primary difference between Russell and Hakeem IMO was that Russell's bbIQ was just on another tier. He could see what was happening and process it to seemingly anticipate what the opponent was going to do; he was like having a second coach on the floor. Hakeem didn't learn to play basketball until he was already in high school, and while he did an excellent job at picking up the game quickly, he just didn't have the experience to master the strategies the way Russell did.