Travishamockery

Kareem? Okay. I don’t agree, but there’s an argument. But picking Wilt before Russel? What? The? Frack?

Mike

i guess its an ESPN conspiracy because the ESPN.com NBA editor also thought that Russell was the 6th best Center of all time

Quick question: How can you rank Russell’s PER if they didn’t really count blocks (or rebounds?) back then?

They say that Wilt didnt have the supporting cast Russel did but dont you think that Russel made Heinson, Ramsey, Jones, and definatly Cousy better?

That picture is absolutely amazing :o

Let’s see: Royce Webb, David Thorpe and John Hollinger.

All these guys have just been added to the mental roladex as writers who’s opinions I no longer need to put any stock in.

Hell, I’m not sure if it’s the same guy, but one of the voters was Jim O’Brien (same name coincidence as one of our former coaches?) and even he gave Russell a 10!

If you look at the voting as a whole Russell recieved twice as many first place votes as the second leading candidate, so it would appear most people are in agreement that Russell is the greates of all time. As for those who wouldn’t rate him in the top 5: it’s probably something personal, something assinine, or they’re simply trying to be controversial (journalists die, especially multimedia journalists, without controversy and spin).

What is “travishahmockery” from ??!?! I actually used it today before reading celticsblog…and couldn’t remember.

Weird…

It’s also worth noting that if you look at the people who have actual NBA experience (coach, player, other) and see how they voted it becomes clear.
You can make a great case for Kareem and Wilt as the greatest right next to Russell, but I think the reality is 11 Rings is a fairly definitive statement.

I agree with Russell, Wilt and Kareem as the top 3. Hollinger should cover baseball where stats are more relevant. Stats don’t take into account defensive intimidation or the willingness to surpress one’s own personal goals for the good of the team. Russell did have a great supporting cast but it’s not like Wilt had chopped liver. He played with Hal Greer, Jerry West and others. Thorpe is a dissapointment. He should know better.

Just more justification for why I do not read or listen to any ESPN commentary. In fact, most of the time when I watch a game on ESPN I turn off the sound. That certainly improves the quality of the picture.

I would take Wilt over Kareem. It’s not like Kareem didn’t have hall of famers around him and of course Russell over Wilt.

As the years pass, the memory dims. I’m sure there are many baseball writers who would rank Barry Bonds over Babe Ruth. After all, who was Ruth? He’s just some numbers in a book and some old grainy newsreels.

You can make a case that Chamberlain was better, because of Wilt’s eye-popping individual stats. But he’s the only one who came close to Russell, and that includes Kareem. Russell played with intelligence and passion. If in his prime today, he would dominate every other center, including Shaq. He would run Shaq into the ground.

At least Russell is winning all of the New England states (except for Connecticut, which may as well be part of New York anyway

Don’t lump the NYer’s in with Ct. Most of us are smart sports people. ;)

I wonder if the 6 ahead of Russell combined have as many rings as Russell.

Sort of like calling Iverson or Payton locks for the same hall of fame that doesn’t include Dennis Johnson. Shamockery is appripot for that too.

Excellent choice of word, Jeff.

The link to Russell with his rings is fantastic.. had me laughing hard, but really drives home the point.

Well Jeff, I guess we know now that PER is not a definitive statistic in all cases. Especially when comparing superstars that were effective not only statistically, but also with intangibles.

Gee, it took insulting Bill R to get this message across?

Gotta love those stats bros. 8)

“Don’t lump the NYer’s in with Ct. Most of us are smart sports people. smilies/wink.gif”

Ditto!

I can’t believe it’s even a discussion. Shaq, for all his knowledge and supposed respect for the history of the game should never have given himself the tag ‘Most Dominant Ever’

He KNOWS who the most dominant center was. Mr. Russell. Amazing to think they didn’t keep track of blocks in Russell’s heyday. Based on the clips I’ve seen, he would hold that record.

Morons. There’s always an amazing debate among where Russell, Wilt and Kareem fall in line (I think Russell hands down), but anything less than third for Russell is mind-boggling. I think it’s the blocked-shot theory. He has always been crediting with completey changing the concept of defense in the NBA.

Anything put out by ESPN is no longer newsworthy or fact. ESPN is all about ratings and making money. No longer a viable source for sports.
ESPN = $$$$.

It’s an extremely simple situation: ESPN sells advertising…their backers need the goons who watch their shows to turn to other shows and not history books in order to spend money NOW!…Their people are sped-fed facts without ever pondering a thing…They have to look excited over 30 NBA teams…because of this they drink too much and often forget their own names nevermind the best ever players…If they stick around for a while they come to hate sports and all the hoopla surrounding it…They’de rather quality time with a transvestite from Yale who spent his junior year a broad than to hear of another best ever…They’re thinking of replacing the Swami with John Amaechi…It’s a new world fellas and ESPN is the MTV of sports…

ooops!, that’s “abroad”…sorry about that Violet ;)

Hey, before you kill the stats – I bet Russell’s adjusted /- is simply amazing.

The problem with stats, is that they may not have been kept as acurately back then, or as consistently. Heinson always says that Cooze should have a hell of a lot more assists, by today’s liberal standards.

I love it! Russell shows them the Bling.

This is why people shouldn’t be taking columnists and commentators seriously. They’re every bit as capable of stupid ‘posts’ as the average blog poster, and about 5 times as egotistical.

what an amazing pic!

Bill Russel is one of those type of guys who don’t need “acknowledgement” by current “experts” in some sort of a ridiculous survey. He’s won it all where it matters – on the NBA court.

Anyone who ranks David Robinson ahead of Bill Russell is a moron. Robinson isn’t even a Top 25 all time rebounder, and also is not a Top 25 scorer either.

That poll of "experts’ is a joke.

Stop making sense, LarBrd33 — you’ll never get a job writing for ESPN.

like everything else in 2007, there are those who think this moment is the best and only moment because it is their moment. and then there are the revisionists who put their agendas over the obvious truth or facts and they have to demean what they cannot accept. russell was the greatest force in the game, no less at center. it never was the stats. you could see it, feel it, smell it whenever he was even near the game. mj was like that too, but he was a media darling and tho a great team player, not quite the team man russ was. he was also a progenitor of the iso play and the 1 on 1, which has taken the game away from the team concept, and rewarded people like g$ spending hours watching dunks on the video. russell spent hours analyzing his opponents shots and the arc of their shots so he could do the expedient defensive move. good d always trumps good o.

Blasphemy.

Yet why am I not surprised. ESPN has become a huge pile of garbage over the past few years. I can’t even remember the last time I watched something on “MTV-Sports”.