Rosen: Yao would Overpower a in his prime Bill Russell

Russ was 6'9, 220. Yao better be able to overpower him.

 

shaQ has more than 2 moves ?

 

And arguably the greatest defender of all time...

 

Dream had so many moves along with his speed and smarts that Russell would get a headache playing against him IMO.

 

probably was. however, the article is moving players through different era's to matchup against eachother. the guys who played in the 60's would be at a dissadvantage against guys who play in the modern era.

modern era players are bigger, stronger, faster. the game has changed, becoming more complex. players need more than one go to move, more than one skill in orde rto be successfull.

russell was the most dominating defensive player of all time. however, he is in tmac's body. in today's nba he would either have to gain at least 20lbs of muscle in order to play PF, or become twice as fast to chance guys on the perimeter. he would be a tweener 3/4 who is best at hustling and playing defense... he would be jerome williams at worst, ben wallace at best.

 

I imagine if your two basic moves net you 100 points in a game or 50ppg for an entire season, there isn't much incentive to develop a third.

 

I would imagine rose was probably there to see wilt

 

I personally think russel would be nothing more then a 2nd stringer at best in today's nba

 

i guess wilt's 2 basic moves will be

1)scoring with the right hand
2)scoring with the left.........

 

You forgot to mention

4. Back that A$# up and dunk.

 

You forgot the lower shoulder, spin and dunk.

 

The players of the 60s could never stand up to the players of today. The competition was so inferior back then, that any above average player was going to stand out. It's akin to a current nba superstar going down and dominating the d league. The numbers were so inflated back then due to the weak competition and quality of players and there's no way guys like oscar would ever come close to averaging a triple double, wilt scoring 100 points or guys averaging 20 boards for a season. That would be impossible for them in today's game.

 

do u know the garbage centers starting right now in the NBA? the center position is WEEEEAAAAAK as weaksauce can be.

 

The problem with that, is that it assumes that the player would play the same way. Bill Russell himself said that if he had played later, he would have spent more time in the weightroom. I would imagine that he'd have played 30 pounds heavier if he'd played today. And he'd have had better training all the way through highschool and college. The man was an incredible talent. He would have been a superstar whenever he played.

 

he would still be an incredible defensive player, but i think his lack of offense would simply make him a better version of ben wallace. he def. would not have won any MVPs in this era b/c i think u would need some offense somewhat.

 

He averaged as high as 19 points, albeit with mediocre percentages. He had some post moves and good finishing ability. Bill Russell wasn't a bad offensive player. If he had started in 1990 or even in 1980, Russell would have still been a Hall of Famer.

 

Exact and correct, nothing should be added to this statement.