Rosen: Yao would Overpower a in his prime Bill Russell

Its simple guys, people always want to assume that their generation is better than past generations. Sure there is more science in Basketball now, but image what these players from the the past would do if they had modern training. Think of it like this. Wilt talked about Kareem and how good we was when he first came into the league. Still wilt dominated him. Now Kareem continued to dominate the league into the 80's against the likes of Moses and other great centers, who in turn more than held their own against the likes of the dream, ewing, and many other good centers who we look to as the golden age of basketball for centers heck for everyone. To say that Bill Russell or Wilt wouldn't be able to do these things today discounts who they did it against, and who they then did it against. Its a slippery slope that only fools try and climb.

Take note, because in 30 years people are going to be saying the same thing about this generation of basketball players, soon it will be about the 80's generation. Trust me its going to happen.

 

Hakeem > Russell.....

 

And even if they are smaller than him, most of them have stronger upper bodies to muscle him out.

 

and also, the dunk and spin.

 

Russell was 6'9 1/2" without shoes...many players heights today are padded so he isn't as small as you think. Duncan meausured only 6'10" and Ben Wallace claims to be 6'7" and even that might be a stretch. Russell would do fine because of his high basketball IQ, great defensive skills and excellent athletisism. I do think Wilt would have a lot of trouble with Shaq in his prime. Shaq was very athletic, the strongest player of all time and much quicker than people think. I'd give 99'-02' Shaq the edge 1 on 1 vs any center in history execpt maybe Hakeem who clearly gave Shaq trouble in 1995 although we don't know how Shaq would have done if it was 00' Shaq vs 95' Hakeem. Hakeem was actually only about 6'10" which made his dominance even more amazing so Russell would have been just effective on the defensive end IMO and probably would average 13-15 ppg in his best seasons today.

 

Have you ever considered the fact that today's athletes are juiced (hopefully without doping) beyond belief with tons of supplements, specialized strength and conditioning training, etc. Back then the athletes didn't have the advanced technology. That's what makes the players of today look "better", not any inherent difference. If Wilt/Russell had today's training, they'd dominate the game today too.

On the subject, what the hell has Rosen been smoking? He hates on Yao/McGrady/everyone else on the Rockets for years and now suddenly he has nice things to say about them? Does he really hate JVG that much, and why would hating JVG make him hate the rest of the Rockets too?

 

You would not see the same stats though. Wilt would not be aloud to take 39.5 FGA in a season in todays game. He'd probably take 22 FGA max and no player could grab over 20 RPG in todays game. I think both Wilt and Russell would be HOF players in todays era or any other era though.

 

He isn't even being subtle about it. We haven't even played one flippin' game and I can already tell he's gonna be ridin' our jockstrap all season. This guy is a pure joke, but we already knew that. I just hope, for his sake, that he learns a little subtlety and restraint before ruining his own reputation nationally, however weak that rep already is.

God that guy pisses me off.

 

Bill Russell could dunk on a 14-foot goal...

 

It's hard to say with these generation to generation match-ups....


It would pretty much be

Big O, Wilt, Russell, West, Cousy, Wilkens,DeBusschere, Havilchek, Greer, Bing, J.Lucas, and Baylor

vs.

Kobe, Duncan, Garnett, Shaq, Nash, LeBron, Wade, R.Wallace, Marion, T-Mac, Yao, and Arenas

It's hard to say....but I think the players of today...slightly...because of international players...expanison of baskeball in general...more emphasis on defense


But I think of all the generations head to head...the best would be between the 80s and 90s.

 

In today's NBA and it's a shame, Russell wouldn't even be considered a top tier superstar because of his 13-15ppg avgs. There'd only be a grudging respect by reporters if the rest of the team started winning a string of 3 or more championships.

This guy neutralized Wilt ****ing Chamberlain, who wasn't a wuss in his respect, and managed not to be a liability on offense like Big Ben. Sometimes he had the help of double teams, sometimes he didn't, but that's team bball.

IMO, Russell would flat out stop Yao if Yao played the same way he did in Utah. Yao has everything needed to beat him or any other center, but we haven't seen his real identity yet.

 

Russell was the opposite of a liability because he was a pretty good scorer and an excellent passer. He'd help on both ends and probably win a few DPOY.

 

i never said he wouldn't. i just said he would be an above avg offensive player. remember, he got a lot of offensive rebounds and scored off of that. i doubt he can avg 15-20 in today's era to get pts like that.

 

Elvin Hayes came into the NBA in '68-'69, and he could score and defend against anyone in the frontcourt of today's NBA. Statements like this are absurd. And I'm old enough to have seen Chamberlain and Russell. Those guys were definitely NOT chopped liver. What complete BS. Could you made a broader and more erroneous statement?

 

Deckard,
they don't know.
next thing you know, they'll say 50CENT is better than Tupac.

 

2pac's the most influential rapper of ALL time. 50 cent actually wants to emulate 2pac but too bad, he's a wanksta.

 

Saying Russell, Robertson and Chamberlain couldn't play with todays players is a stupid statement..they were HOF players then and they'd be now but it would also be stupid to say they'd still put up 25 rpg, average a triple double or average 50 and score 100 in a game..those things aren't possible in todays game execpt the triple double. Wilt wouldn't be aloud to take 39.5 FGA in the current NBA and no one would average anywhere close to 25 rpg.

 

exactly. no way can u avg a triple double, avg 20+ rebounds, or score 100 and things like that b/c the possessions are much less and the pace is not as fast.

 

The closest to that in the modern NBA(79'-present) was Dennis Rodman averaging 18.6 rpg, Jordan averaging 37.1 ppg, Magic averaging 18.6 ppg, 9.6 rpg and 9.5 apg If you are talking this decade then the closest would be Ben Wallace averaging 15.4 rpg, Kobe averaging 35.4 ppg and Jason Kidd averaging 13.6 ppg, 8.2 rpg and 9.1 apg.

 

That's a completely unwinnable position. It's apples/oranges.

Players of yesteryear also didn't have modern training techniques, trainers, suppliments, dietary information, years of historical data, supporting staff, better equipment/shoes, etc etc etc.

If a player excelled in the 60's, you have no choice but to give them the benefit of the doubt that if Russel was raised today he could acheive the same things that today's players can.

And if you send a player back in time, you have to raise that player from birth so they wouldn't have all the advantages that today's players have.