I don't know what point you are trying to make, Russel is replaceable or Russell is a lot harder to replace than most people realize, Go look at my post in the first page.
Im definitely not trying to say that. My point is that hes as good as people say he is, hes just not as good as his titles say he is. By that I mean what we think they represent. Growing up I thought he was among the top 3 of all time, but that was at an age where everything you think about the game revolves around what people told you about the games legends. So discounting that part of my life Ive always called him overrated, and it all began because of his stats, then I recognized the impact he had on his teammates stats and how he completely changed their defensive effectiveness (And why Wilt never could in his youth) all but confirmed the making players better talk. Personally I see him as a top 10-15 player, the Birdman thing was purely satirical meant to shed light on the fact that Russ did indeed have an advantage that no other center will ever have again. The fact that he came first and created the blue print is as great of an advantage to have, as opposed to being 1 of several students trying to perfect the same blue print.
Sorry but Russell is a Top 3 player to ever play and he's a Top 3 center at worst. Russell is arguably greater than Jordan, I mean he has more rings and he has the same amount of MVPs, and it's too bad they didn't have DPOYs or Finals MVPs back in the days, because Russell would have double-digits worth of both.
To be quite honest, I think the average player now is miles better than the average player then. Guys like Azubuike and Anthony Morrow are considered average now, but transported back in time to Russell's era they would probably be more dominant than Jordan in his prime, esp. when the league back then had a lot of white guys who can't jump. However, players like Russell, Wilt, Kareem are imho special. Those guys would dominate in any era, even our own. IMHO the Celts would still have won a lot of championships even if you replace Russell with Birdman, those celtic teams were just that good. However I doubt they would win 10x in a row without Russell, and Birdman certanly won't become a player coach like Russell was.
