Here's the deal. Jordan was the greatest player of all time. Bottom line, end of story.
But for Jordan's first three years in the league (1984-1987), but Bulls were not even a .500 team. It's a fact people don't pay much attention to. They won 38, 30 and 40 games. But all three years, having a below .500 record was enough for the Bulls to make the playoffs with a low seed. Naturally, the Boston Celtics (at their apex) were better than a below .500 team.
If the internet had existed in the same capacity during JOrdan's early years, the media would have ripped him apart. His first 3 years he was out in the first round... his team wasn't even good enough to get over .500. It wasn't until Pippen arrived that they even turned into a 50 win team. Then of course there were the 3 next years that they were owned by the Pistons.
It's kinda like LeBron right now. LeBron finally won his first championship coincidentally at the same age as Jordan when he won his first title. LeBron very well could go on to win multiple titles... and then decades from now someone will post a video showing how Paul Pierce "owned" LeBron James... Those Cavs teammates stunk about as bad as those early Bulls teammates surrounding Jordan. It doesn't take away from what Jordan eventually accomplished and what LeBron is potentially about to accomplish.
Jordan was amazing during those 6 title years. To be fair, when jordan first retired, the Bulls managed to win 55 games without him with Pippen at the forefront... arguably a better supporting cast than LeBron has now. Still... Jordan was incredible at his absolute best and deserving of all the praise he received.
Bill Russell was the greatest player of all time. Bottom line, end of story.
Lol bill russell. I know you're joking but still lol.
I don't know whether Russell is the best ever (before my time) but at worst he's in the conversation with a few other players. I don't see how you could make a case that anyone's *clearly* better than someone who led teams to 11 titles in 13 years. If MJ had done that people would have shrines to him in their back yards.
Oh tim, you're better than this man. 11 titles is impressive. How many teams were in the league then tho? Also, how tall were the guys matched up with russell? For him to have a clear height advantage and athletic advantage its almost a diss on him that he couldn't be more dominate on the offensive end.
In todays NBA he would obviously be even worse. Also, russell is known for his defense and rebounding but is limited offensively.
He can't take over a game on BOTH ends of the court like MJ. Of course if MJ did that people would have shrines of him. It would have been ALOT more impressive if MJ did that in the 90's.
I actually just looked at the numbers not long ago of bill russell and those celtics in the finals. Out of those 11 championships if finals mvps existed back then russell would have had 2 maybe 3 at most.