The difference between Russell and Kareem...

[Fafnir]

They certainly have very different personalities.  However, they are in different situations.  I think it's somewhat understandable that Kareem would feel rather slighted when there are statues of the other Lakers legends and not him -- yet he is absolutely on their level.  

Russell might feel different if there were statues of Hondo, Bird, McHale etc outside the Garden but not one of him.

I doubt it, I don't think Russell was the jealous type when it came to his team mates. He didn't win the MVP over Cousy at first or Rookie of the year. I've never once heard him comment on that.

Kareem clearly was jealous of Magic the whole way.

[Finkelskyhook]

I don't understand the argument. Kareem has never been interested in shameless self-promotion, and he doesn't seem like an egomaniac. By most accounts, he's an intelligent, deeply private and decent person whose one downfall was aloofness with the media and fans. That should sound pretty familiar to all the Russell fans.

Perhaps Kareem feels, for whatever reason, that he's not getting the respect he deserves. Any proud individual has a right to feel that way and express that opinion.

The fact that Russell has a different style with this sort of thing doesn't make Kareem's actions wrong, in my mind.

As an aside, my two favorite basketball autobiographies are "Second Wind" by Russell and "Giant Steps" by Kareem. I think anyone who reads both will be struck more by the similarities between the two men than by their differences.

That's very well put, Boris.  Kareem has never been good in front of a camera.  IMHO, it's probably cost him coaching jobs.  To take a snippet and make a blanket statement is far from reflective of who the guy is.  Russell wasn't good around a mic for a long time either.  It came over time.

It's a different dynamic altogether.  Kareem's seeing a great player...But a publicity hound who had to lie  at the end of his career to keep the attention coming in....Getting celebrated exclusively as if he was the whole team.  

One may not like Kareem's approach.  He's never been the most pleasant guy.    But a lot of his accomplishments are unparalleled.  And most of those accomplishments came as a Laker..I have no problem with how he feels.

...Which is what I think a lot of us lose sight of when we slam players like Kareem to stick up for Russell.  The championships we won in the 80s were all the sweeter because our competition was as formidable as it was.  Kareem may have been aloof, but he was a helluva competitor.  Bird, McHale, Maxwell, and Parish were far the better for having to compete against him.

I think it's all symbollic silliness anyway.  But if Earvin Johnson deserves to be honored a specific way for the Lakers' accomplishments in that era, Kareem sure as hell deserves at least as much.