From what I've read Russell is a faster, shorter, better shotblocking KG with worse scoring.
IMO, that's not better than Jordan.
The athleticism gap between guys like Russell, Wilt, and the rest of the NBA was probably huge. I think most would agree that they would not be as effective in Jordan's era or today as they were in the 1950s. While Russell would still be a top athlete in any era the gap would be a lot smaller between him and other guys.
I have to admit I'm very bias against pre-80s basketball. I think Rondo would be Bob Cousy's worst nightmare on a bball court. I just don't think those guys had the athletes to keep up with todays guys. For the most part I think players from the 1950s jumping to the modern game would look like JJ Reddick when he made his jump to the pros.
Though think about it this way. In Kareem Abdul Jabbar's rookie year '69-70, Russell had just retired and Wilt Chamberlain was still playing. Kareem retired in '89, putting up 24 ppg as late as '85-86 at the age of 38.
If players from Russell's era like Chamberlain couldn't dominate in the modern game, Jabbar should've begun to suck in the '80s after dominating the late '60s and early '70s. And while his number dropped slightly, his per 36 minutes stayed close to the same and most of his drop can be attributed to being in his mid-to-late 30s. And I think the fact that Kareem in his late 30s could still put up 20+ ppg in Jordan's era, while doing the same in (a year after) Russell's, clearly shows that Russ could've dominated in the '80s just as much as he did in the '50s and '60s.
Jabbar was obviously great. Russell would be playing in an era where he was 6'9'' and going against many more players who were taller and more atheletic than his opponents of the 50's and 60's. He probably would have been a great role player I'm sure but he was not a scorer or anything close to a dominant offensive player. Its a weak comparison with Kareem because Kareem was such a dominant scorer and also blocked shots and rebounded.
But that's not the point. Let's make this much clearer.
Kareem's rookie year, '69-70, the year after Russell retired and while Wilt was still putting up 27-18, Kareem put up 28-14.
16 years later at the age of 38 and in Jordan's second season, Kareem is still putting up 23 and 6. Sure, that's a drop off, but Kareem was also 38. Furthermore, at the per 36 level, his '69-70's number comes out to be 24-12 and his '85-86 number comes out to be 25-7.
Now, I do realize that Russell and Jabbar were two radically different players. However, I think this totally eradicates the notion that Russell was playing against a bunch of unathletic, subpar players that modern players would walk all over.
If that was the case, Kareem would've been putting up much bigger numbers at the beginning of his career and certainly wouldn't have been capable of dominating the modern era in his mid-to-late 30s.