(09-18-2020, 01:10 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: Maybe not shoot but absolutely drive. Bill Russell would have a legit case for most athletic center of all time if it wasn´t for his rival Wilt. He was build like Giannis and ranked among the 10 best high jumpers in the entire world. Also was a world class sprinter. I don´t think any current player could match his PB. And that´s not even his biggest strength. He was a basketball savant. Be it as a defender or passer.
He also played in a different era with different rules, worse spacing, more physical contact and less analytics. Give him todays spacing and rules and he could probably do a lot more damage on offense.
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Wow, ok then! Thanks for the schooling!
Just watched two highlight clips of Russell. Unfortunately, it was a lot of rebounding and put back dunks, mixed with some running hooks, all skills I have long assumed he possessed. I've also heard for years that he basically invented the concept that an outlet pass could change the game, and what I saw today confirmed that. He was at least as good at those as Jokic. Obviously a super smart player.
I didn't see any half court drives, but that doesn't mean he didn't do that, or that he couldn't have. What I DID notice is that he was ABSOLUTELY faster and quicker than I had imagined, and I was shocked to see quite a few instances where he took the ball and LED the break, either going coast to coast or making an incredibly good read and pass en route. This is one of the rare abilities Bam and Jokic have that's impacting the playoff results right in front of our eyes.
After deliberation, I have decided that yes, Bill Russell is still worthy of being called one of the possible winning "prototypical centers" @"ItsGoTime". Dude could absolutely have played in this era with very little alteration to his game. Thanks for your thoughtful and meaningful contribution to this conversation.