who you rolling with? 🤔

[Da Stars.]

It's always tough when you're talking about an player of the older days playing a current player or playing in a current era.

Like with Bill are we just saying we time travel Russell in his prime to today and have him defend Jokic with no knowledge of the style of play Jokic has or the three point takeover (prime Bill never played when 3s were a thing but feel free to correct me if I am wrong there).

Or are we saying Bill Russell is born in 1997 and has all the same mental and physical gifts but knows about modern basketball and the way it's played today.

Because I think two people who are debating this need to come to an agreement about this before continuing. Otherwise it's just semantics of how that person interprets prime Bill Russell guarding prime Jokic.

The latter.

To be fair, even prime Dwight/Timmy didn't deal with "today's" style of play. They were still just trolling the interior.

Not of what we know today, no, but they did playing in what I would call between phase one and two of the 3 point shot. Game was heading towards that 3 point shot 20 years ago.

[Bush4Ever.]

I was assuming we drop 1963(ish) Russell into the modern game, but with an understanding of the modern game advancements.

The only reason he wouldn't be my top pick is because of the weight/size issue.

He'd be a 6'11" guy today with how guys are measured today, and he played his career from 215 to the mid 220s or so, mostly in the 220-225 range from what I've read.

The older 60s game had a lot more up and down action at a rapid rate over more minutes played per game, so slimming down was probably a relatively higher premium than bulking up even by the bulking standards of that day.

If he was Bam's size without losing quickness/dexterity/cardio I would feel more comfortable. 20 pounds isn't the end of the world, but 50 pounds is quite a lot, especially going against someone who isn't going to bail you out with poor shot selection like Wilt often did against Russell (relatively-speaking).

I still believe he would limit Joker though, even as is. But no one stops a legendary scorer/passer cold. The best you can do is limit touches, volume, efficiency to some degree. Even Hakeem "only" dropped star bigs by about 5.5% percentage points off true shooting and about 3.5 points a game or so (or per 36 minutes, which is roughly the same thing):

[PhutureDynasty]

It's always tough when you're talking about an player of the older days playing a current player or playing in a current era.

Like with Bill are we just saying we time travel Russell in his prime to today and have him defend Jokic with no knowledge of the style of play Jokic has or the three point takeover (prime Bill never played when 3s were a thing but feel free to correct me if I am wrong there).

Or are we saying Bill Russell is born in 1997 and has all the same mental and physical gifts but knows about modern basketball and the way it's played today.

Because I think two people who are debating this need to come to an agreement about this before continuing. Otherwise it's just semantics of how that person interprets prime Bill Russell guarding prime Jokic.

The latter.

To be fair, even prime Dwight/Timmy didn't deal with "today's" style of play. They were still just trolling the interior.

That's a fair point.

You could certainly argue that basketball changed more from 2014-2024 than it did from 1994-2014.

[Havlicekstealsit]

I think many elite bigs with lanky arms disrupting passing lanes, with quick perimeter to paint movement would be most effective. High-motor guys willing to move and not be stationary. Wilt, Russell, DRob, Duncan, KG, maybe a younger Hakeem come to mind.

[thedangerouskitchen]

William Felton Russell

6'9, 210 pound Russell against a 7-foot, 280-pound Joker??

You're trolling, right?

You keep telling me he's slow and unathletic?

Russell held Wilt WAY OFF his normal averages giving up more size than that.

Not quite:

Wilt vs. Russ (94 games): 29.9-PPG / 28.1-REB / 3.8-AST on .49% (vs. 30.1/22.9/4.4 on 54% for his career)

Of course we're talking about the 1960's... and if Joker would absolutely demolish the 90's (assording to you, grizz and others) that means he wouldn't even be allowed to play in grizz' Glory Day Era, because he would be deemed too good and thus, the rest of the league would boycott unless Joker was banned.

[Bush4Ever.]

Not quite:

Wilt vs. Russ (94 games): 29.9-PPG / 28.1-REB / 3.8-AST on .49% (vs. 30.1/22.9/4.4 on 54% for his career)

You wouldn't use Wilt's career totals, since his post 1969 (post-Russell) years dropped his total career averages significantly.

He averaged 34.4 ppg on 53 percent shooting from 1960-1969 (Russell years).

Actually, it would be better to go year over year. But you certainly wouldn't add post-1969 years to the denominator.

[Robceltsfan]

6'9, 210 pound Russell against a 7-foot, 280-pound Joker??

You're trolling, right?

You keep telling me he's slow and unathletic?

Russell held Wilt WAY OFF his normal averages giving up more size than that.

Not quite:

Wilt vs. Russ (94 games): 29.9-PPG / 28.1-REB / 3.8-AST on .49% (vs. 30.1/22.9/4.4 on 54% for his career)

Of course we're talking about the 1960's... and if Joker would absolutely demolish the 90's (assording to you, grizz and others) that means he wouldn't even be allowed to play in grizz' Glory Day Era, because he would be deemed too good and thus, the rest of the league would boycott unless Joker was banned.

Russell stopped playing in 68-69. At that point in Wilt's career, he was averaging 34.4 ppg.

It gets worse for him in the playoffs (WHEN IT COUNTS).

Wilt averaged 25.7 ppg against Bill in the playoffs.

[Alex_Murphy]

Apparently and according to game 6, I’m rolling with Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns.

[lettherebehouse]

I’m rolling with zig-zags. They’re commonly sold in most smoke shops and come in many different sizes. The paper is deceptively integrated with a high fiber north american hemp that can survive under extreme conditions.

[PhutureDynasty]

I’m rolling with zig-zags. They’re commonly sold in most smoke shops and come in many different sizes. The paper is deceptively integrated with a high fiber north american hemp that can survive under extreme conditions.

would have guessed Raw papers for you.

[Shill Jackson]

I’m rolling with zig-zags. They’re commonly sold in most smoke shops and come in many different sizes. The paper is deceptively integrated with a high fiber north american hemp that can survive under extreme conditions.

would have guessed Raw papers for you.