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2024 All-Time NBA Draft Round 2: Team W vs Team R

Which team would win in a best of 7 playoff series?

  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .
I just went back to the draft thread and Embiid was taken ahead of Russell. So yea, I just really misunderstood the assignment. Never liked my team anyway so nbd. But yes, was not quite prepared to have Bill Russell slotted in at center and for that to be seen as a negative.

I get the arguments for why though, of course.
 
Fosto said:
I cannot find any pre-80s legend who was anywhere near as inefficient as Russell. Wilt 57% TS, West 56%, Robertson 56%. Hell, even Bailey Howell was at 53%. And Russell was a center in an era where players were vastly less athletic than today. I am imagining him in the current era. That's the whole point.
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He was above league average for FG% for his era. Not great for a center, but he was a good passer and played well enough to keep him on the court while his defense lead his team to wins. I believe if he played today he would have developed in to a league average offensive player to keep him on the court to play defense. It requires some imagination, but just imagine his work ethic and determination combined with modern training.
 
Thee Idiotic Minivan K said:
That’s easily fixed put Durant on Wallace who’s offensive game is mostly nonexistent in that he doesn’t create.
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The hard part will be keeping Russell off the glass if Wallace is preoccupied with Duncan. He is going to create a ton of extra possessions offensively.
 
Fosto said:
Bill Russell had zero offensive game. Allen is the only player who can shoot on Team W.
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I would say he’s basically a less physically awkward Gobert with tier-1 leadership/intangibles and good passing ability.

In other words, you’re not exactly wrong, but you can’t argue with the hardware.
 
NUMBERICA said:
I would say he’s basically a less physically awkward Gobert with tier-1 leadership/intangibles and good passing ability.

In other words, you’re not exactly wrong, but you can’t argue with the hardware.
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Sure, but Gobert is an incredibly efficient player. He's limited, but the things he can do on the offensive end he does really well. I'm sure Russell has a lot of intangibles. He's been a huge part of many championship teams, and an all time great. And I wasn't even born when he played, so my knowledge is based on highlights and stats. But I'm not entirely sure I'd rather have him over Gobert on my team. I might, but I'm not sure.
 
Love a bunch of these players but compositions are really off on both.

My main takeaway is Bill Russell gets to play free safety, so that’s curtains for R pretty definitively.
 
Fosto said:
Bird would slay in the modern NBA. A shooting big with amazing vision!

Russell is an offensive liability. Purely a defensive specialist. His offensive game is worse than Gobert.
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Lobs basically didn’t exist in that era. I think Russell ported over to the modern game is a somewhat better offensive player than Gobert.

To say Russell isn’t an all-time great is blasphemy (but he does have limitations and I would take KD over him like most people).
 
SoberasHotRod said:
Russell could do way more offensively than you are giving him credit for. Also, I personally think if Russell grew up in the modern era he would have been exposed very early to coaches that would help him to dribble and shoot and he could have developed a shot on par with Garnett.
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He averaged 15.1 points per game on 44.0% as a big. That’s subpar.
 
NUMBERICA said:
Love a bunch of these players but compositions are really off on both.

My main takeaway is Bill Russell gets to play free safety, so that’s curtains for R pretty definitively.
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Free safety because team R can’t shoot?
 
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