Pharzeone wrote:

TMS wrote:Russell played in a completely different era... there's a ton more at stake in terms of dollar amounts, commercial marketing value & all the rest in this day & age of free agency... i don't think u can assume he wouldn't be considering the same things Lebron is if he came up in the modern day.

I don't know he was asked once about the difference between him and Wilt and he said the desire to win. He said it was more important to him than money and fame. He pretty much lived a humble life. Some guys are built very different. His teammates and opponents including Wilt described him as being insane about winning. He didn't care about stats.

"It wasn't a matter of Wilt versus Russell with Bill. He would let Wilt score 50 if we won. The thing that was most important to him was championships, rings and winning," said former teammate and Hall of Fame inductee, John "Hondo" Havlicek.

now compare that to Lebron expressing himself.

I don't think anything is wrong with it but I do think that there are some guys who don't care about the fame part.

you guys ever read "the rivalry"? best book on nba history i have read. its clear that what we think of "modern" players isnt new. wilt was just like the spoiled players of today and he got his start 50+ years ago. reading on guys trying to get raises by having nice stats and coaches pointing out: are you clutch, can you play d, etc... as much as the times/people/teams have changed, many of the skills/lessons/themes have not.

hard to tell if lbj follows russell or wilt -- i kinda hope wilt jsut a bit cuz if its russell, i dont think he leaves.

Pharzeone wrote:

TMS wrote:Russell played in a completely different era... there's a ton more at stake in terms of dollar amounts, commercial marketing value & all the rest in this day & age of free agency... i don't think u can assume he wouldn't be considering the same things Lebron is if he came up in the modern day.

I don't know he was asked once about the difference between him and Wilt and he said the desire to win. He said it was more important to him than money and fame. He pretty much lived a humble life. Some guys are built very different. His teammates and opponents including Wilt described him as being insane about winning. He didn't care about stats.

"It wasn't a matter of Wilt versus Russell with Bill. He would let Wilt score 50 if we won. The thing that was most important to him was championships, rings and winning," said former teammate and Hall of Fame inductee, John "Hondo" Havlicek.

now compare that to Lebron expressing himself.

I don't think anything is wrong with it but I do think that there are some guys who don't care about the fame part.

i understand & i agree there were fundamental differences between him & Wilt... but let's say if Tim Duncan, who many people will agree is a simple guy who isn't really concerned about the fame part, were faced with the decision to either accept a max offer from the Knicks or if the Spurs offered him signicantly less, can we assume he'd take significantly less to stay in San Antonio? i just dunno about that... these days money talks & bullshiet walks.

now i know if the offers were the same that Duncan would definitely stay in San Antonio, & that's a different situation than Lebron is facing now, but for Lebron he would also be leaving a ton of marketing dollars behind if he doesn't make the move, so for Bill Russell to say stuff like that when he lived in a completely different era where the sport was not nearly as commercialized with its worldwide global appeal i think u can't really apply it to this day... i don't know many "winners" that don't let the dollars dictate their decisions these days... Kobe would leave LA if they didn't pony up the big bucks to keep him in LA, you can believe that... same goes for Derek Jeter with the Yankees.