I Think Bill Russell is the GOAT!!! (Part 1: Stats)

Man, I've been doing some research, and to be honest, I think that Bill Russell is the Greatest Player of All Time. Now, I know that everyone is thinking "Dude, Michael Jordan is the best". Yes, they will bring up MJ's scoring titles and scoring ability. But, I'll bring up some interesting counter points. This is going to be a long blog post, so get ready.

Total Career Stats

Michael Jordan: 32,292 pts, 6,672 rebs, 5,633 ass., 2,514 stls, 893 blks
Bill Russell: 14,522 pts, 21,620 rebs, 4,100 ass.

*In Russell's time, blocks and steals weren't recorded. We could only imagine how monstrous his block numbers would be though.

Total Career Averages

Michael Jordan: 30.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 5.3 apg, 2.35 spg, .83 bpg,
Bill Russell: 15.1 ppg, 22.5 rpg, 4.3 apg.

Total Career Accolades

Michael Jordan: 6x NBA Champion, 6x NBA Finals MVP, 5x NBA MVP, 14x NBA All-Star, 10x NBA Scoring Champ, 3x NBA Steals Champ, 10x All-NBA First Team, 1x All-NBA Second Team, 9x All-NBA First-Defense, 1x NBA Defensive POY, NBA ROY, NBA All-Rookie Team

*I didn't include Jordan's all-star mvp accolades and slam-dunk awards, as those aren't really indicative of how good you are. Nobody tries in all-star games and the dunk contest is a fun event.

Bill Russell: 11x NBA Champion, 5x NBA MVP, 12x NBA All-Star, 5x NBA Rebounding Champ, 3x All-NBA First Team, 8x All-NBA Second Team, 1x All-NBA First Defense

*I don't know how many of these awards were first initiated during Russell's career. It's very possible that some of the accolades didn't come into fruition until midway through Russell's career. For example, when Russell played, the NBA Finals MVP wasn't a real award. Now it's named after him. Russell also won 2 more championships as a coach, but were aren't factoring that into this discussion.

Conclusion

Stats wise, Michael Jordan seems to have the upper hand in several categories. However, Russell ties him in MVPs and beats him in championships. These are the 2 awards, that in my opinion, are much more significant than things like "All-NBA". However, the stats never paint the full picture. If you are a stats geek, then you will probably go with Jordan as the GOAT, despite Russell having more championships. But the game is about much more than individual stats. In the next post, we'll start analyzing more nuances.