Game Of A Throne: the "Chosen Ones Projects" (Part 1)

Yes Kareem was the GOAT in the 70’s, but in the other hand the problem with him is that even though he dominated that decade in terms of statistical and individual accolades as the ones you list, those didn’t translate into real domination and Titles and all that while playing in the weakest decade of all time by far as half of the talent was playing for the ABA… so even though Kareeem was the best Chosen One Project in the 70’s, the narrative changes when we talk about the “King of All the GOAT” and in my opinion Kareem is vastly overrated and there are no arguments for ranking him in the TOP5.

Here is another way at looking at Kareem’s accolades during that time:
. He played in the weakest decade of all time
. Still he only won 1 Ring and with the other “Chosen One Project” playing in the ABA for half decade.
. He did not win a Title for 8 straight years (from 1972 to 1979), until Magic arrived.
. He did not even make the Finals for 5 straight years (from 1975-1979) and that’s the time when he actually reached his prime and the time when NBA&ABA joined forces.
. He did not even make it to the PlayOffs for 2 straight years (75-76) while being in his prime.
. He was named MVP without even making the PlayOffs (’76)…

Don’t worry the post was not so much about naming the GOAT of each decade but about showing the Crucial moments in history that changed or could have changed the course of the league, and about how the lead actors of this story, “the Chosen Ones” faced and came out of these battles…

That narrative about Bill Russell winning all those rings only due to playing with many HOF’s while in the opposite Chamberlain not winning because of the lack of them on his teams is one of the greatest MYTHS in NBA history.. once i finish this series of posts about the GOAT, i’ll make a post about the “Greatest Myths in NBA History” and this one will probably be on top of the list.

It’s not that Russell won rings because of playing with many HOF’s, it is that many of those players are HOF’s only because they played with Bill and therefore they won many rings.. Russell made many of those players HOF’s. In fact, many of those “HOF’s” like Ramsey, T.Sanders, KC Jones or Don Nelson were not even All-Stars in their career and were average players that just happened to play with BR, while other players in the league at that time like Rudy LaRusso who was a 5 times All-Star and even All-DEF who played 3 NBA Finals is not a HOF’er.. Why¿? Well because he doesn’t have a ring…

Truth is that BOS had as many good players as any of the TOP4 teams in the league but the “Difference Maker” was clearly Russell, in fact all those “super-stars” that played with Russell in his early years like B.Cousy, B.Sharman or E.Macauley had played together for 5 years before BR arrived and not only they never won a Title but actually they didn’t even make it to the Finals.. not even in 1956 (the year before BR arrived) when they added another All-Star like A.Risen… and in fact, in the 1958 Finals when Russell got injured in the 3rd game, the Celtics lost against the Hawks 4-2 even with all that “collection of stars” like Cousy, Sharman, Heinsohn, Ramsey, A.Risen and even a rookie S.Jones…

Again, Bill Russell did not win because of those “HOF’s”, He made those players HOF’s and if it wasn’t for Russell BOS would have never won a single Championship… Russell could have made any team in the league a Champion and we don’t even have to speculate about that as we’ve seen what happened to BOS in the ’58 Finals without him and as we see in his final 2 seasons in 1968 and 1969 when he led a very old BOS team to the Title against all odds, especially in 1969 when after barely making the playoffs he beat the greatest team assembled in history, a super Big3 of LA featuring “3 MVP caliber” players like Chamberlain, West and Baylor, and he did it while also exerting as the head coach in what in my opinion has been the greatest Championship run in NBA history…

When talking the rivalry between Russell and Wilt, there’s a lot of misinformation and myths… from 1966 to 1973 Chamberlain always played in the best teams of the league and with the most amount of talent than any other player and that of course includes Russell, but early in his career in San Francisco is not that he didn’t play with enough talent to beat the Celtics.. In those Warriors Wilt played with P.Arizin who was a Top5 player in the league before the arrival of Wilt and he even led the Warriors to a Ring in 1956 something that Cousy never did in BOS before Russell arrived… but those Warriors were also loaded with HOF’s like T.Gola and G.Rodgers and even N.Thurmond later so again, that was more than enough talent to beat BOS…

Russell and Chamberlain met 7 times in playoffs and 4 times it went to 7 games as you mention but the difference is that Russell always overcame pressure and played better and bigger in the decisive games while Wilt most of times melted down:
.In 1960 they met in the Conf. Finals and Wilt averaged 30pts/27rb against 21pts/27rb by BR but the difference is that in RS Chamberlain averaged almost 38pts/27rb while BR 18Pts/24Rb and in the game 6 where BOS won by 2, Chamberlain had 26pts/24rb (with 44FG%) and Russell 25pts/25rb…
. In 1962 they meet again in Conf. Finals and the series go to 7 games with Chamberlain averaging 33.5pts/27rb (47%) and BR 22pts/26rb but in RS Wilt averaged 50pts/26rb (50%) and BR 19pts/23rb and in game 7 where BOS won by 2 Chamberlain had 22pts/22rb (46’7%) and BR 19pts/22rb (50%)…
. In 1964 these 2 teams met again but now in the NBA Finals and BOS wins easy 4-1.. Chamberlain had 29pts/27rb and BR only 11pts/25rb/5ast but in RS Wilt averaged 37pts/22rb while Russell was at 15pts/25rb.
. In 1965 wilt now plays in PHI and meets BOS in Conf. Finals where BOS wins in 7 games; Wilt had 30/30rb and BR 16pts/25rb/7ast and in RS Wilt 35pts/23rb ans BR 14pts/24rb/5ast; in game 7 BOS wins by 1 with Charmberlain having 32pts/30rb and BR 15pts/29rb/8ast
. in 1966 PHI becomes the best team in the league with a loaded team but BOS beats them in Conf.Finals 4-1; MVP Chamberlain has 28pts/30rb and BR 14pts/26rb/6ast and in RS WC has 33.5pts/25rb and BR 13pts/23rb/5ast
. In 1968 PHI is the reigning Champ and wins 62 games and are clear favourites against an old BOS team that wins those Conf.Finals in 7 games… WC has 22pts/25rb/7ast and BR 14pts/24rb/4ast while in RS the MVP Chamberlain had 24pts/24rb/8.5ast and BR 12pts/18rb/4.5ast… in game 7 Chamberlain has 14pts/34rb/5ast (44%) and BR 12pts/26rb/5ast (66%)
. In 1969 Wilt moves to LA and assembles a super big 3 that are super favourites to win the Finals against a very old BOS team that barely makes playoffs, but BOS wins in 7 games… Bill Russell, 35yo and in his last season gives a defensive master class and leaves Chamberlain in 11’7ppg…