I've always thought that MJ and Russell are the 2 best players ever, with my preference for GOAT going to MJ b/c I grew up watching him in the 90s. MJ is simply the best player I've ever seen. 
But having done extensive research on Bill Russell and his career, I'm CONVINCED that Russell is the GOAT.
11 rings > 6 rings: Jordan won 6 rings in his 15-year career; Russell won 11 in his 13-year career. Advantage: Russell.
Defense: Bill Russell was EASILY the best defender of his time and probably the best defensive player ever. He molded that Celtics dynasty into a defensive juggernaut that won championships.
From Wikipedia: "Russell was an elite help defender who allowed the Celtics to play the so-called "Hey, Bill" defense: whenever a Celtic requested additional defensive help, he would shout "Hey, Bill!" Russell was so quick that he could run over for a quick double team and make it back in time if the opponents tried to find the open man.[He also became famous for his shot-blocking skills: pundits called his blocks "Wilsonburgers", referring to the Wilson NBA basketballs he "shoved back into the faces of opposing shooters". This skill also allowed the other Celtics to play their men aggressively: if they were beaten, they knew that Russell was guarding the basket."
Keep in mind, Russell played in an era where shot blocks were not recorded. However, MANY have said a conservative estimate of his BPG is 5bpg.
Russell was also in the inaugural All-Defensive team for the '68-69 season (his final season).
Jordan was a 9x member of the All First Defense Team. Jordan definitely could D it up and was a nightmare for his opponents. But Jordan's impact on the game as far as defense is concerned is nowhere near Russell's. Russell's defense altered defensive schemes and revolutionized defensive concepts.
Advantage: Russell
Finals MVP Trophy Named After You > 6 Finals MVPs: Yes Jordan won 6 Finals MVP to Russell's 0.
BUT, the Finals MVP awards were only given during Russell's last year in 1969. It was given as a consolation prize to Jerry West (the first and only time that the Finals MVP was given to a player from the losing team).
The award came with a Celtic green Dodge pickup truck. 
Had the Finals MVP been given much earlier, Russell undoubtedly would have won more (probably even more than Jordan). In fact, Jerry West (and his coach/general manager Fred Schaus) who lost 6 Finals encounter with Russell/the Celtics considered him as their most dangerous opponent. And don't forget the 4 Finals trips in which Russell embarrassed Bob Petit/the Hawks.
Moreover, in 2009, David Stern announced that the Finals MVP trophy would be named the would be renamed the "Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award" in honor of the 11-time NBA champion. Why did the league name the trophy after Russell instead of naming it after Jordan (who's won it a record 6 times)? 
Advantage: Russell.
12 Finals Appearances > 6 Finals Appearances: Yes, Jordan is UNDEFEATED in the NBA Finals. True, he's never been in a game 7 in the NBA Finals (that shows dominance
).
BUT, Russell has 11 wins in 12 finals trips in his 13-year career. Jordan made 6 trips to the Finals in his 15-year career (40% chance of going to the Finals vs. Russell's 91%). Russell was a champion from his rookie season to his last. Advantage: Russell.
5 MVPs < 6 MVPS: Here, Jordan has the edge. Jordan has 6 MVPs; Russell has 5. Russell probably could've won more MVPs if his role as a player/coach didn't blur the impact of his two duties. It's hard to attribute the Celtics' success to Russell as the coach or Russell as the player. But nobody forced Russell to be a player/coach.
Advantage: Jordan
2 NCAA Titles > 1 NCAA Titles: Russell has 2 NCAA titles (with a 55-game winning streak with an average winning margin of 15 during his senior years); Jordan has one (thanks to *that* shot). Moreover, unlike Jordan who was but a Robert Horry-role player on James Worthy's 1982 NCAA champion UNC team, Russell was the star and leader of his University of San Francisco championship team. Advantage: Russell
FIBA Limiting Russell to 1 > 2 FIBA Championships: Jordan has 2 Olympic Gold Medals (84 and 92); Russell has only one in 1956. Pros were banned from playing the Olympics until FIBA lifted the ban in 1989, which made it possible for the Dream Team, hence Jordan's 2nd gold medal. A major reason why pros were banned was because the American pros would routinely kick the asses of other countries' pros. The games seriously weren't worth playing.Had FIBA's ban been lifted earlier, Russell would have multiple Olympic Gold medals. Nevertheless, the 1956 Olympic basketball team which Russell captained won the gold medal with a margin of victory of 53.5. It's an Olympic record. 
That's a winning margin higher than the 1992 Dream team or the 1960 Olympic "superstar team" of Jerry Lucas, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson etc.
Russell Made His Teammates and Franchise Better, Not the Other Way Around: Before Russell, the Celtics NEVER went to the NBA Finals (even with HOFers like Coach Auerbach and players like Macauley, Cousy, Sharman, and Ramsey). In 62, Russell took himself out for 4 games and the Celtics lost 4 straight games even with Red Auerbach, Cousy, Sharman, the Joneses, Ramsey and other HoF's. In '69, Russell took himself out for 5 games because of an injury and the Celtics lost 5 straight even with HoF's Sam Jones, John Havlicek, Satch Sanders, and Bailey Howell. Those 2 instances were the 2 worst losing streaks of the Russell-era Celtics. The latter is the worst losing streak of the Celtics since Red Auerbach took over the helm.
When Russell retired after '69, the Celtics went down from 48 wins to 34 and they MISSED the Playoffs even with Havlicek, Sanders, Jo Jo White and Howell. The modest 48 wins that the Celtics garnered in '69 is the lowest number of wins that the Celts had during the Russell-era and occurred only because Russell spent a lot of time in the injured list and/or recovering.
Compare the huge 14 game drop to the Bulls' drop when Jordan "retired" in '94. The Bulls went "down" from 57 wins to 55. A pitiful 2 game drop.
And the Bulls played Game 7 with the Knicks in the Second Round.
The Celtics dynasty started with Bill Russell. Russell didn't win only because he had talented teammates.
Even at the college level, Russell lead a bunch of local boys, "a playground pick up team" from USF, a school with no gymnasium of its own, to back to back NCAA championships and a 55 game winning streak.
How come Jordan COULDN'T lead a school with a rich winning tradition like UNC, into the Final Four during his junior and senior years even though he had great teammates (like Sam Perkins and Brad Daugherty) and a great coach (Dean Smith)? Jordan won an NCAA championship during his sophomore year as a Robert Horry-role player, riding on the coattails of the team's real star James Worthy. While Jordan's shot with 16 seconds left gave UNC the lead, it was Worthy's crucial steal in the dying seconds that sealed the win.
Advantage: Russell
Russell Played in Just as a Competitive Era as Jordan: First off, in comparing players froom different eras, we MUST judge greatness within its era.
Saying Jordan is greater than Russell is like saying Lennox Lewis is greater than Joe Louis. Nevermind that the Brown Bomber was the heavyweight champion for 12 years and dispatched 25 challengers, Lennox Lewis faced stiffer competition in the form of modern heavyweight boxers who are heavier and better CONDITIONED than the ones fought by Joe Louis in his time and that trumps whatever accomplishment Louis has achieved. Let Joe Louis have the same training and conditioning that Lewis had and he would've KILLED
Lewis or any of today's heavyweight boxers. Similarly, give the any of the top 60's or 70's NBA teams all the modern training and conditioning that most modern teams take for granted and they would still be as dominating today as they were during their era. Imagine just how dominating would a smart and athletic guy with a 48+ vertical leap and a 7'4" wingspan with the speed, timing, stamina and body coordination of a track athlete like Russell would be today if he receive MODERN WEIGHT TRAINING like Jordan did or most modern NBA players do...
Russell was able to hold his own against 7'0" 290lbs Goliaths like Clyde Lovellete and Wilt Chamberlain (and Wilt is far, far more athletic than your average 7'0", 290lbs centers today). How many 7'0", 290lbs centers today could jump from the free throw line again?
How many 7'0", 290lbs centers could block a Kareem skyhook at age 34?
Also, Russell thrived in the "bush league" era of the NBA where coaches and player attack fans and vice-versa quite frequently, where referees allowed all sort of infractions to go unnoticed (elbows and shoves are used to gain position, opposing players punched or tripped you whenever you showboated with dunks etc.).
Russell wouldn't have any problem of taking on the kind of "pounding" that he would receive in today's flagrant foul enforced, superstar coddling, hand check-free era. If you thought the Bad Boys Pistons were a tough and dirty bunch, you would've shyt your pants with what was going on in the 50s and 60s. He already played and survived Playoff/Finals series with a hemorrhaging eyeball, a broken ankle, strained tendons etc. at a time when there was NO team physician or trainer to mend injuries. 
Moreover, the NBA teams in those era were loaded with talent because the NCAA and NIT talent pool was only shared by 8-10 teams. What is the 24th pick of the 1st round today would already be the 8th pick of the 3rd round in the 60's. Only the elite of the elite college players get to play in the NBA. Other HOFers who played in Russell's era: Wilt Chamberlain, Wes Unseld, Nate Thurmond, Bob Petit, Bob Lanier, Bob McAdoo, Jerry West, Willis Reed, Jerry Lucas, Elgin Baylor, Elvin Hayes.
The league structure was unlike Jordan's time, where expansion teams diluted the talent pool (back in '88, there were only 24 teams but by '96 there were 30...25% increase). It means plenty of opportunities (90 slots to be exact) for less talented players who would normally be NOT GOOD ENOUGH to play in the NBA.
Hell, one of the reasons why the '67 Philly team that had a regular season tally of 68-13 was voted as the Greatest NBA team of all time during the NBA 35th anniversary in 1980 (instead of the 1972 LA Lakers who has a 69-13 and a 33 game winning streak) was because of the detrimental effect of expansion teams to the talent pool.
Furthermore, the difficulty of the Playoffs was based on the QUALITY of the teams not on the QUANTITY of teams. Even if there was an 8-team Playoff seed and 3 rounds before going to the Finals in Russell's time, it wouldn't matter. Only the best and the most consistent teams would survive. The Celtics and Chamberlain's team would've still met in the Finals and the winner would face West and Baylor's LA. Adding more teams in the Playoffs would just pad the number of victories for the Celtics.
In Lennox Lewis' time there are 3 world championship belts (at least), does that mean he faced tougher competition than in Joe Louis' era where there is only one championship belt?
Finally, the average height of players during Russell's time was 6'5". There were no Damon Stoudemires or CP0s playing in the league back then. The average height of centers are 6'10" which is the same as Russell's height. The 3 second rule, the shotclock and illegal defense are all enforced. I'm just putting it here to prevent the misinformed from spouting "blah-blah everybody else is 6'1" type bullshyt.
I fail to see how one could argue in good-faith that Russell's era wasn't as competitive as Jordan's. Advantage: Russell.
As I said before, Jordan is the BEST player I've ever seen. But Russell's accomplishments are really awe-inspiring.
TL; DR: Russell has more rings than Jordan (11 vs. 6); has the Finals MVP trophy named after him (despite Jordan's 6 FMVPs); was the better defender; appeared in the Finals in 12 of his 13 seasons; was responsible for the greatest dynasty in NBA history; played in a more competitive era; was the better player in college; was also c*ckblocked from winning more FIBA championships.
EDIT: http://www.si.com/nba/point-forward...lls-celtics-lakers-first-pick-start-franchise
Phil Jackson says he would build his ideal franchise with Russell as his first pick (even over Jordan)
But having done extensive research on Bill Russell and his career, I'm CONVINCED that Russell is the GOAT.
11 rings > 6 rings: Jordan won 6 rings in his 15-year career; Russell won 11 in his 13-year career. Advantage: Russell.
Defense: Bill Russell was EASILY the best defender of his time and probably the best defensive player ever. He molded that Celtics dynasty into a defensive juggernaut that won championships.
From Wikipedia: "Russell was an elite help defender who allowed the Celtics to play the so-called "Hey, Bill" defense: whenever a Celtic requested additional defensive help, he would shout "Hey, Bill!" Russell was so quick that he could run over for a quick double team and make it back in time if the opponents tried to find the open man.[He also became famous for his shot-blocking skills: pundits called his blocks "Wilsonburgers", referring to the Wilson NBA basketballs he "shoved back into the faces of opposing shooters". This skill also allowed the other Celtics to play their men aggressively: if they were beaten, they knew that Russell was guarding the basket."
Keep in mind, Russell played in an era where shot blocks were not recorded. However, MANY have said a conservative estimate of his BPG is 5bpg.
Russell was also in the inaugural All-Defensive team for the '68-69 season (his final season).
Jordan was a 9x member of the All First Defense Team. Jordan definitely could D it up and was a nightmare for his opponents. But Jordan's impact on the game as far as defense is concerned is nowhere near Russell's. Russell's defense altered defensive schemes and revolutionized defensive concepts.
Advantage: Russell
Finals MVP Trophy Named After You > 6 Finals MVPs: Yes Jordan won 6 Finals MVP to Russell's 0.
BUT, the Finals MVP awards were only given during Russell's last year in 1969. It was given as a consolation prize to Jerry West (the first and only time that the Finals MVP was given to a player from the losing team).
The award came with a Celtic green Dodge pickup truck. Had the Finals MVP been given much earlier, Russell undoubtedly would have won more (probably even more than Jordan). In fact, Jerry West (and his coach/general manager Fred Schaus) who lost 6 Finals encounter with Russell/the Celtics considered him as their most dangerous opponent. And don't forget the 4 Finals trips in which Russell embarrassed Bob Petit/the Hawks.Moreover, in 2009, David Stern announced that the Finals MVP trophy would be named the would be renamed the "Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award" in honor of the 11-time NBA champion.
Why did the league name the trophy after Russell instead of naming it after Jordan (who's won it a record 6 times)? Advantage: Russell.12 Finals Appearances > 6 Finals Appearances: Yes, Jordan is UNDEFEATED in the NBA Finals. True, he's never been in a game 7 in the NBA Finals (that shows dominance
).BUT, Russell has 11 wins in 12 finals trips in his 13-year career. Jordan made 6 trips to the Finals in his 15-year career (40% chance of going to the Finals vs. Russell's 91%). Russell was a champion from his rookie season to his last. Advantage: Russell.
5 MVPs < 6 MVPS: Here, Jordan has the edge. Jordan has 6 MVPs; Russell has 5. Russell probably could've won more MVPs if his role as a player/coach didn't blur the impact of his two duties. It's hard to attribute the Celtics' success to Russell as the coach or Russell as the player. But nobody forced Russell to be a player/coach.
Advantage: Jordan2 NCAA Titles > 1 NCAA Titles: Russell has 2 NCAA titles (with a 55-game winning streak with an average winning margin of 15 during his senior years); Jordan has one (thanks to *that* shot). Moreover, unlike Jordan who was but a Robert Horry-role player on James Worthy's 1982 NCAA champion UNC team, Russell was the star and leader of his University of San Francisco championship team. Advantage: Russell
FIBA Limiting Russell to 1 > 2 FIBA Championships: Jordan has 2 Olympic Gold Medals (84 and 92); Russell has only one in 1956. Pros were banned from playing the Olympics until FIBA lifted the ban in 1989, which made it possible for the Dream Team, hence Jordan's 2nd gold medal. A major reason why pros were banned was because the American pros would routinely kick the asses of other countries' pros. The games seriously weren't worth playing.
Had FIBA's ban been lifted earlier, Russell would have multiple Olympic Gold medals. Nevertheless, the 1956 Olympic basketball team which Russell captained won the gold medal with a margin of victory of 53.5. It's an Olympic record. That's a winning margin higher than the 1992 Dream team or the 1960 Olympic "superstar team" of Jerry Lucas, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson etc.Russell Made His Teammates and Franchise Better, Not the Other Way Around: Before Russell, the Celtics NEVER went to the NBA Finals (even with HOFers like Coach Auerbach and players like Macauley, Cousy, Sharman, and Ramsey). In 62, Russell took himself out for 4 games and the Celtics lost 4 straight games even with Red Auerbach, Cousy, Sharman, the Joneses, Ramsey and other HoF's. In '69, Russell took himself out for 5 games because of an injury and the Celtics lost 5 straight even with HoF's Sam Jones, John Havlicek, Satch Sanders, and Bailey Howell. Those 2 instances were the 2 worst losing streaks of the Russell-era Celtics. The latter is the worst losing streak of the Celtics since Red Auerbach took over the helm.
When Russell retired after '69, the Celtics went down from 48 wins to 34 and they MISSED the Playoffs even with Havlicek, Sanders, Jo Jo White and Howell. The modest 48 wins that the Celtics garnered in '69 is the lowest number of wins that the Celts had during the Russell-era and occurred only because Russell spent a lot of time in the injured list and/or recovering.
Compare the huge 14 game drop to the Bulls' drop when Jordan "retired" in '94. The Bulls went "down" from 57 wins to 55. A pitiful 2 game drop.
And the Bulls played Game 7 with the Knicks in the Second Round.The Celtics dynasty started with Bill Russell. Russell didn't win only because he had talented teammates.
Even at the college level, Russell lead a bunch of local boys, "a playground pick up team" from USF, a school with no gymnasium of its own, to back to back NCAA championships and a 55 game winning streak.
How come Jordan COULDN'T lead a school with a rich winning tradition like UNC, into the Final Four during his junior and senior years even though he had great teammates (like Sam Perkins and Brad Daugherty) and a great coach (Dean Smith)? Jordan won an NCAA championship during his sophomore year as a Robert Horry-role player, riding on the coattails of the team's real star James Worthy. While Jordan's shot with 16 seconds left gave UNC the lead, it was Worthy's crucial steal in the dying seconds that sealed the win.
Advantage: Russell
Russell Played in Just as a Competitive Era as Jordan: First off, in comparing players froom different eras, we MUST judge greatness within its era.
Saying Jordan is greater than Russell is like saying Lennox Lewis is greater than Joe Louis. Nevermind that the Brown Bomber was the heavyweight champion for 12 years and dispatched 25 challengers, Lennox Lewis faced stiffer competition in the form of modern heavyweight boxers who are heavier and better CONDITIONED than the ones fought by Joe Louis in his time and that trumps whatever accomplishment Louis has achieved. Let Joe Louis have the same training and conditioning that Lewis had and he would've KILLED
Lewis or any of today's heavyweight boxers. Similarly, give the any of the top 60's or 70's NBA teams all the modern training and conditioning that most modern teams take for granted and they would still be as dominating today as they were during their era. Imagine just how dominating would a smart and athletic guy with a 48+ vertical leap and a 7'4" wingspan with the speed, timing, stamina and body coordination of a track athlete like Russell would be today if he receive MODERN WEIGHT TRAINING like Jordan did or most modern NBA players do...
Russell was able to hold his own against 7'0" 290lbs Goliaths like Clyde Lovellete and Wilt Chamberlain (and Wilt is far, far more athletic than your average 7'0", 290lbs centers today). How many 7'0", 290lbs centers today could jump from the free throw line again?
How many 7'0", 290lbs centers could block a Kareem skyhook at age 34?
Also, Russell thrived in the "bush league" era of the NBA where coaches and player attack fans and vice-versa quite frequently, where referees allowed all sort of infractions to go unnoticed (elbows and shoves are used to gain position, opposing players punched or tripped you whenever you showboated with dunks etc.).
Russell wouldn't have any problem of taking on the kind of "pounding" that he would receive in today's flagrant foul enforced, superstar coddling, hand check-free era. If you thought the Bad Boys Pistons were a tough and dirty bunch, you would've shyt your pants with what was going on in the 50s and 60s. He already played and survived Playoff/Finals series with a hemorrhaging eyeball, a broken ankle, strained tendons etc. at a time when there was NO team physician or trainer to mend injuries. Moreover, the NBA teams in those era were loaded with talent because the NCAA and NIT talent pool was only shared by 8-10 teams. What is the 24th pick of the 1st round today would already be the 8th pick of the 3rd round in the 60's. Only the elite of the elite college players get to play in the NBA. Other HOFers who played in Russell's era: Wilt Chamberlain, Wes Unseld, Nate Thurmond, Bob Petit, Bob Lanier, Bob McAdoo, Jerry West, Willis Reed, Jerry Lucas, Elgin Baylor, Elvin Hayes.
The league structure was unlike Jordan's time, where expansion teams diluted the talent pool (back in '88, there were only 24 teams but by '96 there were 30...25% increase). It means plenty of opportunities (90 slots to be exact) for less talented players who would normally be NOT GOOD ENOUGH to play in the NBA.
Hell, one of the reasons why the '67 Philly team that had a regular season tally of 68-13 was voted as the Greatest NBA team of all time during the NBA 35th anniversary in 1980 (instead of the 1972 LA Lakers who has a 69-13 and a 33 game winning streak) was because of the detrimental effect of expansion teams to the talent pool.
Furthermore, the difficulty of the Playoffs was based on the QUALITY of the teams not on the QUANTITY of teams. Even if there was an 8-team Playoff seed and 3 rounds before going to the Finals in Russell's time, it wouldn't matter. Only the best and the most consistent teams would survive. The Celtics and Chamberlain's team would've still met in the Finals and the winner would face West and Baylor's LA. Adding more teams in the Playoffs would just pad the number of victories for the Celtics.
In Lennox Lewis' time there are 3 world championship belts (at least), does that mean he faced tougher competition than in Joe Louis' era where there is only one championship belt?
Finally, the average height of players during Russell's time was 6'5". There were no Damon Stoudemires or CP0s playing in the league back then. The average height of centers are 6'10" which is the same as Russell's height. The 3 second rule, the shotclock and illegal defense are all enforced. I'm just putting it here to prevent the misinformed from spouting "blah-blah everybody else is 6'1" type bullshyt.
I fail to see how one could argue in good-faith that Russell's era wasn't as competitive as Jordan's. Advantage: Russell.
As I said before, Jordan is the BEST player I've ever seen. But Russell's accomplishments are really awe-inspiring.
TL; DR: Russell has more rings than Jordan (11 vs. 6); has the Finals MVP trophy named after him (despite Jordan's 6 FMVPs); was the better defender; appeared in the Finals in 12 of his 13 seasons; was responsible for the greatest dynasty in NBA history; played in a more competitive era; was the better player in college; was also c*ckblocked from winning more FIBA championships.
EDIT: http://www.si.com/nba/point-forward...lls-celtics-lakers-first-pick-start-franchise
Phil Jackson says he would build his ideal franchise with Russell as his first pick (even over Jordan)
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Stop ring counting bro. You could argue Paul Pierce is just as impact to the Celtics history as Russell is and he only has one ring.
