The #1 argument isn't something you really see until after 1985-1990s with Bird, Magic, and Jordan. Funny enough after Bird's second championship the #1 argument starts to get brought up to argue Bird over Russell.
Bill is considered greater than Wilt and wasn't the #1 option but the best player in those championships. Same with Bill Walton on the 1977 champion teams, Maurice Lucas was #1 but Walton was the best player.
I don't know when the argument came up, I just know there's a subconscious understanding
that it matters who the best player on a championship team is. And that, that subsconscious understanding has always mattered...
Otherwise The Culture would have Havlicek and many other guys rated much higher historically...
But we don't because we fundamentally understand that being the best player on a championship team is a greater accomplishment than being the second best player, or lesser, on a champion...
Russell wasn't the #1 scoring option on any of his 13 teams but he was pretty definitively the Celtics best player during the 8peat. Again, the #1 scorer is generally the best player on a team but that isn't always the case and there's many examples of this not being the case in league history...
Apply your logic to Bron vs MJ and then explain to me why you think Bron is the goat
First of all, Bron doesn't trail Mike in everything....
Mike has 6 wins and 6 Finals appearances, LeBron has 4 and 10 Finals appearances. The oft-used argument that Mike dominated his era more isn't entirely true, as if you take Bron's career thru 13 years (2016), which is Mike's Bulls career, Bron still had 7 Finals appearances to Mike's 6...
Bron more consistently put his team in championship contention than Mike, this isn't the case with Steph vis a vis Magic. Magic more consistently had his Lakers in title contention than Steph...
You look at the teams Bron took to contention, it's proven Jordan never took a bad roster beyond Rd1. It never happened, not even once. He had 15 years to do it one time. Mike never did shyt with a bad roster. On the other hand, Magic took the crumbling '91 Lakers to The Finals, Steph has never taken an injury-riddled team anywhere....
There are specific legacy points that LeBron has over Mike, that Steph doesn't have over Magic, these aren't the same scenarios in comparison...
Bron has more Top 5 MVP finishes, more All-NBAs, more conference finals runs, than Mike. Steph has ZERO of these claims over Magic...
And just as relevant as anything else, Steph doesn't have any iconic Finals moments. His '22 Finals is his best showing but no one will bring up any performance like they do Magic's '80 center game...or Magic's junior hook over the C's in '87...or Magic's '91 carry job...
Steph has some legendary playoff moments but his biggest moments are earlier in the playoffs. And really, playing in 6 Finals and being the best player in 1 can and should be held against him...
In contrast LeBron doesn't have a playoff resume anywhere close to Steph's, with LeBron you can legitimately make the argument he's the most dominant postseason player ever. You can make this argument for Jordan too but you can't definitively say Mike's playoff resume is stronger than Bron's unless you simply say "6>4". If you talk about
actual performances, in The Finals or playoffs at large, LeBron has as many iconic moments as Mike, and probably more if people are being honest. LeBron's consistent shytting on All-Time defenses in the playoffs is legendary in itself...
I can keep going but the Steph/Magic debate isn't the same as the LeBron/Mike one, there are specific things that apply to Bron/Mike that just don't apply to Steph/Magic. They all great but it's not the same conversation and your mistake is reading my response on Steph/Magic and correlating it as the same convo as the Bron/Mike one...