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Message: [QUOTE="hoophuskee, post: 2263522, member: 3535"] That's because in Bill Russell's time they had no clue how a defensive player could be evluated. And as another poster cited- the very thing he slams - is the very thing why he is regarded as an all-time great-- it's his winning. That's a statistic. Nowadays they would have measured his defensive impact. They wouldn't have played him an average of 45 minutes a season (another stat). Bill Russell TELLS everyone that he WAS a very good offensive player. Yet when we look at his stats nowadays -- he wasn't. But when we DIG DEEPER INTO THE STATS we see that when we compare him vs others of his era -- he certainly was. WE KNOW for a center - he was a terrific passer. We KNOW all of this because we USE stats. So rather than just blindly take someone's word for it -we know this because of stats. We know for example that Russell was super-great defensively not just because you or others say-so- but we look at the stats. Before Russell came to the Celts their defense was ranked 6th. The moment he came to the Celts their defense "magically" rose to 1st. In his 1st 11 years the Celts defense was 1st in the NBA. Year 12 of Russell's career it was 2nd, then year 13 back to 1st. THE YEAR BEFORE RUSSELL CAME TO CLETS THEY"RE DEFENSE WAS 6th. THE YEAR AFTER HE LEFT IT WAS RANKED 8th. These stats imo prove that Russell "changed the game" within his era. There are other stats too. There's reason why teams employ their own stat departments. There are reason why we know some teams aren't good ft shooters or outside shooters. Coaches use stats to help their players improve their games. [/QUOTE]

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