- Julius Erving recently made waves with his all-time top 10 list
- While reacting to it Erving’s list, Gilbert Arenas stated Bill Russell isn’t a top 10 player of all time
- Arenas compared Russell to Wilt Chamberlain and called him just a hustle player
NBA legend Julius Erving recently raised eyebrows with his all-time top 10 list, as he excluded many of the game’s greatest players. One icon who did make Dr. J’s list, though was Bill Russell.
While Russell would be seen as somewhat of an automatic pick in the top 10 by many, Gilbert Arenas strongly disagrees with that notion. Arenas compared him to Wilt Chamberlain and went as far as to call Russell just a hustle player on a recent episode of Gil’s Arena.
“When people have Bill Russell in their top 10, I gotta question your basketball knowledge,” Arenas said. “I’m sorry. Because him and Wilt (Chamberlain) played in the same era. One averaged 50 and 30 rebounds, the other one averaged 16 and 20 rebounds.
“Which means one was just a hustle player,” Arenas continued. “Like, you hustled against white folks. All you can score was 16 points a game. You couldn’t even break 20 and you want me to put you in the top 10? Everybody’s 5 f***ing 10 and there’s only eight teams and you’re playing against the White folks, right?”
(starts at 6:27 mark):
Arenas has made plenty of controversial remarks over the years, but this might just be at the top of the list. He went on to say that an athletic Black player like Russell should have been able to score more in that era. The fact that he didn’t, makes Arenas believe he wasn’t good enough to score over White players, which makes him think he just wasn’t that good.
Arenas also went on to state that the lack of free agency is what helped Russell win his 11 rings, as the Boston Celtics could just keep their amazing team together.
Does Arenas Have A Point Here?
Arenas is entitled to his opinion, of course, but it’s hard to agree with him that Russell isn’t a top 10 player of all time. His role on those Celtics teams was to rebound and play defense, something he did at a ridiculously high level.
He was never a great scorer, but he provided so much value with everything else he did on the court, finishing his career with averages of 15.1 PPG, 22.5 RPG, and 4.3 APG. Blocks weren’t counted during his playing career, or else his numbers there might have been otherwordly.
An interesting point to note here is that the Celtics, who had won 11 titles in 13 seasons with Russell, failed to even make the playoffs in the two seasons following his retirement. Russell’s departure wasn’t the only reason for that, but it certainly was a very big one.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
