Another thing that drives home my original point is this. Old white guys from Boston will actually argue that John Havlicek was a better player than Bill Russell.
I'm not trying to be snarky but only a fan that didn't watch the two play would be alarmed that some fans might think Havlicek was the better player. He was the best wing defender in the game, capable of facing off against almost any opponent regardless of position. And he was about as clutch as the game has ever seen. IMO, Russell gets either ignored on the greatest lists or overrated, Havlicek just gets ignored. To me, Russell is top 10 and Havlicek is top 20 all time, that kind of difference will almost always have supporters on both sides.
In addition to his match-ups with Wilt, much of Bill's rep comes from the fact the Celtics kept winning championships. But what about Havlicek? He made the All NBA team 11 times and the all defensive team 8 times to go along with his 8 rings. And some of those rings came in a much expanded league without the benefit of the great Celtics players such as Cousy, Sharman, Russell, Jones, Heinsohn, Sanders and others that dominated the 8 or 9 team league from the mid 50's to the late 60's.
