but Russell said something that I have ALWAYS said...it IS actually harder to win when there is only 8 teams... much harder.. just think of it right now
take the current NBA and delete 22 teams but none of the players. then take that pool of 450 players and put them on 8 teams, 15 a piece
we can start it at lebrons rookie year... i promise you no matter how you divide it up, one team ain't about to win no 11 times, with 8 in a row.. it'd be the damn all star game every night
Except that even the best players on those other teams fukking sucked.
Let me remind you, when Bill Russell came into the league, there had only been two Black men over 6'9" in the history of the NBA.
This was his team, and remember that MOST of the available Hall of Famers were getting hoarded on his team:
They didn't have the 450 players from the current NBA. They didn't even have more than TWO Black men over 6'9". They didn't have ONE guy who had a smooth jump shot. They didn't have ONE guy who could control the ball with best hands as well as the average high school freshman point guard.
They only had eight teams because basketball wasn't very popular at all - it wasn't nearly as popular as football, or baseball, or boxing. Some of basketball's biggest stars were guys who had literally gotten pulled off the street because they were tall, or guys who decided to give the sport a shot after failing at minor league baseball. Most Black guys weren't even allowed to play, not that a lot of them had a lot of chances to develop their skills in the first place. And there wasn't any international talent at ALL.
And no, smaller teams does not cancel out that tiny talent pool. Let me repeat myself.
The year before Russell entered the league, a 6'8" 210lb White center lead the league in scoring and rebounds, averaging 22 and 13 and led the NBA with 46% shooting. That's right, shooting 46% as a center even with no one playing defense still led the league in FG%.
However, the Finals MVP that year would have been Paul Arazin, a 6'4" 200lb forward with sinus problems that made him wheeze when he played and a jump shot that looked like a convulsion, but was considered the best in the NBA. He averaged 28 and 8 on 43% shooting in the Finals.
How the fukk do you justify that a 6'8" White center is leading the league in scoring AND rebounds AND field goal % despite not even being able to shoot well enough to make half his shots against the sorry-ass defense of the 1950s?
How do you justify that the Finals MVP is a 6'4" White guy with health issues that make him wheeze who plays like this???
Your bullshyt about the talent pool being smaller is offset by the fact that the league itself was smaller.
explain... if the nba had 8 teams, it wouldn't have 450 players anymore correct?
if there were 8 teams would J.R. Smith even have a job? would any 9th rated or below player at his position even have a job?
First off, your math is bad, because the 9th-rated player at his position would be a candidate for the best 6th-man in the league. The top 20-25 or so guys at every position would still have a job in an 8-man league.
Second of all, look at that Paul Arazin video, and tell me again that J.R. Smith wouldn't have had a job. If Paul Arazin was an MVP runner-up, then Delly would have dominated that league. Delly is the same height and weight as Arazin, except that he is far healthier, stronger, faster, has a FAR better jump shot, is a FAR better ball-handler, a FAR better passer, and plays WAY better defense. He would have been a monster in Russell's era.
There wasn't just 8 teams because of some conspiracy to make basketball hard. There were only eight teams because basketball wasn't all that popular and the available talent sucked.
Jordan failed to make the high school varsity team during his sophomore year.He was only 5'10 at the time.If this happened during the 1960's/70's,his would have probably quit.had Wilt played in the late 80's early 90's he would've been 7'4 280-300 pounds of pure muslce.Ain't noboday stopping that.Not Olajuwon,not Ewing,not Robinson,not Shaq.
We've been over this territory already. If Wilt wasn't even unstoppable in his own era with shytty-ass competition, how the hell would he have been unstoppable in an era when he actually had to play against other seven-footers and there were more than 3 big men in the league with actual talent?
The myth of Wilt Chamberlain's unstoppable offense