With people talking about shaq now and what his legacy will be among the great centers of this game. you hear kareem, wilt, and hakeem rightfully so. But i am curious why i never see two guys names. Gerge Mikan and Bill Russell. George Mikan was the first great player. He and the Minneapolis Lakers won 4 titles in 5 years, and that odd year out, Mikan was hurt. He has have be considered to have the best post game ever. He could shoot with either hand truly. He was entirely ambedexrous. Also he had the skyhook, before kareem. The nba moved the rim to 12 feet for a while, they changed the width of the lane. the league did whatever they could to slow this guy down. also when the lakers went on the road, teams posted Mikan versus the home team, he was huge. Bill Russell has eleven rings. He beat wilt chamberlain another great all the time. He is one of the greatest rebounders ever, and was a phenominal defender. Eleven rings is so overlooked it's amazing. Phil Jackson has nine and people get mad when riley is said to be better, but Bill has eleven and no one seems to think it means anything.
<font size="6"> Artis Gilmore Statistics</font> <div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'> Year Ag TmLg G MP FGFGA3P3PA FTFTAORBDRBTRBAST STL BLKTOPFPTS<br/>+---------------+----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+----+<br/> 1972 23 KEN ABA 84 43.69.6 16.0 0.00.04.77.25.0 12.7 17.82.7 5.0 4.0 3.3 23.8<br/> 1973 24 KEN ABA 84 41.78.2 14.6 0.00.04.46.85.3 12.2 17.63.5 3.1 3.4 3.6 20.8<br/> 1974 25 KEN ABA 84 41.97.4 15.0 0.00.03.95.85.7 12.6 18.33.9 0.7 3.4 3.8 3.6 18.7<br/> 1975 26 KEN ABA 84 41.69.3 16.1 0.00.04.97.05.1 11.1 16.22.5 0.8 3.1 4.1 3.8 23.6<br/> 1976 27 KEN ABA 84 39.19.2 16.7 0.00.06.29.14.8 10.7 15.52.5 0.7 2.4 3.5 4.1 24.6<br/> 1977 28 CHI NBA 82 35.17.0 13.3 4.77.13.89.2 13.02.4 0.5 2.5 3.2 18.6<br/> 1978 29 CHI NBA 82 37.48.6 15.4 5.78.23.99.2 13.13.2 0.5 2.2 4.5 3.2 22.9<br/> 1979 30 CHI NBA 82 39.89.2 16.0 5.37.23.69.1 12.73.3 0.6 1.9 3.8 3.4 23.7<br/> 1980 31 CHI NBA 48 32.76.4 10.7 0.00.05.17.22.36.89.02.8 0.6 1.2 2.8 3.5 17.8<br/> 1981 32 CHI NBA 82 34.56.7 10.0 0.00.04.66.52.77.4 10.12.1 0.6 2.4 2.9 3.6 17.9<br/> 1982 33 CHI NBA 82 34.16.7 10.2 0.00.05.26.72.77.5 10.21.7 0.6 2.7 2.8 3.5 18.5<br/> 1983 34 SAS NBA 82 34.16.8 10.8 0.00.14.56.03.68.4 12.01.5 0.5 2.3 3.1 3.3 18.0<br/> 1984 35 SAS NBA 64 31.85.58.7 0.00.04.46.13.37.0 10.31.1 0.6 2.1 2.3 3.6 15.3<br/> 1985 36 SAS NBA 81 34.06.6 10.5 0.00.06.08.02.97.6 10.41.6 0.5 2.1 3.0 3.8 19.1<br/> 1986 37 SAS NBA 71 33.76.09.6 0.00.04.86.82.36.18.51.4 0.5 1.5 2.6 3.4 16.7<br/> 1987 38 SAS NBA 82 29.34.27.1 0.00.03.04.32.34.87.11.8 0.5 1.2 2.2 2.9 11.4<br/> 1988 39 CHI NBA 24 15.51.73.3 0.00.00.81.50.62.02.60.4 0.2 0.5 1.2 2.34.2<br/> BOS NBA 47 11.11.22.1 0.00.01.01.91.12.03.10.3 0.2 0.4 0.8 2.03.5<br/> TOT NBA 71 12.61.42.5 0.00.00.91.81.02.03.00.3 0.2 0.4 0.9 2.13.7<br/>+---------------+----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+----+<br/>5 SeasonsABA420 41.68.7 15.7 0.00.04.87.25.2 11.9 17.13.0 0.7 3.4 3.8 3.7 22.3<br/> 12 SeasonsNBA909 32.76.3 10.5 0.00.04.56.32.97.2 10.12.0 0.5 1.9 2.8 3.3 17.1<br/>+---------------+----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+----+<br/> 17 Seasons1329 35.57.1 12.2 0.00.04.66.63.68.7 12.32.3 0.6 2.4 3.1 3.4 18.8<br/>+---------------+----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+----+</div> You can’t talk about under appreciated big men without mentioning Artis Gilmore. During his career Gilmore had a higher career field goal percentage than O’Neal, but still has not received a hall of fame invite. He has the highest all time field goal percentage in the NBA and ABA. In his first season in the ABA he won rookie of the year over Julius Erving as well as six time all star George Mcgunnis, and also won the leagues most valuable player in his rookie season. He is the NCAA all time leading rebounder (playing during the years of Bill Russel). He was also won of the most durable players in the league, during the time he played, he played in 1,329 games during the course of his career an average of 78 games a season, and ran up a streak of consecutive games played of 670 and 212. In his early years in the ABA he lead his team to two ABA finals averaging 22 points and 17 rebounds a game during the regular season, and 22 points and 16 rebounds all time during the playoffs. Artis Gilmore is one of those players who will never get the respect he deserves due to the fact he was not flashy he did the dirty work. To date he is the Bulls all time leader in blocked shots with 1,017 blocked shots as a Bull and 1,747 during the course of his career.
^^great addition, i totally forgot about him thats kind of funny considering the thread. and i wasnt considering russells stats as much as winning
