Who is the best basketball player of all time?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Who is the best basketball player of all time?
Position‹5 of 5: Bill Russell is the best basketball player of all time
Argument: Russell won more than anyone

Russell was the ultimate team player, and he led his teams to more victories than any other player.

The argument

While many of the greatest basketball players have gaudier statistical records and have been decorated with more awards than Bill Russell, basketball is ultimately a team sport, and the only true measure of a player's greatness is the success of their teams. In this respect, Russell is the greatest of all time. Russell was unquestionably elite as an individual player, making 12 All-Star teams and winning five NBA Most Valuable Player awards (the second-most ever), but his true brilliance was his team leadership. Russell's Boston Celtics won 11 NBA championships during his time as a player, giving Russell more championship victories than any other player. The Celtics's run of consecutive titles from 1959-1966 stands as a championship winning streak that no team has come close to approaching since. Unlike other elite players who focused on being their teams's offensive engines, Russell excelled in the less glamorous aspects of team defense and court generalship, sacrificing his individual numbers to best help his team. His legacy is inextricably linked with that of his chief rival, Wilt Chamberlain, and the comparison is highly favorable to Russell. While Chamberlain was the more physically gifted player and set seemingly impossible statistical records throughout his career, Russell's teams dominated Chamberlain's more often than not, leaving Chamberlain with a record of futility in the NBA playoffs and a comparatively modest career total of just two NBA titles. In 2009, the NBA officially recognized Russell's critical contribution to his team's historic success by naming the NBA Finals MVP award after Bill Russell.

Premises

[P1]Basketball is a team sport, so a player's greatness is best measured by the success of their teams. [P2] Russell's Boston Celtics won 11 championships during his career, including an unmatched eight in a row, more than any other player. [P3] He achieved this by sacrificing individual numbers for team defense, dominating even the more physically gifted Wilt Chamberlain, who won just two titles. [C] Therefore, because Russell won more than anyone, Bill Russell is the best basketball player of all time.

Counter-arguments

Critics reply that ring-counting conflates team success with individual greatness. Russell's eleven titles came alongside a Hall-of-Fame-laden Celtics dynasty coached by Red Auerbach in an eight-team league, so championships partly reflect teammates and era rather than one player's quality — and the argument's own premise, that basketball is a team sport, cuts this way. They add that by individual production and two-way impact, Jordan, Kareem and LeBron rate higher on most statistical and analytical measures. "Best player" and "most-decorated winner" are different claims, and Russell's case is strongest for the latter.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] That basketball is a team sport cuts against the argument: it means championships reflect teammates and system, making them an imperfect measure of one player's individual greatness. [Rejecting P2] Russell's eleven titles came with a stacked Celtics roster in a small eight-team league, so the ring total partly reflects team and era rather than his sole quality.