The Five Biggest Misconceptions in NBA History

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5. Bill Russell Being Better Than Wilt Chamberlain

Nearly every time I look at an all-time centers list or an all-time players list, I see Bill Russell being put ahead of the great Wilt Chamberlain.

I completely disagree with that belief. Russell was better than Wilt in only one category: the record 11 rings compared to just two rings for Wilt. 

Wilt was a much better offensive player (Russell never averaged 19 points per game for a season, while Wilt's career scoring average was 30.1), an equal rebounder and defender, a better passer (he even led the league in assists once) and a much more efficient player shooting 54 percent from the field while Russell shot a bad 44 percent.

Russell was just fortunate to have Hall of Famers John Havlicek, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, Frank Ramsey, Tom Heinsohn, Bill Sharman, Bailey Howell, and Clyde Lovellette.

For every season of Russell's career, he had at least three other Hall of Famers with him and in two seasons he had as much as seven with him.

Had it not been for the Hall of Fame-filled Celtics, Wilt would've won many more rings and would be a unanimous pick for the greatest player of all time. 

4. The Celtics Being A Better Franchise Than The Lakers

Most of the people in the basketball world consider the Celtics to be the best NBA franchise ever, but that is absurd as the Lakers have been more successful.

The Lakers will have two less titles in a few days after they win number 15, but they have been much more consistent than the Celtics, who dominated in really just two eras: the 60's and 80's (the Lakers were dominant during the 50's, great during the 60's, good in the 70's, legendary in the 80's, solid in the 90's and great in this decade).

Also, the Lakers have more wins, a much higher winning percentage, more conference titles and many more playoff appearances than the Celtics do as well as having arguably eight of the 25 greatest players ever in Magic, Kareem, Wilt, Shaq, Kobe, Baylor, West and Mikan, while the Celtics have three in Russell, Bird and Havlicek.

Finally, the Lakers are the most popular NBA franchise, even with commissioner David Stern saying that his dream Finals matchup would be the Lakers vs. the Lakers. 

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