The fact of the matter is that the greatest players are not always the most valuable players, because the best players do not always result in the best teams, and it is teams who win championships.
In the GOAT argument, certain names come up. Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan, Robertson. (Until your career is over, you can't legitimately be on this list.) Who did it best? We will go back and forth on that question.
But I would insist that the MVP question is not the same. Who is the first player you would pick to build a winning team? When you come to that, there really is no question. The answer has to be Bill Russell. He himself was perhaps not the greatest player, but there is no doubt that his teams won - at EVERY level. At San Fransisco he averaged a 20/20 double double, and if they had kept block stats back then no doubt he would have dominated that number. His final two years they won back-to-back national championships with a record of 57-1. He led a dominant 1956 Olympic team that easily won the gold medal. And, of course, the dominance of the Boston Celtics while he was three is legendary. Russell won, and won, and won. Everywhere he went. The Most Valuable Player is the guy who does the most to make his team win.
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