Re: Ryan's view of the Great Debate

["Greg Odegaard" <gmodegaa@longvred.rmc.com>]

An absolutely great piece of writing by Mr. Ryan, without a firm
conclusion, but what the hey.  The best analogies made were the following:


"So hear this, and hear it well: William F. Russell would come out of
nowhere
to block a Michael Jordan shot just as easily and just as frequently as he
did to Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Oscar Robertson, to name three of the
many NBA players of the '60s who could step into the NBA today to make
All-Star teams.

And hear this: Sam Jones was a better guard than any current NBA backcourt
player not named Michael Jordan. Yeah, that includes Gary Payton, Penny
Hardaway, and anyone else you can name.

And this: Before there was Scottie Pippen, there was John Havlicek, who
never had to come out of a game and who, at age 37, shut off a
prime-of-life
Dr. J in the 1977 playoffs."

It would be most entertaining to see MJ deal with Russ, and how Pippen
would have been shut down by Hondo.  Dr. J when asked a few years back,
with relation to the final against the Blazers, he shook his head and said
he didn't want to talk about it, and that having to beat the Celtics is
what cost them the series against the Blazers.  They were burned out.

Greg
----------
From: Mike Dynon <mdynon@ix.netcom.com>
To: Celtics List <celtics@igtc.COM>
Subject: Ryan's view of the Great Debate
Date: Wednesday, June 17, 1998 8:05 PM

One-on-one game between the NBA dynasties
By Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist, 06/17/98