Reply #12: It is different eras, and that's what makes it difficult to compare

[hughee99]

but Cousy was one of the top guards in the game at the time. How much was because of Russell is hard to say. But I don't think Scottie Pippen was a star without Jordan either. Still, Cousy was a 3 time all-star and 2 time All-NBA first team before Russell even joined the team. Sure, on Jordan's Bulls a (relatively) slow 6'1" guard wouldn't have even made the team, but I don't think a 6'10" 220lb center would dominate today the way Russell did in his day. IMHO, all you can really do is compare them against their contemporaries.

I had to use the Lebron example, because I really couldn't think of a team that had a star (and really nothing else) and won a championship.