Depends on whether Red could persuade him to sacrifice his scoring, protect the rim and play the team game. If anyone could have done it, he could.
I think you underestimate the maturity of Bill Russell coming off 2 consecutive NCAA championships and an Olympic gold medal into his age 22 season in the NBA. But if LBJ had had a similar opportunity for growth rather then dicking around in Cleveland being told he was great, he might have done as well as Russell.
I hate these “drop him in another era” arguments. It doesn’t work that way. For example, I’m pretty sure people are saying this about Lebron vs. Russell because of how much of a physical freak Lebron is. Well, while he would’ve been a great athlete, he wouldn’t exactly have been the same physical freak if he had developed back then. Similarly, Bill Russell would have been a different player if he had benefitted from developing in today’s environment. You can say that it’s not all about his physical stature but also in his advanced talent. Well, the same concept applies there. Lebron and all players today are standing on the shoulders of Russell, Wilt, Bird, Magic, and Jordan. Lebron wouldn’t be anywhere near his current form if he had been born half a century earlier. It’s apples an oranges.
Yeah, if you drop current Lebron into a more primitive game, he would dominate. And the same will be said about some future player being dropped in today. While it may be true, I don’t find it a very interesting argument.
