The Tape
Was Bill Russell better than Jayson Tatum?
Bill Russell, 1956-1969, against Jayson Tatum, 2017-present. The numbers levelled to one league, then the call.
Method, stated plainly: scoring is adjusted to a league averaging 114 points per team per game. Rebounds and assists are printed as they were recorded, with the league scoring rate beside them, because a rebound in 1962 came out of a different number of missed shots and we will not pretend one multiplier fixes that. Career lines for active players run through 2024-25.
What the numbers say
Adjusted to a league averaging 114 points a game, Jayson Tatum is the bigger scorer: 29.9 a game in 2022-23 against 18.1 for Bill Russell in 1961-62. That is a real gap of 11.8 points, not an era illusion — Jayson Tatum's league averaged 114.7 and Bill Russell's averaged 118.8.
Bill Russell wins the glass by 14.8 rebounds a game (23.6 to 8.8), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Bill Russell: Eleven titles and the invention of help defense, with no blocked shots on record because the league did not count them yet. Jayson Tatum: A title, 7 straight conference finals appearances, and a 3-point volume no forward of the 1990s could have imagined.
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