Chuck Klosterman

Whereas Jim Brown, you know, we're playing, we have the platoon system, we're wearing face masks, it's a little closer.

But

When Jim Thorpe played, it was an 11-on-11 sport.

Touchdowns for six points.

The first down was 10 yards.

There was passing.

There was strategy.

All of these things were there.

The rudimentary elements of football were there.

And he was the first great player.

And that makes him the great player forever.

So by this argument, Bill Russell is the GOAT of basketball.

Well, that's a really interesting one because I do think that in the same way that

Football has, you know, had these different kind of hinge points.

It does seem to me like there was a real hinge point in basketball with the NBA-ABA merger and the addition of the three-point goal in this period in the late 70s.

I think that basketball dramatically changed the idea that it added a way to score that had never before existed, an extra point for a three-point goal.

So I think from that way, you could really look at basketball having these two chunks.

In the first chunk,

I think it probably would be Wilt Chamberlain.

And I think in the second chunk, it would be Michael Jordan.