People like to go back and look at older players and say well...they could never have played in today’s game. What’s the term - recency bias?
And to some extent it’s true. JJ Redick’s criticisms of Bob Cousy earlier this year were unfair and lacked grace, but he wasn’t wrong: Cousy was not built for the modern NBA. You could look around and find plenty of other guys who couldn’t make it today. George Mikan comes to mind, among others.
But there were quite a few that would have figured it out. Bill Russell would have. Wilt Chamberlain was the strongest player in NBA history and had sprinter’s speed and a 50” vertical - and he was 7-1.