TP to the OP
Russell, Bird, Havlicek, Cousy.
Same as Simmons list below though it took me a while to settle on Cousy whom I may or may not have seen as a pre-teen. His influence on the game, on the Cs, and his stature for his era were unsurpassed by even Russell whose dominance was cemented later, in the 60s.
KG was next on Simmons list, but given that the bulk of the quality of his career was with the T-Wolves, I'd go with McHale next who, at the top of his game, was the best PF of all-time. The injury to his foot, and he still limps, costs him in that race with Malone and KG, who also would be better at the top of his game than Malone.
Some here should read about Cousy and Havlicek to understand how good they were with the knowledge that the game has gone through several eras and today's ball is very different from the 50s and 60s and different from the 70s and 80s. Comparative stats are meaningless and there were always freaks of nature even in the early era like Russell and Wilt. It's still evolving with how prevalent one-and-done is becoming, small ball, the primacy of the 3FG, salary cap economics, and over-expansion the decline of physical play, etc. off the top of my head.
Bill Simmons List
http://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/simmons_pyramid.htmlRank Player
1 Michael Jordan
2 Bill Russell
3 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4 Magic Johnson
5 Larry Bird
6 Wilt Chamberlain
7 Tim Duncan
8 Kobe Bryant
9 Jerry West
10 Oscar Robertson
11 Hakeem Olajuwon
12 Shaquille O'Neal
13 Moses Malone
14 John Havlicek
15 Elgin Baylor
16 Julius Erving
17 Bob Pettit
18 Karl Malone
19 Charles Barkley
20 LeBron James
21 Bob Cousy
22 Kevin Garnett
23 Isiah Thomas
24 Scottie Pippen
25 John Stockton
26 Rick Barry
27 Bill Walton
28 Dwyane Wade
29 David Robinson
30 Willis Reed
31 Dave Cowens
32 Walt Frazier
33 Sam Jones
34 George Gervin
35 Kevin McHale
36 Steve Nash
37 Allen Iverson
38 George Mikan
39 Dirk Nowitzki
40 Patrick Ewing
41 Gary Payton
42 Wes Unseld
43 Jason Kidd
44 Clyde Drexler
45 Nate Thurmond
46 Dave DeBusschere
47 Paul Pierce
48 Hal Greer
49 Billy Cunningham
50 James Worthy
51 Elvin Hayes
52 Dolph Schayes
53 Bill Sharman
54 Dennis Johnson
55 Dominique Wilkins
56 Paul Arizin
57 Tom Heinsohn
58 Bernard King
59 Robert Parish
60 Tiny Archibald
61 Bob McAdoo
62 Ray Allen
63 Reggie Miller
64 Jerry Lucas
65 Alex English
66 Adrian Dantley
67 Earl Monroe
68 Pete Maravich
69 Dennis Rodman
70 David Thompson
71 Lenny Wilkens
72 Chris Webber
73 Sidney Moncrief
74 Joe Dumars
75 Artis Gilmore
76 Dan Issel
77 Tracy McGrady
78 Dwight Howard
79 Paul Westphal
80 Bob Dandridge
81 Dave Bing
82 Chris Mullin
83 Cliff Hagan
84 Robert Horry
85 Arvydas Sabonis
86 Connie Hawkins
87 Gail Goodrich
88 Shawn Kemp
89 Vince Carter
90 Chris Paul
91 Bailey Howell
92 Bob Lanier
93 Kevin Johnson
94 Jack Twyman
95 Jo Jo White
96 Tom Chambers