I have no real issue with Russell at 7th.
The man with the most championships at 7th? The man who went up against and beat Wilt Chamberlain nigh on every year?
I feel like his stature would be far less in doubt if blocks had been recorded back then to quiet the stats crowd. You gotta feel that his BPG would be the all time leader or at least close to it
Russell didn't beat Chamberlain, the Boston Celtics with its 7 or so HOFers did. Chamberlain consistently out performed Russell in every statistical category.
Edit: The first time Wilt even had 2 other HOFers (Greer and Cunningham, neither of which was anywhere close to a 1st ballot guy) on his team (aside from Cunningham's rookie year the year prior), the Sixers won 68 games and beat the 8 time defending champion Celtics in 5 games. Winning matters, no question, but you win when you have talented teammates. Wilt for the majority of his career did not have great teammates. When he did, the result was one of the greatest seasons by any team in league history. And again that is just 2 other HOFers, Russell consistently was playing with at least 4 other HOFers (Hondo, the Joneses, Howell, and early on Cousy).