What Bill Russell, other greats see in MVP LeBron James

• LeBron James joins elite group as fifth player in NBA history to win four MVP awards
• Miami Heat star earns praise from several former multitime MVPs interviewed by USA TODAY Sports
• %22What I think about him is what I used to think about Wilt %28Chamberlain%29%2C%22 Bill Russell says

MIAMI — Bill Russell would have enjoyed LeBron James as a teammate. Karl Malone loves that James has fun. Moses Malone appreciates that he and James were able to go straight from high school to the NBA and win multiple MVPs.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar admires James' desire to be the best, and Bob Pettit sees his strength and conditioning commitment in James' game.

In a virtual roundtable, Russell, 79; Abdul-Jabbar, 66; Karl Malone, 49; Moses Malone, 58; and Pettit, 80, who was the NBA's first MVP winner in 1956, talked to USA TODAY Sports about MVPs and James, who won his fourth MVP on Sunday. Respect, admiration and appreciation for James emanated from the Hall of Famers, who are five of eight living retired players to win multiple MVPs.

"Let me tell you something," Karl Malone said. "There's just a few guys I would go see play. Now, I'm not going to pay to see any of them play. But there are some guys that I like to see play, and to see how LeBron is playing with such a confidence and an aura about him, I absolutely love it."

James is one of 12 NBA players to win more than one MVP, and at 28, he became the fifth to win four MVPs, joining Abdul-Jabbar (six), Russell (five), Michael Jordan (five) and Wilt Chamberlain (four). James also is the second player to win four MVPs in five seasons. Russell is the other.

"What I think about him is what I used to think about Wilt," Russell said after a morning round of golf, "and like I told Wilt one time, 'I think I'm the only guy on the planet who really knows how good you are because I've seen you up close.' I know what I'm watching, and LeBron is doing a great job being LeBron James."

James orchestrated another virtuoso performance this season, improving on what he did in 2011-12, a season so impressive and dominant that it ended with his third MVP, first NBA title and first Finals MVP award and the question: How can he get better?

He topped last season, becoming the first player, according to basketball-reference.com, in NBA history to average at least 26 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and shoot better than 56% from the field.

"What you're seeing now is marked improvement from the shoulders up," his coach, Erik Spoelstra, said. "For him to have a historic year last year and to find a way to reinvent himself and improve, that speaks to his character and what's inside him."

James loves to say he's just a kid from Akron, Ohio, and that he almost can't believe that this is his life.

"Just to see my name mentioned with those guys, it's just very humbling," James told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday. "It's an honor. I don't know if I'll be able to appreciate it all until I'm done and I can sit back and see what I was able to accomplish."

James, a historian of the game, is creating his own spot in NBA annals. Sunday, he said, James told USA TODAY Sports "It was important to me, because I wanted to be a part of this as a kid. It was a dream of mine."

Here's what our former MVPs and James himself had say about the man, the award and the legacy:

What does it mean to win multiple MVPs?

Russell: I've got a distorted view of the MVP, and I'll tell you why. When I was a player, all the MVPs I won were voted by the players. I was voted MVP by my contemporaries. I'm very proud of the fact that when I won MVP, it was always voted by my competition. You could not vote for your own teammate. I got that five times, and I appreciate that.

Karl Malone: I don't think anybody goes out there to play the game and say, "Look, I want it to be about me, and I want to win multiple MVPs." No. We go out there to compete at the highest level. If you talk to any of them, there's not one single one who will say, "I want to win the MVP." It wasn't on my mind.

When you finish the game and look back, you don't ever say, "This is where I stacked up against the greats." You say to yourself, "Dang, I guess I was pretty decent."

Moses Malone: (Then-Houston Rockets assistant coach) Del Harris came to me one day. ... He said, "Someone gave you one vote for the MVP." Somebody voted for me. That meant I must've had the potential to be an MVP. But my main focus was not on MVP but to be the best player I could be.

Pettit: The older you get, the more it means. At the time you're doing it , it's a nice honor. You're tickled to death to receive it, but as you advance in age, the things you did many years ago gain an importance.

Abdul-Jabbar: It's a mark of my consistency and my leadership.

What have you enjoyed about James?

Russell: When he left Cleveland, I had absolutely no problem with that. To me, it was a real expression of free agency. In my time, we had worked hard to get that to be a reality. In fact, I was very pleased.

Karl Malone: When he and his teammates did that Harlem Shake video, I watched that 40 times because I just loved to see how LeBron was. He's just having fun. What's wrong with having fun? There was a debate about him showboating with dunks before a game. Are you kidding me? If you want to see LeBron in a dunk competition, go the game.

James: It all plays a part in a memorable season. You need all those moments to make it all right. We enjoy each other, but when we get out on this floor, we take care of business and we don't disrespect the game.

Pettit: He's a wonderful player. A man who can do what he's done and dominate like he has, that's a great tribute to him. He's just a great player. … I could have used some of his abilities, I'll say that.

Moses Malone: The one thing I like about LeBron, he was a high-school-to-the-NBA guy just like me. When you go from high school and win MVP, we did something right.

Exceeding expectations

As a junior in high school James appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline "The Chosen One." The expectations were immense, but James was too young and naive to comprehend the pressure.

Ten years into his career, James is a nine-time All-Star, has made the All-NBA first-team six times (soon to be seven) and the All-Defensive team four times, has been player of the week 43 times and player of the month 25 times, won two NBA All-Star MVPs, was MVP of last year's Finals and became the youngest player to score 20,000 career points.

James: I really didn't know how big it was. I had been on basketball magazines before. I didn't really know the magnitude of Sports Illustrated when I was a kid. I'm from Akron, Ohio. We really don't talk about stuff like that much. I just thought it was another basketball magazine. My friends, we were happy. ... It kind of started something I don't really know I was ready for. But the best thing about it, I didn't know how big a cover that was, so it really didn't mess with me too much.

Abdul-Jabbar: LeBron had extraordinary athletic gifts from Day One. And there was no telling how far he would go. His continued improvement is a testimony to his desire to be the best he could be. I admire that.

Where does James go from here?

Russell: All you do is bear down on what you do and keeping doing it. You don't have to change anything. All he has to do is get better at what he does. All that comes from is doing it. I would not say he should do this or that to get better. … For someone to say he could be better if he did this or he did that, they don't know what they're talking about.

Moses Malone: Stay humble to the game and love the game. Don't worry about what anybody says. Work on things you need to work on. Always think of yourself as a winner. Don't worry about the MVP. I just loved the game. When you work hard, you're going to get the benefits.

Karl Malone: Great players realize, "I don't want to be great for one, two, three, four, five years. I want people to say, 'Damn, he could've still played. He should still be playing.' " For LeBron James, it's not about where he goes from here. LeBron James should stay where he's at: the best player in the game.

Pettit: I always wanted to improve. I never got to the point where I didn't think I could get better.

James: I don't know my ceiling, and I won't stop trying to improve my game. I want to continue to maximize what I have. ... I will be a better player next year. I will. I will continue to improve.

What about James' games reminds you of your game?

Russell: My approach to the game was defense first and try to convert our defense to offense. It doesn't make any difference what you take up first — offense or defense — as long as you do it well, and he does it all quite well."

Karl Malone: I don't like doing this because I like for LeBron to have his own. But when I look at LeBron, I used power when I needed to use it and I used finesse when I needed to use it, and that it is a deadly, deadly combination.

Pettit: I was one of the first basketball players to ever lift weights. That was back in 1956-57. … It made you more physical and stronger and it got the point where you liked the pushing and shoving and pounding under the basket.

Moses Malone: I loved to rebound. If you can rebound and play defense, you can win a lot of games.

Team game, team player

After each game, James looks at the box score in this order: team turnovers, his turnovers, opponent's points scored off turnovers, points in the paint, team free throw shooting and team rebounds. He then looks at his individual line in this order: turnovers, rebounding, assists, points.

Russell: I enjoyed playing with all the guys I played with and the better they played, the better I liked it. Anybody who I played with who helped our team win, I loved playing with them. Would I have loved playing with LeBron? Of course.

Abdul-Jabbar: LeBron has gone from being an outstanding individual to a player who is able to set the tone for his entire team and lead them.

Karl Malone: The success that the team has is more important than individual awards. I was lucky and fortunate to be with a great teammates and a coaching staff that believed in me.

Moses Malone: The three MVPs that I won, I give credit to my teammates. Without them, I probably would have never had a chance to win MVP. You've got to have help. They were there for ,me and I was there for them. That's the only way a guy can win MVP. You're not going to do it on your own.

Enjoy it while it lasts

Karl Malone: To see what he's doing at that size is unbelievable.

I'm going to say this: Enjoy LeBron James, because when he's gone, you might not see something like that for 20, 30 years.