In basketball terms, George Mikan is long ago and far away: he retired in 1956, one year before Bill Russell revolutionized the center position and three before Wilt Chamberlain transformed it again.
Mikan played so long ago that his start in pro ball came before the NBA.
And as you’ll see in this video, everything was different. The lane hadn’t yet been widened in reaction to players like Russell and Chamberlain. We’re pretty sure there was no goaltending call and all of the payers in this video are white.
So it’s clearly from another era.
Yet Mikan was a transformative player himself.