by Seahawks4Ever » Sat Jan 20, 2018 9:34 am
Wilt would have had to really "up" his game if he had wanted to compete with a whole league of 7ft. gifted athletes. I am SURE Wilt would have, but he have not been the dominate force he was "back in the day".
The thing with M.J. is that he played his whole career under different rules than Wilt, Kareem, Oscar, Jerry, Dr. J, etc... 2.5 and 3.5 step lay ups?? No "palming the ball" called, travelling called a players "move", no "up and down" w/o shooting the ball called I could go on and on.
Could M.J. have played and prospered in the earlier era?? You bet he could! He WAS the BEST I have EVER seen and I have seen 'em all. It all comes down to, did J.T Super Star make the players around him (or her) better? You cannot argue that MJ made the players around him better. Magic and Larry did too, but both Magic's 'Show Time" and Larry's Celtics were loaded with talent and Jordan's Bulls not so much. That fact in and of its self I believe vaults Jordan over both Larry and Magic.
Before his championship in 2016 Lebron had won on teams that were loaded with talent, so too were the Lakers with Kobe, with or without Shack. To me, that puts others over them.
So, any "list" of the all time NBA greats has to start with M.J.
M.J. "willed" the Bulls two sets of "three-peats". I knew when I saw that game 6 of the Bulls-Sonics championship series was going to be played on Father's Day that it would be all over with, that there would be NO game 7 that year. The Sonics, led by the Glove and Shawn Kemp was a better team than the one that dropped the first 3 games of that series, our deep was deep and talented. BUT, it didn't matter M.J. was on a mission and part of that mission was to destroy any thought our players may have had that they might have a chance. Sure, we came roaring back to win the next two, BUT, then it WAS Fathers Day and I KNEW that there was NO WAY on THAT day that Jordan and HIS Bulls would be denied. I have witnessed very few players "will" an out come like M.J. could and none so consistently. He was simply the BEST of ALL TIME.
Who is my number 2? I don't know, I just know who is 1