In talking about criteria for the greatest player of all time, i guess my criteria are statistics and champoinships which MJ has both. What are yours?
ahhhhh I'm going insane! This thread needs to DIE! BTW, are you suggesting that if you take both stats and championships into account, MJ must be the best? Because that would be wrong. For one, Russell's 17 pts, 22.5 reb, + 11 championships definetley challenges MJ's accomplishments. There are so many others factors to consider... just saying "stats and championships" doesn't encompass your view. There are many reasons that I consider Wilt a better player than Jordan: Wilt was more athletic (that's not really all that debatable... Wilt, besides being stronger [obviously], was also faster and could jump higher). Jordan enjoyed the "star treatment" of the Stern era. Stern is a marketing genius, but he certainly encouraged preferential treatment of stars. Wilt did not enjoy such treatment, at least not to the extent Jordan did. His peers have testified that refs more often tried to equalize the game for other players (i.e. called more against Wilt). Jordan played in an era where teams have personal trainers, can't play more than one game a day, and are played huge sums of money. In Wilt's day, many players needed jobs in the summer to support themselves, plus the schedule was more hectic, plus the players had to tape their own ankles and do their own laundry, etc. Not to mention segregation/racism in many cities they travelled to. Jordan had it easy in that sense. Jordan played in a watered down league. Where was his competition? The Suns, Jazz, and Knicks? Wilt played in a league that, when he entered, had 8 teams and 80 players, a much more concentrated talent pool. And of course, he had to play the Celtics every year. Now that's competition. Jordan never won anything without a big man (Grant or Rodman) or Pippen. He got killed by the Lakers and Celtics in the late 80s. Wilt is a center, Jordan is a guard. I'll take a center with equal skill over a guard any day of the week. Wilt was more dominant than Jordan. His 100-point game, 50-point season, 72.7% FG season, season leading the league in assists (only non-guard ever), highest rebounding average ever, etc. etc. etc... Jordan's stats are impressive, but they don't touch those. That's just to get started. I'm sure if I sat here long enough I could think of plenty more. If Israel's son would like to respond, I'm sure I'll remember many more points. Or we can just let the thread die (please).
