There are lots of great points on here..
-Obviously Russell is great. But I don't think you can call Russell the greatest simply because he won the most titles. He didn't win those titles against Jordan, Bird, Magic, LEbron,etc. IT shows that he was a great player on great teams. Titles show that players are winners but simply having more titles when comparing players is a very flawed argument.
-Someone said Russell was better than Jordan because he was a better teammate who sacrificed himself for the team, etc. Well Jordan had to carry his teams. He was a dominant offensive player. Russell couldn't carry his team offensively. He wasn't capable. Jordan sacrificed plenty. He could have averaged 35 plus if he wanted to.
-As far as Jordan's scoring- Yes, they could hand check and get a way with fouls in his era. But the pace of the league was much faster which helped his scoring...Then again, nowadays he might score more since the rules clearly favor the offensive player. To counter that, defenses are so much more developed than before so this argument is tricky. Yes, he got superstar calls, superstars get calls especially nowadays.
-IMO Yes Wilt was dominant. For his era. From the videos and my own research, he was bigger than everyone else, much taller than his opponents, had bad foot work, yes athletic, but he embellishes his feats. I don't watch his videos and think "Wow, what an athlete." Sorry, I just can't see him as the greatest when speculating/comparing eras. I can't imagine he's better than any of the modern day centers (Hakeem, Kareem, Shaq, Ewing, Robinson). Yes Wilt averaged 50. It wouldn't surprise me if any of the previously mentioned centers accomplished that feat. It was a different era. He was great for his era.
-When you have your fellow competitors calling you the greatest that says a lot. Bird, Barkley, Magic. These aren't the most humble guys. They give it up to Jordan and thats gotta mean something.
-Shaq is very underrated in his place in history. He was just so dominant and when healthy and motivated probably the most dominant player in his prime of his era and possibly all time.
-Kobe appears to falling out of the conversation and I'm not sure why. I think DWade had an opportunity to be in the same ballpark as Kobe but injuries and playing second fiddle to Lebron play a big factor in that
IMO Jordan has to be considered the greatest. He could do it all on both ends and had all the intangibles
Lebron is creeping up and Durant is creeping up to Lebron's level but I think he will fall short of that but it should be an interesting 5 years or so for the two of them
