Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever.

Height certainly doesn't measure talent, but it helps. I am not saying hieght is the sole reason why Wilt Chamberlain was a great player, but it contributed to it. If Wilt Chamberlain played today would he average 30 points per game with over 20 rebounds? I think anybody that knows basketball would say no. He probably wouldn't even come close to those amazing numbers. You brought up Yao Ming which is a good point. Yao Ming had injury problems and had nowhere near the muscle that Wilt Chamberlain had. Even despite that during Yao Ming's prime (about three years) he was the second most dominant big man in the NBA next to Shaq. From 2005 to 2008 Yao Ming averaged over 20 points per game, and 10 rebounds per game while barely playing half of each season. ( http://en.wikipedia.org...) He was very dominant over his competition. Height, size, and era must be looked at when talking about the greatest of all time. Jordan dominates Wilt in career efficiency. As for rings, I agree, they aren't everything. That idea is just stupid. Jordan needed his Bulls teams but it wasn't as much as they needed him. I am not saying rings are everything but the NBA is a star driven league. There are 12 active players on an NBA roster at a time usually. Yet almost everybody knows the saying, "One to compete, two to win," in reference to the number of superstars a team needs. There is a reason it doesn't say, "Twelve to win." The other players are just the minor parts of the vehicle. The superstars are the engines that drive the force behind them. Rings do hold some importance. Not all. As far as the athletism of early athletes goes, I won't argue your points. I cannot prove that players back then weren't as athletic as they are now but I can prove that leagues weren't as diverse as they are now which allow more of a pool of players to choose from. Which in turn, naturally means more athletic players today. At the time Wilt Chamberlain played the unnofficial NBA rule was no more than four blacks to a team. In the 1960s there were far less african-americans in the NBA but now they make up about 78% of the league. Larry Bird himself said this, "And if you just had a couple of white guys in there, you might get them [the fans, not the guys] a little excited. But it is a black man's game, and it will be forever. I mean, the greatest athletes in the world are African-American." Larry Bird said "african americans are the greatest athletes in the world." Yet in 1960s most teams barely had four. 1960s and early 70s of course are the decades Wilt dominated. All of this information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org... Now that I have addressed all of those points I can get back to Michael Jordan and his very own era which was comprised of some of the all time great NBA players. Players like Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Larry Bird, the league was stuffed with them. This era also allowed hand checking. That is when the defender is allowed to use one of two hands to force an offensive player where he wants them to go. Today you can't touch a player with more than a forearm in the lower defensive box unless maintaining his defensive position. An example would be in the post. This can be found here. http://www.nba.com... Jordan played in the most difficult era and came out with six championships, 10 All NBA First Teams, Nine All Defensive teams, a Defensive Player of the Year Award, a Rookie of the Year Award, 14 All Star selections, and five MVP awards. I rest my case.