[Engraved-on-His-hands]

People tend to remember and vote for the more recent players rather than players who were before their time. I will admit that I am a contrarian, but I think that Wilt Chamberlain was the greatest of all time. They changed the rules of basketball because of Wilt. They didn’t ever do that because of Jordan. Case closed.

[Alberta's Child]

In these discussions there are actually some players who are so dominant for certain reasons that I would leave them out of discussions about the greatest of all time. The reason for this is that they are "transformational" players who changed a sport so dramatically that their impact on the game is impossible to measure in a historical context. In other words, they were almost like superhumans or freaks of nature who burst onto the scene and changed their games forever -- but their impact seemed to diminish over time as the rest of the sport caught up with them.

Looking back over time, it's hard to figure out how much of their impact was a result of how WELL they played the game, and how much was really a function of how DIFFERENTLY they played the game.

Wilt Chamberlain might have been one of those players. Two others that immediately come to mind are Babe Ruth in baseball and Bobby Orr in hockey.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Damn, you beat me to it! That being said, I think these sort of ratings are silly. No way you can really factor in so many variables.

[Hyman Roth]

They didn’t ever do that because of Jordan. Case closed.

They did change the rules because of Jordan. You can now palm the ball on the dribble and take four steps and not be called for traveling. :>)

[CMAC51]

The first player they changed the rules for was George Mikan. Then came Wilt. Now it is James Harden.

[Raymond Pamintuan]

That is definitely true, and many of Wilt’s records will never be broken.

However, I cannot in good conscience put him at the top because the caliber of the opposing teams, as well as the size of the league at the time, made his dominance greater than it would be in today’s league.

It can be argued that the young Shaq and LeBron would dominate a prime Chamberlain. I’m not saying they could, only that the argument can be made. It may also be possible for a prime Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson, and Nowitzki to give him a run for his money, especially with Nowitzki’s perimeter shooting.