If you're a basketball fan or not this is awesome

[polychronopolous]

One can make a case that Josh Gibson is the best hitter of all-time.  He played his whole career against nothing but Hebrews and allegedly hit over 800 home runs

Hebrews can't pitch or throw.

[Pray_4_War]

Abdul-Jabbar dominated at every level. High school, college, pro.  His basketball resume is unrivaled in the history of basketball.    His high school team won 71 consecutive games.  In college UCLA was 88-2 with him winning 3 Straight NCAA championships and he was the NCAA tournament MVP all three years.  In the NBA he won 6 MVP awards, and 6 Championships.  He shot 56% from the field for his career and is still the NBA's all time leading scorer.  His Skyhook has been called the most unstoppable shot in NBA history.

Jordan is the best perimeter ever player but in my opinion he is not the best overall player.  A dominant big man is just more valuable that a great perimeter player.  They impact the game in a much larger way on both ends of the court.

[King Shizzo]

Abdul-Jabbar dominated at every level. High school, college, pro.  His basketball resume is unrivaled in the history of basketball.    His high school team won 71 consecutive games.  In college UCLA was 88-2 with him winning 3 Straight NCAA championships and he was the NCAA tournament MVP all three years.  In the NBA he won 6 MVP awards, and 6 Championships.  He shot 56% from the field for his career and is still the NBA's all time leading scorer.  His Skyhook has been called the most unstoppable shot in NBA history.

Jordan is the best perimeter ever player but in my opinion he is not the best overall player.  A dominant big man is just more valuable that a great perimeter player.  They impact the game in a much larger way on both ends of the court.

You answered your own question. Jabbar was a "big man". He was an all-time great, but he had a height advantage along with guys like Wilt and Russell.

Jordan was 6'6. Considered average height for an NBA player.

It was a different ballgame 30+ years ago when you were at or near 7'0.  You were literally a man amongst boys (height wise)

[The True Adonis]

Abdul-Jabbar dominated at every level. High school, college, pro.  His basketball resume is unrivaled in the history of basketball.    His high school team won 71 consecutive games.  In college UCLA was 88-2 with him winning 3 Straight NCAA championships and he was the NCAA tournament MVP all three years.  In the NBA he won 6 MVP awards, and 6 Championships.  He shot 56% from the field for his career and is still the NBA's all time leading scorer.  His Skyhook has been called the most unstoppable shot in NBA history.

Jordan is the best perimeter ever player but in my opinion he is not the best overall player.  A dominant big man is just more valuable that a great perimeter player.  They impact the game in a much larger way on both ends of the court.

Where do you fit in with all of the above? 

[Army of One]

Gretzky only won 4 championships, the automatically puts him out of the running.another regular season wonder like wilt

[Walter Sobchak]

Gretzky only won 4 championships, the automatically puts him out of the running.another regular season wonder like wilt

Who holds all of the major NHL Playoff scoring records?

That like saying Cy Young only won one World Series, so he wasn't much of a pitcher.

[Army of One]

Who holds all of the major NHL Playoff scoring records?

That like saying Cy Young only won one World Series, so he wasn't much of a pitcher.

Usually means they crumbled when it counted most, final games etc

[Hulkotron]

Basketball is the only major American sport where I really place a premium on winning team championships when ranking individual players because there's such little parity in the NBA.  At the start of the year you can pretty write it in ink which three or four teams have any realistic chance of reaching and winning the Finals.

It's also a game where one elite player can have a tremendous effect on a team's success because there's relatively few players on the court at one time and a really good player will play practically the entire game.  It's rare that the best team in the regular season doesn't at least reach the Finals, and the team with the best individual player is usually the team that wins in a seven-game series.  Not always, e.g. when the Mavs beat LeBron's Heat, but usually.

For example if LeBron, Jordan, Shaq, maybe Kobe too, in their respective primes go to any team in the league, that team is immediately a Finals contender (well maybe not Philly this year but any other team ) and their old team probably struggles to even make the playoffs.

Contrast this with the NHL, where even the best forwards only play like a third of the game and you can ship Wayne Gretzky at the height of his ability to the Kings and they never win a Cup.  Or the NFL or MLB, where the team that wins the Super Bowl / World Series very often is not the best team in the regular season, does not have the league MVP, and one player no matter how good can't carry an otherwise average team to a championship.

[Pray_4_War]

You answered your own question. Jabbar was a "big man". He was an all-time great, but he had a height advantage along with guys like Wilt and Russell.

Jordan was 6'6. Considered average height for an NBA player.

It was a different ballgame 30+ years ago when you were at or near 7'0.  You were literally a man amongst boys (height wise)

Jabbar didn't have a height advantage.  Centers and guards don't defend each other.  He was going against other 7 footers at his position.  Occasionally guys that were even taller than he was like Manute Bol and Mark Eaton.  Jabbar wasn't playing in the 50's against a bunch of 6'5" white boys.  He played against some legit bad asses.  Wilt, Moses Malone, Nate Thurmond, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Robert Parish, etc. 

[Ronnie Rep]

Wilt.

For his era that man was a freak. 7'1, 270 pounds. Ran and jumped like a deer.

Probably the most dominant ever.

Absolutely, No one dominated basketball like Wilt.