Most Dominant NBA Player Of All Time
 

this is gonna be arguable but i was looking through the list of all NBA players to score 60+ points per game...

amazingly, 52 players have scored 60+, of those, and i might be wrong, Wilt Chamberlain did it 32 times for a total of 3627 points...

16 times in a single season, 61/62 for 1149 points...

4 times in Dec. 61 for 259
4 times in Jan. 62 for 259
6 times in Feb. 62 for 386

that's 904 in 3 months...

maybe Chamberlain did it that many times cuz the competition wasn't the same as it is now. You'll prolly never ever see that in today's game.

was chamberlain dominant? yes, but that was more a function of hte time and the competition he faced. Today's game is much more competitive..

All in all, the different contexts of the various generations of NBA players causes too many problems.

So here is a time sensitive ranking.

50's George Mikan
60's Wilt Chamberlain
70's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
80's Michael Jordan
90's Michael Jordan
00's Shaquille O'Neal

To me dominance is a combination of the ability to strike fear into your opponents and overall playing ability.

[Chicago fan]
[Allan Parson's Project]
From North... Carolina....at guard...6-6....
Michael Jooooooooooordan
[/Parson's]
[/Chicago fan]

I hate to say it but I would say Jordan.

Second, O'Neil because he is such a freak of nature that nobody cn stop him.

It's a toss up between Jordan and Wilt.

No question about it, it was michael jordan... Chamberlain and Shaq are very close... but come on man... Its obvious this guy was the best ever

I think there's a difference from being the "best" and the "most dominant".

Jordan is the best, but look at Wilt's numbers. He dominated the game like nobody else. I don't feel that the quality is that much better now. With expansion, the league is watered down with people who should never play on the NBA level.

Shaq should be scoring 60 a night against the likes of Greg Ostertag and Shawn Bradley. Wilt may have played against inferior talent, but he took advantage of it.

Shaq, MJ, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell....all good choices.

00's and 10's Lebron James

very well said; i agree.

I'd have to say Michael Jordan, but it depends on what dominance means, certainly his legend dominates basketball more than any other player.

Shaq would be, but his injuries have certainly hurt him...

I agree that Wilt is the most dominant player of all time. He blew away the other teams almost all by himself. His stats are ridiculous, almost straight out of a video game. True the competition might not have been as great, but it was still the pros. He wasn't scoring all those points on a bunch of amateurs. Jordan hit a bunch of clutch shots and the Bulls were an excellent team. They are both great players that will never be forgotten.

In terms of dominance Wilt dominated his era.

But Michael Jordan is easily the best - he is the bar by which all other athletes are set.

"I used to think that Michael Jordan was the Babe Ruth of basketball. I have now come to believe that Babe Ruth was the Michael Jordan of baseball. "
... Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf

Michael Jeffery Jordan

Wilt may have dominated his Era, but could you see Shaq or Yao in that era? Shaq might score 100 a night.

IMO, Shaq and Jordan are a tossup for the most dominant in NBA history.

Wilt woulden't be Wilt in todays game, but Jordan and Shaq would have been better in that era.

Are you trying to say that Wilt, in his prime, couldn't average 24 points and 12 boards today? He would easily do that. The man averaged 50 points and 27 boards for a season. He averaged over 20 boards a game for his career. I think Shaq would be a little better if he played back then, but Shaq doesn't dominate todays game like Wilt did his. Hell, Shaq doesn't even dominate like MJ did.

I'll agree with JoeyB when he says that Jordan was the best and Wilt the most dominant. Although, I'll disagree that the talent isn't as good as back in the day. They game/athletes have only gotten better. It's a little ridiculous to think it's gotten worse.

I don't know if I ever said that the talent level is worse--I'm claiming that it's comparable. There were far less teams in Wilt's day, so the talent could be concentrated within a smaller league. Granted, with the international explosion, we are dealing with a larger pool of players. I just feel that there are players who have no business in the league, plus many of the players have not bothered to learn the basic fundamentals of the game--another reason the skill level has suffered.

Again, I'm not saying it's worse---but I don't feel it's dramatically improved enough to justify a "Shaq better than Wilt" argument.

Wilt - 2 rings
MJ - 6 rings

MJ.

That's a great point, but a completely different measuring stick.

If we're playing that game, let me introduce you to Bill Russell. He's the one with rings on all 10 fingers---and one more in his pocket.

Except Russell had a hall of fame lineup around him.

Wilt did score 100, they also changed the rules so Wilt would not be dominant, 3 in the key? he also led the league in assists one season. please keep in mind I am not stating best ever, but no one had an answer to him on a daily basis. True Match up wise Russell had the advantage, but was supported by a great team around him.

Russell used to let Wilt get a move on, allowing him to score 3 - 4 buckets early in the game...
then Bill would put the "deke" on and stuff Wilt everytime...
with that mindset in Wilt's head Russell would dominate him outright...

i believe you have to look at the number of teams then vs. now and how diluted the game's talent has become with expansion...

look at baseball as a prime example

Just one person's opinion....(using everyone else's suggestions)

Most dominant---Wilt
Best---MJ
Most successful---Russell
Most amazing single season---Oscar Robertson
Most amazing physical presence---Shaq

Dominant is a very suggestive word, do you mean dominate the paint or dominate a game?

i vote for jordan. he had the ability to take over a game unlike anyone else. give him the ball at the end of the game and he got the job done. what people might forget about him is that he might have been the best defensive player in the league at the time. dominance on both sides of the ball makes him the best in my eyes.

The most dominate NBA athlete would have to be Charles Barkley. He has mad eating skillzz..

The most dominant has to be Jordan. He changed the way the game was played. Before him it was all about the big men and now after him it's a gaurds game. Think about the best players in the game right now, sure you can think of big guys like shaq and KG but then look at the gaurds in the leauge and look at the good teams. Most of the good teams has at least one good gaurd...

goddfather40 said it best i think. EXCEPT for the 80's. that would have to go to either Magic Johnson or Larry Bird.

All time my vote goes for Jordan, but I agree with the others who argue you have to look at each player in relation to their era. Wilt, Magic and Bird both would do incredibly well in today's league. Who is to say they wouldn't be doing the sorts of things that Jordan was able to do in his time? All in all an interesting thread!

I'm going to puke if anyone else says that Shaq is the most dominant player in the NBA. The man is a football player playing basketball. He has no finesse, style or grace on the court.

Back in the day centers were entertaining, they dribbled the ball, shot jump shots, hook shots, passed and did it all with class. I have no respect for Shaq and his run-em-over type play.

Let Jordan play back-in-the-day like Russell, and he would have alot too. Back then, less teams, talent, and competition.

I agree that wilt is the most dominate player of all time, but i believe that if jordan had played in the years wilt did he would have even blow wilts numbers out of the water. Ever year players get that much better at the sports as they get more popular. Plus newer technologies and medical studies have enable athletics to train and learn techniques that much better.

I have to agree about Wilt being the most dominant, and Jordan being the flat out best.