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Rings aren't the tell all but they factor in when you are the best player or 2nd best player on your team. A player like Derek Fisher winning 5 Rings is irrelevant when it comes to greatest ever talk because he was a role player. Jordan was also a Great Defensive player besides being an unstoppable Scorer. He at 1 point was arguably the best Defensive player in the league. Like I said I have LeBron in my Top 10 ever so that shows I think he is Great, I just don't trust him as much as I could Jordan, Magic, or Kobe on the big stage. Magic did lose 4 Finals but hell he was playing against Bird, Bad Boy Pistons, and Jordan when he lost those but he also beat Bird twice. Yes the Cavs could win it but because of the addition of Durant I think that will get the Warriors back over the top. Yes I am wrong with several predictions but I nailed my SB pick last season by picking Denver from day 1 and people laughed at my prediction. So I have hit on a lot of big predictions. I also picked the Cubs to win the World Series at the beginning of the Baseball season. When the Playoffs rolled around all I heard was how Peyton stunk and no way they can beat the Patriots. Then after they beat the Patriots, all I heard was no way they can beat Carolina as they have Cam. Denver made Cam look like a pee on. That was the easiest prediction I have made in years going into that SB game. Regarding the Colts prediction, my prediction wasn't that far fetched. They lost 2 or 3 games they could've/should've won. Regarding the Warriors, me saying they wouldn't lose last season vs the Cavs, Cavs beat them on a Kyrie 3 in Game 7 so it's not like I missed it by a mile.

To me Kareem was the Greatest Center ever to play. He had the Stats and the Rings. So I think highly of him. I can put my hatred aside enough to say LeBron has been the best player in the league over the last 5 seasons. Also, regarding all-time Floor Players meaning non-Centers, I would only take Jordan, Magic, Bird, and Kobe over him. So my hatred for LeBron has nothing to do with how I do my all-time list. LeBron is Top 10 at worse factoring in all players IMO.

The worst part about MJ is any time any other great player achieves something (LeBron for example) his name comes up, and I have no idea why besides the marketing factor and image that has been crafted for him. MJ was not the pinnacle apex of basketball...but thank god he had a billion dollar marketing campaign that always propped him up as the GOAT no matter what.

It's annoying as hell though, cause you don't have this happen with any other player. There's no other player in NBA history who is held on the pedestal for comparisons besides MJ, and MJ himself was not the GOAT in my eyes. Maybe the best player in the 90's, but the best ever? No way...I'm going with Wilt Chamberlain on that argument 10 times out of 10, cause he revolutionized basketball and I hate the ring argument so much. They always throw it up at Wilt "he only had two rings". "Only had two" like he was supposed to have a bunch. Fans forget that winning a championship is a team accomplishment and very hard...The NFL is better proof, you're lucky to get one ring in your career (Brett Favre), vs not win one at all (Dan Marino). 

The NBA is an evolutionary sport like any other professional sport. If MJ played in the modern era, I doubt he would have had the career he had. He said it himself, back in 2002 when he played for the Wizards that had he played in the era of zone defense, he wouldn't have had his career. MJ was against the rule change allowing zones. 

For as much as people hate LeBron James, he has played his entire career in a much tougher era where zone defense is the normal now. This saying that defenses were physically more aggressive in the 90's is not true. Zone defenses since 2002 have completely transformed the NBA entirely. It's something that hurts the superstar players, but benefits the jumpers. Zone defenses explain why Golden State built a team around jump shooters and 3's. 

The modern change of zone defense makes any argument of past players completely irrelevant comparing them to modern day. All those guys they prop up - MJ, Magic, Bird, none of them played in the era of zones. It was a completely different game when the rules were traditional requiring one on one coverage. A lot of superstar players absolutely hate zone defenses, and for good reason; it hurts them and limits dominating performances.