I think we have to be careful with this kind of comparison. I mean, these guys were all-world athletes in their eras, all the while most of them smoked, the training facilities, although cutting edge at that time, were YMCA gyms compared to modern facilities. They didn't have the benefits of modern nutritionists, 60+ years of basketball knowledge and experience in coaching. They didn't have people who specialized in nothing but perfecting their shot, or footwork, or what-have-you. Give any of them these modern advantages and how much better would they have been?
Also I am not a fan of the "but the league was small, there was no competition" argument. I would actually argue their competition was much stronger. The talent at the time was concentrated into fewer teams. They faced multiple all-star and all-league level players in every single game, not just maybe 1 or 2 with a bunch of role players around them. Now the talent is diluted. Imagine how much stronger the teams would be if we shrink the league today to say 20 teams. Or even 25.
Imagine Wilt with modern gym facilities, trainers, nutritionists, coaches. Summer skill programs. He would have been Shaq-and-a-half. He would likely have been far more dominant than anything we have seen.
So if we are comparing eras and thinking about dropping them all into the same arena, we have to give them the credit of the same inputs and acknowledge that the players of previous eras would just be that much better as the support facilities and staff around them improved.
