Regarding the Shaq, Wilt, Kobe, Bird argument, it's a tough call.
Bill Russell, I don't think, would have had anywhere near the impact in the modern game that he did in Boston's amazing run under Auerbach. The guy was 6'9 - 220 and lithe. I'm pretty sure that's on par with Caron Butler in terms of size. If he were to play the modern game from a young age, he'd undoubtedly be a lot heavier muscle wise, but you have to also take in to account the level of competition he was against at the time in comparison to what he'd be against in the present ~ including the 90s version of the modern game. But, if you were to inject Amar'e Stoudemire in to the past's way against its competition, I think he'd have Wilt like numbers.
The evolution of the game as well as the players (and their regimes) makes it basically impossible to know.
SHAQ V Wilt.
If there were any player of the distant past that'd still make an impact in today's game, it's Chamberlain. But, in terms of size and skill, he was lightyears ahead of his time. His competition was nothing compared to Shaq's. He was 7'1 - 275. He was playing against modern day sized small forwards a lot of the time. One of those SF sized players, Bill Russell, got the better of him on a number of occasions, and Wilt came away with 1 title for all his individual accomplishments.
SHAQ would have easily had equivalent numbers to Wilt's back in the day, perhaps even eclipsed them.
But Wilt would still be a starting center, probably an All Star in the league today. Can't really gauge anything beyond that, but 7'1 - 275 is 7'1 - 275.
The question here isn't about who'd dominate who, because it's like pitting a Spitfire against a Harrier: different eras of dominance against different counterparts.
The same goes for Larry Bird, who was brilliant in an era that had far less competent and physically gifted players.
You can't gauge it.
