You have a much larger pool of people in the world trying to get into the NBA than you did 20 years ago. Thanks in large part to MJ. Naturally that means better athletes, skills, etc
The part or the argument that makes this debate lousy is that MJ played so long ago people have a skewed ceremony on what he was as a player. In my mind if someone says "it's not close" what they are really saying is that they aren't open minded.