You guys know how dominant Wilt Chamberlain was in his time. To underrate him just because you persume that he would not as actively dominate he did in a tougher era of centers is completely idiotic. This guy has done it all. He even averaged 4 apg in his career, thats great for a center. Hes just about done everything else. You name one thing he didnt do, hes made defensive first teams, scoring titles, nba finals mvp's, nba mvp's, first teams, lead nba in rebounding as well, roy, and possibly anything else you can think of. He averaged a career .540 fg percentage and was just an unstoppable force. One thing people dont give him credit for is that he wasnt born 7'1" 275 lb. He like any other player had to work for his dominance in the NBA. For you to say, "Well he was just too big to compete with' is dumb. Sun ming ming is too big to compete with if he were to join the NBA, but unlike Chamberlain, he worked at what he did, and perfected it. Most people dont recognize that, big men start out sloppy basketball players, but Chamberlain was the best in his era because he outplayed everyone, therefore deserving to be mentioned in the top 3 all time. For some people to put him out of the top 3 is ridiculous. Another thing I like people to recognize is that Wilt Chamberlain was and still is the best fit player in the NBA, he had the best stamina, and the best endurance, everyone knows how he averaged 48.5 minutes a game, meaning he played full games at a time, something you havent seen in ages I assume. Theres just a lot of things he doesn't get show for, and id like to point it out. For me, the numbers one and two spots go Jordan and Chamberlain in no real order whatsoever.
I don't know of anyone who leaves Wilt out of the top three players of all time. I just don't think he's number one.1. Jordan2. Big Dipper3. Russell/Bird/Johnson
The reason he doesn't get as much mention as he probably should is that the majority of the people that break down "all-time greats" have never even seen Wilt Chamberlain play... and watching 1-2 game tapes doesn't cut it either.
Because how can you rate a player as the greatest of all-time when you have never seen them play in your life? He's definitely in the top 3 of pretty much everybody's list though.I would rate him #1 if I had seen him play and grew up watching him.I think most people on the site grew up watching Jordan, except maybe the younger guys who are 13, 14.
Not only did most of us not see him play, as time passes by you forget how good some players were when you're assaulted by the constant in your face news reporting of today's media.I'd rank him as the 2nd best player ever..Only reason I rank Jordan ahead of him is because I've heard old basketball players who played vs Wilt and saw MJ play say MJ is the best ever.I'll take their word for it.
I don't think people even underrate him. There's hardly anyone who wouldn't rank him as the 2nd best player ever, and the best Center to ever play. I guess if someone would underrate him, it'd be because he was playing weak, small, and unathletic competetion back then. So it'd be like Kobe Bryant playing against guys in the D-League. That's basically what it was like for Wilt. Besides Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul Jabbar (this was at the very end of his career), what competetion did he have to play against. Of course he is going to dominate if he's a man playing against boys.But this can't undermine the things he did. He averged freaking 50 ppg in a season, he's 2nd to Mike in ppg average, and that's because he became moere of a team player when he came to LA, or else he'd be the leader right now. He was equally dominant on both ends, and on rebounds as well. People can't say he's not a winner because he did win 2 championships.
It's his other stats that are so amazing.55 rebounds in one game and it was vs Bill Russellaveraged 48.5 mins/game for an entire season (think about that one)led the league in assists, the only center to ever do so.Never fouled out of a game in his entire careerStill played summer games vs NBA players in the 80's when he was well into his 40'she'd be a freak of nature even playing today IMO.
Yeah, but those who say he'd get like 34 and 18 in the current NBA are dead wrong. Everyone knows that big men got much more rebounds back then because there were so many shots. That's also why guards had low field goal percentages and the scoring was up. Players took a ton of shots back then.
No one really underrates him...I've never seen him not crack a top 3 before.But, a lot of his stats and awards never really impressed me. He did it against big men the size of Tracy McGrady or Kevin Durant, and it was in an era where 120PPG was league average. The game wasn't nearly developed as it is now, so defensive setups and such weren't effective at all. Guys 6'8''-6'10'' couldn't jump out of the building like most guys nowadays. Wilt did have some nice moves, and a pretty decent midrange jumpshot, but he simply overwhelmed players that were too small and unathletic to guard Wilt. And with more possessions per team, and with players 6'5'' not having 40" verticals, he grabbed every rebound in sight. His heart was also never really in the game, and he only won 1 ring while being "the man". With that said, I am not trying to overshadow just how good of a player he was. I put him at #2 all time, but I think there is a good margin between him and MJ.
The highest team scoring averages come from the Early 80's actually.but a lot of the top scores are from the 60's as well.120 ppg is a tad high estimate though.
^^ I believe 118.3 was the highest league average. That was in 1962 I think.I watched Wilt play since 1968 on tv and live a couple of times when he was with LA. Even when he was in his 30's, he was a man among boys. I just don't like when people say that he'd be average today or that todays players would dominate the 60's. They are wrong on both counts. Wilt was the best athlete to ever play in the NBA, and that includes Jordan. And to say things like getting 20rpg was easy back then because there were more boards available is wrong to, do you know how many players averaged 20rpg just once? You could count them on one hand. It's also the media, players then didn't get hyped like they do today.
actually, 118 ppg doesn't crack the top 25http://www.databasebasketball.com/leaders/...easonsearch.htmdoug moe was an offensive genius.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>actually, 118 ppg doesn't crack the top 25http://www.databasebasketball.com/leaders/...easonsearch.htmdoug moe was an offensive genius.</div>Sorry, I meant league average as a whole. As in all the teams combined.And yes, Doug Moe makes Mike D'Antoni look like Jeff Van Gundy.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Michael Bryant @ Jul 14 2007, 04:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>^^ I believe 118.3 was the highest league average. That was in 1962 I think.I watched Wilt play since 1968 on tv and live a couple of times when he was with LA. Even when he was in his 30's, he was a man among boys. I just don't like when people say that he'd be average today or that todays players would dominate the 60's. They are wrong on both counts. Wilt was the best athlete to ever play in the NBA, and that includes Jordan. And to say things like getting 20rpg was easy back then because there were more boards available is wrong to, do you know how many players averaged 20rpg just once? You could count them on one hand. It's also the media, players then didn't get hyped like they do today.</div>Because none of us were alive then. How do you expect us to have a ton of knowledge on the game in the 60's?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Michael Bryant @ Jul 14 2007, 07:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Sorry, I meant league average as a whole. As in all the teams combined.And yes, Doug Moe makes Mike D'Antoni look like Jeff Van Gundy.</div>ah yes, that makes sense.
I think a lot of people tend to forget about Wilt because not many people have seen him play. his career was over long before most of us were even born, and there aren't many of his games shown on NBA TV. Had there been as much tv coverage when Wilt was in his prime as there was when Jordan played than everyone would be signing Wilts praises. The championship debate doesn't work either, Jordan didn't have to go against any team as great as the Celtic teams Chamberlain had to face. People sometimes forget that a Championship is a team accomplishment, and the Celtics were by far the greatest team in that era, and some could argue those Celtics teams are the greatest to ever play.
I don't see anybody underrating Wilt. Pretty much everybody puts him at #2 all time (though I could see Magic going ahead of him). The thing is that Wilt's stats are literally nearly double what he'd get today, due to pace (he actually played on the fastest paced team of all time), Minutes (if you think he'd get those minutes today you're dead wrong), competition (Tracy Mcgrady sized centers in general. No matter how you slice that, that's easier for a center), lack of a three point line (the three point line would have hurt his rebounding numbers), and many other factors. I'm not saying he's not top 3 of all time, but that's in terms of greatness and impact on the game, not actual ability. I've said a million times that we stand on the shoulders of giants, and without Wilt there'd be no Shaq, but that doesn't change the fact that somebody like KG probably could have averaged 40-20-10 in those days. So yes, Wilt is one of the three greatest players of all time, but not one of the three best.
He could, but he wouldn't because they have much better trainers nowadays. And there's too many players that need to play.
^^ True, but the modern conditions would definately favor Wilt, considering he pulled off 48.5 mpg when players took salt tablets, wore chuck taylors and played in unventilated gyms.
