Like many, my first introduction to Wilt was through my dad’s eyes. I had never seen Wilt play, but my dad watched him and said he was the most unstoppable force in the history of basketball. He would talk about his 100 point game and the year he averaged 50 points.
Here is a quick discussion by the only radio guy to give him any credit (that I have heard).
Here is a quick discussion by the only radio guy to give him any credit (that I have heard).
Teams win championships
One thing I know for sure is that basketball is a team sport. The team with the most great players typically wins. With the hype around Michael Jordan and his 6 rings, you would think that basketball was an individual sport. If that is the case, then Larry Bird is the greatest player to every lace up. Why? He swept MJ out of the playoffs....TWICE. For those wondering, a sweep is a playoff series where the loser doesn’t even win a game. Also, MJ won 6, but he was in the league for 15 seasons. Did he suck the other 9 years? No, one player can’t typically win a championship without a great supporting supporting staff. How many rings does Magic have without Kareem? The answer is zero.
In other words give me a break when it comes to rings. That argument is so easy to prove false that I can't believe it gets so much discussion.
In other words give me a break when it comes to rings. That argument is so easy to prove false that I can't believe it gets so much discussion.
Wilt vs Russell
I have seen a few top 5 lists out there where Russell is on the top 5 list and Wilt isn’t. It is nonsensical! The argument is that Russell won 11 rings and Wilt only has 2. Is it fair to put Russell ahead of Chamberlain? Well lets look at the Celtics team and their list of hall of famers:
Russell
Bob Cousy
Bill Sharman
Tommy Heinson
K.C. Jones
Sam Jones
Frank Ramsey
John Havlicek
This is the equivalent of the modern NBA with the Warriors after KD was added, but then adding a couple more hall of famers to the team. Actually, the Warriors have maybe 4 Hall of Famers, while the stacked Celtics teams sometimes had a Hall of Famer at every position.
Secondly, and just as important, Russell had Red Auerbach as a coach. It just wasn’t a fair fight.
When Wilt, in his prime, was fortunate to play for Philadelphia with two other hall of famers (Bill Cunningham and Hal Greer), they set an NBA record with 68 wins and only 13 losses. They also defeated the Celtics and won the NBA title.
Russell
Bob Cousy
Bill Sharman
Tommy Heinson
K.C. Jones
Sam Jones
Frank Ramsey
John Havlicek
This is the equivalent of the modern NBA with the Warriors after KD was added, but then adding a couple more hall of famers to the team. Actually, the Warriors have maybe 4 Hall of Famers, while the stacked Celtics teams sometimes had a Hall of Famer at every position.
Secondly, and just as important, Russell had Red Auerbach as a coach. It just wasn’t a fair fight.
When Wilt, in his prime, was fortunate to play for Philadelphia with two other hall of famers (Bill Cunningham and Hal Greer), they set an NBA record with 68 wins and only 13 losses. They also defeated the Celtics and won the NBA title.
Lets look at individual stats
Okay, Wilt dominated individual stats. In fact, most of his records are still in the books. Wilt holds 71 records and 68 of those are individual. So what individual aspect of the game did Russell beat Wilt? The answer is none. When they played against each other, Russell’s team might win, but he would get spanked by Wilt in their one to one matchup. Head to head, Wilt average more points, rebounds, and assists. In fact, the record for the most rebounds in a game is 55. Wilt set that record against Russell.
Even if you claim that Russell had more help (which is a fact), you can’t explain why Russell shot 44 percent from the floor over his career. That is an individual stat and another one where it is embarrassing compared to Wilt. Wilt shot 54 percent over his career and when you think about how players would jump all over him every time he got the ball, it is amazing that he once shot 68 percent from the floor. Amazingly, he shot nearly 73 percent from the floor his final season and also lead the league in rebounds.
While Wilt’s scoring, efficiency and rebounding records are mind blowing, he even lead the league in assists one season when people said he was selfish. The only center to ever do so.
Even if you claim that Russell had more help (which is a fact), you can’t explain why Russell shot 44 percent from the floor over his career. That is an individual stat and another one where it is embarrassing compared to Wilt. Wilt shot 54 percent over his career and when you think about how players would jump all over him every time he got the ball, it is amazing that he once shot 68 percent from the floor. Amazingly, he shot nearly 73 percent from the floor his final season and also lead the league in rebounds.
While Wilt’s scoring, efficiency and rebounding records are mind blowing, he even lead the league in assists one season when people said he was selfish. The only center to ever do so.
Modern NBA will give you a clue
A team is the sum of its parts. This is no where more apparent than in the 2015 NBA Finals. LeBron James lead both teams in points, rebounds, and assists. Yet, he didn’t win or get the Finals MVP trophy. Is there anyone that watched that series that didn’t know Lebron was the best player on the floor? It was obvious. Same situation with Russell vs Wilt.
Playoffs
Some would have you believe that Wilt didn’t play well in the playoffs. Is that true? His first 6 trips to the playoffs he scored over 28 points a game. He average over 23 rebounds (one season he averaged over 30 rebounds a game in the playoffs!!). He also shot 52.2 percent from the floor over his playoff career. Just for comparisons, Russell shot 43 percent over his playoff career. This was the guy that killed Chamberlain in the playoffs? No, that credit goes to his cast of NBA Hall of Famers. By the way, I am not saying Russell wasn’t a great player, I am just saying that if I was picking a center to start my team, he wouldn’t be in my top 5. Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq, and Moses Malone would all be picked prior to Russell.
In fact, there was a year when Russell won a championship and was the 6th leading scorer on his team. He was typically 3rd leading scorer, at best. Giving him all the credit is like giving Dennis Rodman or Horace Grant all the credit for the Bulls wins instead of MJ.
The idea that he individually outperformed Wilt is a myth.
In fact, there was a year when Russell won a championship and was the 6th leading scorer on his team. He was typically 3rd leading scorer, at best. Giving him all the credit is like giving Dennis Rodman or Horace Grant all the credit for the Bulls wins instead of MJ.
The idea that he individually outperformed Wilt is a myth.
Rule changes
The NBA was worried about his dominance and started implementing changes while Wilt was still at Kansas. In today's game, they have put in rules to make it easier for players to score. Not so with Wilt, they literally did everything they could do to stop him:
- Free throws - They made it illegal to cross the free throw line on the shot because Wilt would essentially dunk the ball from there.
- Lobbing over the backboard on an inbounds pass. Kansas would run their out of bounds plays and lob the ball over the backboard and Wilt would catch and dunk it.
- Offensive goal tending.
- Widening of the lane. It went from 12 to 16 feet
He wasn’t relatable
I think the main reason a player can have 71 records and not be in the discussion of greatest to ever play is because no one could or can relate to him. He was like the story of David and Goliath. No one roots for Goliath. If you see some of the stories about his stamina, speed, jumping ability and strength, it sounds like a super-human and us mortals can’t begin to relate to it. I am including a few Youtube videos with some of the stories. Hard to separate myth from the truth, but judge for yourself.
Modern Bias
Another reason we discount him is a modern bias. Outside of people rehashing his dominance, I can only judge by low grade YouTube videos that come no where near the high definition television we have now. Many only heard some of his games on the radio. There isn’t even film with his 100 point game. It all gets combined into an idea that he is a myth that was simply made up.
I remember watching Bird, Magic, Jordan, Dr J, and even Kareem. When Bird and Magic started to be plagued with injuries a vacuum was created for a media star to stop the NBA from collapsing after the guys that saved it were sailing into new phases over their lives. The one guy that could do that was MJ. I remember a time when you couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing MJ’s Hollywood smile. He was a media darling. I loved watching him play, as well. Of course, if you turned on basketball, there was a very high chance that the Bulls would be on.
Wilt never had this advantage. People would hear about his feats, but didn’t typically see them. It was a different era before MJ took the NBA to new commercial/corporate heights. In fact, if you look at his shoe sells, the hype continues and grows. You would think he was also super human, but most of us have actually seen him play. He wasn't invincible. The Celtics and Pistons proved that. Once he had a crew of the best players, it became inevitable that he would win titles. Think about those LeBron James teams in Cleveland that went from title contender to bottom dweller the year he left. Not so when MJ left to play baseball. His team went from 57 wins to 55 wins. Broadcasters that don't want to give the rest of the team credit have to come to terms with this fact that they were nearly as good with Pete Myers in the line up. Can you imagine if an all-star replaced Jordan that year rather that Myers?
I remember watching Bird, Magic, Jordan, Dr J, and even Kareem. When Bird and Magic started to be plagued with injuries a vacuum was created for a media star to stop the NBA from collapsing after the guys that saved it were sailing into new phases over their lives. The one guy that could do that was MJ. I remember a time when you couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing MJ’s Hollywood smile. He was a media darling. I loved watching him play, as well. Of course, if you turned on basketball, there was a very high chance that the Bulls would be on.
Wilt never had this advantage. People would hear about his feats, but didn’t typically see them. It was a different era before MJ took the NBA to new commercial/corporate heights. In fact, if you look at his shoe sells, the hype continues and grows. You would think he was also super human, but most of us have actually seen him play. He wasn't invincible. The Celtics and Pistons proved that. Once he had a crew of the best players, it became inevitable that he would win titles. Think about those LeBron James teams in Cleveland that went from title contender to bottom dweller the year he left. Not so when MJ left to play baseball. His team went from 57 wins to 55 wins. Broadcasters that don't want to give the rest of the team credit have to come to terms with this fact that they were nearly as good with Pete Myers in the line up. Can you imagine if an all-star replaced Jordan that year rather that Myers?
To Wrap Up
The NBA has been around for several eras. In all that time, we have never seen a player as dominant as Wilt. In fact, no one is close. He average over 50 for an entire season. Unfortunately, he played before the modern sports journalist and talking heads were even around. He didn’t have the corporate sponsorships and movies, so we just have to judge him based on his unprecedented stats. The broadcasters prefer to just put him aside as some sort of exception. Not really fair and most just dismiss him for two titles without looking at the competition.
One other thing I have heard is that a center needs a good guard and that ball handlers don’t need that. How many boards did MJ average over his career (6)? Without others doing the rebounding, he wouldn’t have won as many games or got nearly as many shots. There is a reason they needed Rodman. With Wilt, he could do it himself. One season he averaged 27 boards a game. That would lead to a lot of scoring without anyone passing him the ball. The argument that centers need teammates holds true for every individual player at every position. It is a team sport!
So some would ask about my all time starting 5. Here it is for the moment:
Wilt
Bird
Magic
MJ
Lebron
If I had to start a team with one of them, it would be Wilt.
One other thing I have heard is that a center needs a good guard and that ball handlers don’t need that. How many boards did MJ average over his career (6)? Without others doing the rebounding, he wouldn’t have won as many games or got nearly as many shots. There is a reason they needed Rodman. With Wilt, he could do it himself. One season he averaged 27 boards a game. That would lead to a lot of scoring without anyone passing him the ball. The argument that centers need teammates holds true for every individual player at every position. It is a team sport!
So some would ask about my all time starting 5. Here it is for the moment:
Wilt
Bird
Magic
MJ
Lebron
If I had to start a team with one of them, it would be Wilt.
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