Normalizing statistics is not an easy thing to do. For example there is the argument that Jordan's 37 pts a game is more impressive than Wilt's 50 pts a game when you adjust...... in my opinion it is just way too inexact and too difficult to do as the game is vastly different.... the number of teams, the rules, the strategies all make it essentially impossible. I do not mind someone attempting to do so obviously, as that is how we get closer to the truth. You are better comparing Wilt to his contemporaries... and I do not think that Malone, Garnett or Robinson were on par (although all 3 had high peak value) with Wilt..... then again, the same season Wilt averaged 50 points a game the Big averaged a triple double, so I don't know...... I am biased like everyone else.
No, no one will average 50 points a game again unless the game radically changes.... then again no one thought anyone would hit 73 homers either. On a side note, I actually do not think that Wilt's post moves would be better now, the league is at a low point as far as developing post moves.
Disingenious argument, you comparing an entire football team from the mid 60s to a modern-day NFL team, which we already know favors the modern football team, because it's documented that the players are bigger, faster, and probably much stronger, overall. An average starting offensive lineman on the Packers was 247.4 pounds. An average starting defense lineman at 251 pounds. We know the Seahawks over 300 pounds on their offensive line, easily, while the defensive line is around 280-300. Also, throw in most of these players are capable of running sub 5.0 speed in 40 yard dash and speed, along with finesse is much more desirable quality in today's NFL versus 1960s. Here's the problem with NBA and basketball in general, the center position by almost universal accounts has gotten much worse than it was 10 years ago. Right now, there's only one hall-of-fame quality center in the game, right now. Two or three, if you want to consider Tim Duncan or even Pau Gasol as centers. My one question to you would be take a center, like a Joakim Noah, Roy Hibbert, Javale McGee, or DeAndre Jordan, what aspect of their game would lead you to believe that they are superior players or make you think Wilt would only be on-par with these players. I'm about to get bashed for this, but most centers nowadays don't even have post moves or are even particularly skilled offensively. I also would like to throw in how many players are actually as physically-built as Wilt, and is as nearly as gifted athletically...and also has great basketball IQ.
The only accurate way to measure any athlete's greatness is by how he stacks up against his peers -- the guys he plays against in his own time. Whether he could have been as dominant today is a stupid argument to begin with. Wilt dominated his NBA-level peers in a way not seen before or since.
No he didn't, he wasn't even the most dominant player in his own era. Taking a lot of shots doesnt equal dominance, especially when you do it on mediocre efficiency and underperform in playoffs. His regular season numbers are pace inflated and he played 45.8 mpg for his career, garbage time was called Wilt time in 60s. It's like Rockets would post-up Dwight Howard 20 times a game and he'd average 30 ppg and be called the most dominant player.
That's because Wilt was SO dominant that his coaches wanted him on the floor every minute of every game. Their teams' level of play dropped dramatically when he came out. He's still the only player to ever average MORE than 48 minutes per game over a season, and that's because his coaches depended on him so much.
Hahahaha, seriously, Wilt's post moves look so mechanical and awkward. The ONLY reason he did as well as he did is because he was so physically superior to everyone else. Hell, Dwight looks 10X smoother in the post than Wilt. Chamberlain is one of the most overrated players ever.
Name 1 7-1 and 1/16th inch height without shoes 7-8 wingspan 9-7 standing reach 9.5 inch hand length 11.5 inch hand spread 258lbs rookie, 292lbs in his prime, 310lbs as a Laker, 327lbs when he really took weight lifting seriously after retirement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU43dTuMuig 4.6 40 yard dash (timed by AFL coach Hank Stram, Wilt showed up without shoes and ran barefoot) 2x Conference High Jump champ, his PR would have placed him 5th in the 1956 Olympics had he participated. Also all around good track athlete, capable of competing well in several events. Yeah today we've just got a bunch of Wilt's running around the league: http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre...l&source=All&sort2=DESC&draft=100&pos=0&sort= Barely anyone drafted in the past 25 years cracks 7 foot, let alone was actually athletic at that height lmfao
I swear some of you guys didn't even watch the video. Wilt making Shaq look like an average sized guy and I see not a single comment addressing how shocking that is, quite contrarily I see comments where it seems some of you outright fail to grasp how big he was suggesting there are modern equivalents of him running around the league today. Nobody in the league today is physically comparable to Wilt, guys like Dwight Howard are in the same class of size of size as Walt Bellamy. Wilt manhandled and towered over Walt Bellamy, he's one of the pipsqueaks guarding Wilt in all that footage. Wilt had a reach that was 3 inches greater than Yao Ming on an upper body that was probably the strongest in history.
The argument that football players have gotten more athletic, yet basketball players have gotten worse in the last 50 years is pretty amusingly inconsistent. Basketball is not an exception, human athletic performance increases over time there as well. If you matched up the 62 Warriors with the 2013 Heat or 2014 Pacers -> they woudl get utterly demolished by the bigger, stronger, faster, more skilled and better-strategoried team. Why is this any different than if you matched up two NFL teams 50 years apart btw , there's fewer people playing center now with great moves, because gusy like LeBron and Kevin Durant, who would have been dominant, not small centers back in the crappy 60's , are now playing wing.
Hahahaha, seriously, Newton, his ideas were so Neanderthal and awkward. The ONLY reason he did as well as he did was because he was so mentally superior to everyone else. Hell, von Neumann has 10x the mental dexterity in abstract maths compared to Newton. Newton is one of the most overrated mathematicians ever. These kinds of posts are really inane imo. Calculus may be standard in many curricula now, but does that slight the greatness of the person who set the bar? Being a pioneer at the edge of your field's horizon is far harder and more amazing of an accomplishment.
Calling Wilt a pioneer like he's some sort of pioneer of posts and nobody of his era or prior did them is ridiculous in and of itself and shows how little some of you must know about basketball from that period of time. Guys half his size were executing excellent "modern" post moves and footwork in his era. He didn't need that, waste of time and energy for him to do those moves. Do you guys really not comprehend that a guy who's natural stature is larger than Shaquille O'Neal doesn't need the footwork of a guy who's only say, 250lbs and 6-9 or 6-10 without shoes on? (like say... Hakeem, or the average size of most any other center in the NBA) to score on anyone? Wilt could get position and score at will on any player who has ever played the game. Who cares how fluid you think it looks or 'should' look. He's so damn big and he's got those dinner plate sized hands that makes the ball disappear in his hand like a tennis ball. He'd be listed 7-3 in today's league and with that 290-327lb frame sculpted like a municipal statue he'd shoot that finger roll or fadeaway over the head of anyone. And isn't it funny how dirk one-legged fadeaways or Tim Duncan bank shots are treated as "skilled" and "modern" when say, a guy like Dirk or Timmy shoots them. But footage of Wilt shooting them and he's treated like some crude pioneer? You guys need to sharpen up on you're basketball history. The game was being played at an elite level a long time before most of you guys seem to think. This is some role player point guard off the bench from the 1960's: Why didn't Wilt take the time to perform moves like that? Cause he didn't need to, obviously. As one of the biggest and strongest athletes to ever play the sport, a simple turn in or drop step to launch a finger roll is all that's needed. You guys expect him to do what undersized centers need to do to score. Fancy move's like that are for smaller players who have advantages in quickness not size. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqyEb-MgPAs Same with the moves centers like Willis Reed used. Why didn't Wilt bust out pump fakes and moves like that in the post if it was part of his opponents repertoires? Does that make Willis Reed a better scorer than Wilt cause of his fluidity and aesthetics? HECK NO. Willis is about a Dwight Howard/Hakeem Olajuwon sized player by the way. That's how guys that size NEED to play, they NEED more polished skills to make their presence felt because they DON'T have the physical presence of a player like Wilt, heck outside of Shaq no one has ever had a physical presence that approached Wilt. Think I'm wrong? Read above to his measurements and again here's 'modern' players drafted in the last 25 years: http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre...l&source=All&sort2=DESC&draft=100&pos=0&sort= Wilt on physical gifts alone is better than anyone of them, let alone his abilities to actually shoot the ball in a variety of effective ways such as the aforementioned bank shots and fade aways that Duncan and Dirk are lauded for.
You do realize that he had over 25 games in his carreer when guarded by Bill Russell, perhaps the greatest defender ever, in which he had over 30 points and over 30 rebounds? His 55 rebound game was against Russell. In an 8 team league they'd face off over 15 times a year, plus playoffs. 15 vs, Bellamy, Thurmond, etc. Did Shaq ever play 30 games in any one season when guarded by a hall of famers such as Russell and Bellamy?
Funny thing is, the majority of that footage is against Bellamy, Russell, or Thurmond. If I put together a mix of any of those 3 not a single objective soul would question their athleticism on the floor. These are highlights of Wilt, not those guys, these are the moments Wilt destroyed them. What defender ever looks athletic or good in highlights of the guy who beats them? The critics in this thread go well out of their way to hate Wilt.
Wilt's scored 30+ ppg over his career. His playoff ppg over that time span? 22ppg!!! That's a significant drop. The guys stats took a major hit in the playoffs. He was a horrendous FT shooter. He has shot at 30% range from the FT line for the ENTIRE playoffs for more than one season. His career playoff average is at 45%. That is absolutely atrocious. No ifs and buts about it. As for arguing that Wilt did not need all the fancy moves......Why does a guy that big need a fade away jumper then, for which he is being lauded? Using the same logic, he doesn't, yet he sure was using it. Personally I dont care what moves he was using as long as he was effective. I am just pointing out the flaw in the argument being made. Wilt was one of the most dominant forces in the game and a fantasy league's seasonal orgasm but lets not trot around thinking he wasnt flawed.
