dude played against five foot six white slow goofy centers. The dream would smash Wilt. Shaq would smash Wilt and look at what the dream did to Shaq.
It's not being a homer, if we were talking about Shaq, David Robinson, or Kareem I'd say the same thing. Wilt did dominate the talent he faced, but IMO that's like talking about Yao Ming dominating the Chinese leagues, it's just a lower level of competition.
Hakeem is best center ever. Anyone saying otherwise can't have basic basketball knowledge. PG Magic SG Jordan SF Bird PF ........ C Olajuwon One of the without a doubt undisputed all time greatest at his position in NBA. Arguments for other guys can't be based at all in any way on actually how good the centers in question were.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0EpVZS26BUs?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> And who did Wilt compete against? A LIST OF HOF players. 1960-1964: Bill Russel Dolph Schayes Bob Pettit Walt Bellamy Jerry Lucas 1965-1968: Bill Russell Willis Reed Elvin Hayes Wes Unseld Nate Thurmond 1969-1972: Kareem Abdul Jabbar Bob Lanier Artis Gilmore Billy Cunningham Dave Cowens And that talent was compressed into under 10 teams.
You need some homer shoes to get your mind right. Even the NBA greats of recent era's don't put Wilt as the greatest player. I would think they would know more than both you and me.
Uhmmmm. Who says that? And I did have 2 years of season tickets watching the Dream. So honestly I am a huge Rockets fan. But Wilt, well Wilt is most probably the greatest athlete to ever play in the NBA. He forced a number of NBA rules changes. This is the list of NBA players in the Wilt - Russel era. Every single one of them had 3+ full seasons in the NBA facing Wilt and Russell. Kareem Abdul Jabbar: 7'2" Dennis Awtrey: 6'11" Walt Bellamy: 6'11" Tom Boerwinkle: 7'0" Nate Bowmen: 6'11" Mel Counts: 7'0" Walter Dukes: 7'0" Jim Eakins: 6'11" Ray Felix: 6'11" Hank Finkel: 7'0" Artis Gilmore: 7'2" Swede Halbrook: 7'3" Reggie Harding: 7'0" Bob Lanier: 6'11" Jim McDaniels: 6'11" Otto Moore: 6'11" Dave Newmark: 7'0" Rich Niemann: 7'0" Billy Paultz: 6'11" Craig Raymond: 6'11" Elmore Smith: 7'0" Chuck Share: 6'11" Ronald Taylor: 7'1" Nate Thurmond: 6'11" Walt Wesley: 6'11"
I hate the short argument. Those guys guarding him had plenty of height. The others might have been short, but not the centers around the league.
I met him @10 years ago. I asked him if he really was that great when he was young, healthy and dominating in international play. His answer was a smile. Good guy. Really wish I had seen him at the peak of his powers. BTW - - another all-time great felled way too soon by injuries was Bill Walton. He could have been in the pantheon of GCOAT. Could. Have. Been.
Wilt and Kareem both come form the same era genius. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qak1eeHqfJ8 Both were making title runs and facing each other in the playoffs more times for example, than Hakeem faced Shaq. Wilt won a title and playoffs MVP one of those occasions, beat the Bucks in the playoffs enroute to the Finals another occasion on top of that, and the only occasion Wilt's team ever lost to the Bucks in the playoffs was the occasion Jabbar won his first MVP - yet WILT received the long standing ovation from the Milwaukee Bucks crowd for outplaying Jabbar the entire series in an attempt to keep his short handed Lakers afloat and give them a fighting chance against the '71 Bucks (one of the greatest teams in NBA history). A 33 year old Wilt outplayed Jabbar despite missing West/Baylor/McMillan. 3 of the squads starters. So if your going to call Wilt's era soft, you better be calling his opponents soft. Opponents like MVP-season Jabbar.
The fact that you were able to come up with some people that were tall says nothing, if you think the talent was ANYTHING like it was in the 90's, or even the 80's you are fooling yourself. The NBA was a league full of scrubs in the 50's and 60's when Wilt was putting up crazy numbers.
Malone, McHale, Dirk, Hayes, Charles Barkley, Bob Pettit, Garnett? Also, I'd take LeBron over Bird every day of the week. Bird was phenomenal, but not like King James. Elgin Baylor wouldn't be a bad pick at SF either. He went 38/18/5 one year and was 27/13.5/4.3 and that's at 6'5". He and Harden play so similarly when they are driving to the hole. What does the bold part mean? I'm confused.
LOL Wilt played from 1959-1973, Kareem played from 1969-1989.....that's like saying Tyson Chandler played in the same era as Hakeem Olajuwon.
These guys were talented, but A) the game was not officiated the same way so contact was rare and B) all these players today learned the game from these older guys. Old guys paved the foundation for current stars. Quote for Jordan giving the nod to Hakeem: "If I had to pick a center...I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Ewing…Wilt. It leaves out a lot of people...It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals...For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." —Michael Jordan
I wish Clyde was here to talk with us about all these greats. He is a terrible announcer in so many ways, but when it comes to talking about the greats, he has great incite.
Perhaps saying they weren't talented is inaccurate, of course they had talent, but it they weren't talented anywhere near the same level as players in later decades were. There is plenty of reasons for that, but it doesn't change the fact. The athleticism of centers in the 80's and 90's was just on a whole new level from that of the centers that Wilt played against.
Man, go back to from where ever you hale from. How many hall of fame players were on that list? Are you saying that Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Artis Gilmore, and Nate Thurmond would not be dominant today? Well Wilt was much better than any of them in his prime.
Did you ignore what I said about how many times they played each other, particularly in the post-season? Sounds like you don't know too much about basketball history, maybe you shouldn't be discussing it, no?
While Wilt was putting up crazy numbers, here's a typical "unathletic scrub" of the 60's - who averaged a laughable 17ppg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYxh-Ljr5Sg Haha so weak...
