I was reminded of some individual stats that these guys put up while listening to the Rockets AM broadcast last night;d from Big O's (Oscar Robinson for the younger than me crowd) season average of a triple double 32/12/11...SEASON AVERAGE, and Wilt's 100 point gem. I'm not young, I'm not old, certainly not old enough to have ever seen either of them play. Unless if you count Wilt's play in his part of the bad guy in Conan the Barbarian. Now that was just bad, I digress. It makes me think, could LeBron do the Big O (pun intended) and post a triple double?....not a chance IMHO. Jordan never got anywhere close to 100 pts? Was Wilt that much better than Jordan? What has changed? Are the players, across the board better athletes? Better scouting, International pool of talent. I would say yes, but truly am asking. Did the rules change? Did they play four one-hour quarters in the sixties that allowed Wilt to score 100? Bottomline: Could either of these players put up those types of figures at anypoint within the last ten years? (I would assume no, but those stats are thread worthy IMHO). Thanks. EDIT:Wrong forum, I suppose, (but I knew if I put it in the hangout all the Big O jokes would be (at least twice as much) as those that will get thrown around here)
I live 20 minutes from Hershey, PA. I've been to the Hershey Stadium dozens of times. What does this have to do with anything?? Nothing really, except I've been to the stadium where Wilt scored 100. A couple things to keep in mind about that game. 1.) It was an exhibition game. My brother is a HUGE Knicks fan and continually reminds me of this fact (since Wilt dropped the 100 on NY). So his arguemeent is that the Knicks best players weren't even playing. But then, why was wilt? 2.) Back in the day, the only guy who could even check Wilt was Bill Russel, and he struggled (remember, Wilt dropped 50 seemingly every other night). Could anyone really hold MJ? Not really, but I believe that it would have been esiear for Wilt to accomplish this feat more than anyother because he was SO dominant, and had really no one who could stop him. Today, while they may not beable to hold MJ on every play (or, back then I should say), they could still, somewhat contain him. Players are better contitioned, and I just think, that it won't ever be touched. And Yet I digress Just my 2 cents on that..... as for the Trip-doub for a season......... 1.)......that's the most incredible thing in basketball.....ever. I don't care. That's SEEMINGLY IMPOSIBLE. But it did happen. 2.) And I know Magic (who I believe would have been the best player ever, had he kept lil' Magic in his pants) never could do this. But, in LBJ's 2nd year, he's putting up those kind of numbers. I'd like to think by the time his 24, he'll be doing it. But I do not gauruntee this. So basically, I dunno.......anyway, just my 2 cents
I have never heard this before. The game might have been played in Hershey at a neutral site as an exhibition in the conventional sense of the word (but I'm guessing it counted as a home game for Phily since it was their training camp location), but it seems to have counted as a regular season game, as it was played in March, so it obviously wasn't preseason, and his record is listed in the NBA books as the official single game scoring record, and this game, for a while, was listed in the record books as the highest combined point total for a game. EDIT: the Warriors have a bunch of pages up about it on their site. http://www.nba.com/warriors/history/Feature_Story__Chamberlain.html There is no indication that it was an exhibition game, this indicates that it was one of the last few regular season games left before the playoffs. And there is no indication that NY's best players sat out, they just sucked back then is all. Your brother is reaching!
It's tough to really gauge how players from the 60s/70s would fare today. A lot of differences you'd have to take into account: The game used to be more free-flowing with less defensive intensity. Interesting tidbit: no player in the modern era (even 80s) is in the top ten for career rebounds per game. Does this mean that there've been no great rebounders since the 70s? More likely, it means there've been a lot less shots, and therefore fewer opportunities for a board. Some stats that I'd like to look up but haven't the time to do today, would be team FGA/game compared over the decades. Wilt would still be a dominating presence, no doubt about it. Greater than Shaq? I'm not sure. But he'd easily be top 3 today. Oscar Robertson was Jason Kidd with a jump shot. Pretty deadly guy, and a wonderful team player. Evan
If Wilt played today against guys like Shaq or Hakeem, no way he would put 50ppg and grab 20 rpg...the game has changed, the image has changed, and the players have changed. There are no 6'5" centers in the current NBA.
Simple Math (Approx. numbers): today vs 60s 45 rbs vs 70 rbs 95 pts vs 120 pts 80 FGA vs 100 FGA 27 FTA vs 40 FTA
No, but at the same time, it's not like Shaq is facing fair competition night in and night out, either. Honestly, the 90s were an aberration as far as the number of great centers in the league. It's fair to say that Wilt would not have been a mediocore player in the modern era. At 7-1, 275, he'd still have a size advantage over the vast majority of centers. And that's ignoring the fact that he'd have access to today's college and pro training facilities. Evan
No, it was a regular season game. It was played in Hershey as the 'old' NBA was doing things like double headers every week at Madison Sq Garden, games in 'off' sites, and so on. Oscar was the greatest of his day, and would be great in any era. Wilt was awesome, but -- but -- the concept of doubling down, zoning etc was not done in his era. Still, Wilt was absolutely great.
I'd like to see Oscar's numbers if he were allowed to "palm" the ball and hop-step-jump like todays' guards.
no doubt Wilt and the Big O would be dominate players today. Averageing a triple double is an awesome feat -- and I think a much more doable feet than 100 points in a game Rocketsfan3035 -- where do you live? I live in York -- about 40 minutes from Hershey
Theres no doubt the Big O and the Stilt would dominate any era. Simply put they were great. Two of the top ten players of all time. The same can be said of MJ, Magic, Bird, Kareem, Dream, Shaq, West, Baylor and Russell. They were not just statistics. They were incredible ball players and their names would forever be synonymous to greatness.
this is going to sound stupid, but can the game be "official?" because the fans at the stadium stormed the court before the game clock hit 00:00, just when Wilt hit 100.....just wondering my bad too on the miss info, just relaying what I had always been told......should have known better than to get info from a Knicks fan anyway....lol
