Is Wilt Chamberlain's 50.4ppg season overrated?

[swi7ch]

jordan would average more in that era

[jlauber]

Still comparing a center's FG% to two guard's FG%...

Why don't you compare Wilt's FT% to them?

And to OP, yes, Wilt's season is overrated. Too understand how many shots Wilt really put up that season you can compare his FGA average to Michael Jordan's '87 season. In '87 MJ averaged the 2nd most FGA per game in league history and averaged 37 points per game and still Wilt in his 50 point season averaged 12 more FGA per game. And he also shot 17 FT's per game on terrible %.

I wasn't comparing Wilt's FG% to a guard and forward. I was merely pointing out that players like Baylor, who would have a .486 season later in the 60's, and West, who would have a .514 mark later in the decade, were shooting WAY worse in the early 60's...which puts Wilt's .506 FG% into it's proper perspective. As ALWAYS, Wilt was outshooting the entire league by a HUGE margin.

AND, put Wilt's .506, in a league that shot .426, into MJ's '87 season, in which the entire league shot .480...and it would translate to about .570. And, MJ's '87 NBA averaged 109.9 ppg, which was only marginally behind Wilt's 118.8 ppg in '62. Even using basic math, and Wilt's '62 season would have been about 42 ppg in '87 (and that would be before adjusting his FG%...which would have raised his scoring to about 46 ppg.)

BTW, Wilt shot .613 from the line in that 61-62 season..and his 835 MADE FTs is the second greatest season of all-time (just behind West's 840 mark in '65.)

[jlauber]

If anything, it's underrated. Already on the first page we have people trying to discredit it (for their personal agendas), and there will be more to come.

You hit the nail on the head. The "anti-Wilt" clan will go to any length to disparage his career. I always find it fascinating that Wilt gets ripped for his "decline" in the post-season...when he averaged 33 ppg and 27 rpg, and on .510 shooting (in leagues that shot between .410 to .441) in his first seven years in the league. And that he averaged 29.3 ppg, 26.6 rpg, 4.8 apg, and shot .518 (again, in league's that shot between .410 to .446) in his first nine years in the league.

And yet, you can't find any other player who ever had even ONE 29.3 ppg, 26.6 rpg, 4.8 apg, .518 post-season.

And of course the Wilt detractors will NEVER bring up the fact that Wilt DRAMATICALLY reduced his OPPOSING center's numbers in his post-season career, either.

And Wilt faced a HOF center in 99 of his 160 post-season games along the way.

[Bigsmoke]

That's not true... Or even remotely close to true.
7-3 Halbrook
6-10 Phil Jordan and Darrall Imhoff (both played for the Knicks)
6-11 Ray Felix
7-0 Walters Duke
6-11 Walt Bellamy
[LIST=1]

those guys were scrubs though

[DCL]

i don't care what era it is.

50ppg is simply ridiculous.

[Droid101]

I've posted this a billion times before, but it bears repeating.

The game back then was like... 140 possessions per game! That's insane. If there were that many possessions these days, everyone's numbers would be inflated (see Suns and Golden State scoring compared to say, the Blazers).

If you normalize for possessions, here are the best scoring seasons ever (Wilt's doesn't even make the cut):

http://www.backpicks.com/2011/01/28/...n-nba-history/

Unfortunately, [COLOR=#2361a1]Basketball-Reference[/COLOR] doesn’t have a pace-adjusted scoring metric. I [COLOR=#2361a1]normalize most of my stats[/COLOR] to an estimated 75 possessions played, which for points produces a “scoring rate,” per se. For instance, Wilt Chamberlain averaged over 50 points per game [COLOR=#2361a1]in 1962[/COLOR]. But he played more than 130 possessions a game using the [COLOR=#2361a1]simple method of pace estimation[/COLOR]. That comes out to about 28.1 pts/75, not enough to make the cut here.

[JGXEN]

Lisa Leslie>Wilt Chamberlain

[D-Wade316]

Not overrated at all. A PER of 31.8 in an astonishing 48.5 mpg, despite the high pace (PER is adjusted per minutes and pace) without even all stats being taken into account (add blocks, steals and TO's, and he'd probably be over 33.0) equals pretty much either the most dominant or, at worst, among the 4-5 most dominant individual seasons ever. Couple this with a very solid 49-31 team record and a very narrow defeat at the Eastern Finals to the 60-22 Celtics and...seriously...overrated? Maybe in the same sense that Jordan gets overrated by some people, when they claim he's "clearly" the GOAT, this may get overrated by the ones who may claim this is "clearly" the GOAT season. And these "ones" are not nearly as many as the Jordan ones, especially here.

Oh, scratch that, I just saw who the thread maker is.

If Chamberlain had those numbers today, his PER would be well over 35.0 since the high pace of that era doesn't allow for a high PER which some in today's era have done(T-Mac, Wade, Lebron, CP3, Shaq)

[D-Wade316]

I've posted this a billion times before, but it bears repeating.

The game back then was like... 140 possessions per game! That's insane. If there were that many possessions these days, everyone's numbers would be inflated (see Suns and Golden State scoring compared to say, the Blazers).

If you normalize for possessions, here are the best scoring seasons ever (Wilt's doesn't even make the cut):

http://www.backpicks.com/2011/01/28/...n-nba-history/

It completely undervalues scoring if a player plays in a high paced team, and overvalues scoring if a player plays for a slow paced team. The thing you just posted was destroyed months ago. I can't remember what thread that was.

[Droid101]

It completely undervalues scoring if a player plays in a high paced team, and overvalues scoring if a player plays for a slow paced team. The thing you just posted was destroyed months ago. I can't remember what thread that was.

It was destroyed because you think so? Or are you just mad Dwyane "sidekick" Wade isn't on the list enough?

[D-Wade316]

It was destroyed because you think so? Or are you just mad Dwyane "sidekick" Wade isn't on the list enough?

Yep. It was destroyed. I just can't remember what thread that was.

I don't care about Wade's rank in the list.

[JMT]

If anything, it's underrated. Already on the first page we have people trying to discredit it (for their personal agendas), and there will be more to come.

Repped

[Asukal]

AND, put Wilt's .506, in a league that shot .426, into MJ's '87 season, in which the entire league shot .480...and it would translate to about .570.

Wilt's 50ppg season is not overrated because it takes insane amounts of energy to be able to play 48mpg and put up so many shots. But once again you show how little you understand the game, just because league average fg% went up it automatically means Wilt will also magically get better and shoot better if you put him in 87? League average usually affects the majority of players, and as far as we know the league is full of role players, some all stars, and very few superstars. So NO Wilt will not get better, there's a ceiling for everybody even for Wilt.

[bizil]

If averaging a triple double in a season like Big O or Wilt scoring 50.4 points in a year was easy then EVERYBODY WOULD HAVE BEEN DOING IT! That right there tells me it's not overrated. I think Big O, Wilt, West, Baylor, and Russell were all ahead of their time. Wilt would be a beast today and the best center in the L. Some guys like Ruth, Mays, Ali, Jim Brown, and Wilt are so far ahead of their time that they would be great in any era. If anything the scrubs back in the day can't transcend eras! lol But not a stud like Wilt. He wouldn't average 50 today because of the evolution of athlete. But he would be dominate and a top 1-2 player in the L.

[Psileas]

Wilt's 50ppg season is not overrated because it takes insane amounts of energy to be able to play 48mpg and put up so many shots. But once again you show how little you understand the game, just because league average fg% went up it automatically means Wilt will also magically get better and shoot better if you put him in 87? League average usually affects the majority of players, and as far as we know the league is full of role players, some all stars, and very few superstars. So NO Wilt will not get better, there's a ceiling for everybody even for Wilt.

So, you're claiming that Wilt wouldn't be able to benefit from the advancements of the game 25 years later? Not that he'd need to get any better to dominate, obviously, but what's the logic behind thinking he wouldn't?
By the way, Wilt wouldn't need to get better (=more skilled) to shoot better, either. He'd just need to take more efficient shots and there's no reason to think he wouldn't, in a league with slower and more careful offenses and less random, ill-advised shots taken (and with 39.5 shots per game, it's safe to assume he took his share of this type of shots).