The Greatest of Every Era of the NBA

[SouBeachTalents]

Wilt anchored two of the greatest teams in NBA history, and they were different teams. The 67 76ers and 72 Lakers > any of Russell's Celtics teams.

Also, Wilt's teams came within a basket in a game 7 from beating Russell's Celtics multiple times. Not Wilt's fault Hondo stole the ball or Jones hit a game winner.

It is his fault his ppg average declined from the regular season to the postseason literally every season of his career

[Spurs5Rings2014]

It is his fault his ppg average declined from the regular season to the postseason literally every season of his career

And then in the finals, too.

[Marchesk]

50's GOAT Cousy
60's GOAT Baylor
70's GOAT Doctor
80's GOAT Moses
90's GOAT Chuck
00's GOAT KG
10's GOAT Brook
20's GOAT Maker

[Monta Ellis MVP]

50's GOAT Cousy
60's GOAT Baylor
70's GOAT Doctor
80's GOAT Moses
90's GOAT Chuck
00's GOAT KG
10's GOAT Brook
20's GOAT Maker

Get this guy out of here.

[raprap]

Post 80's

Magic and Bird era
MJ era
Shaq era
LeBron and Kobe era

[Bankaii]

neither of which was voted player of the millennium

I don't think you know how many years a millennium is

Kobetards

[dhsilv]

I seriously can't respect anyone who ranks Kobe as the best player of the 00's.

Lets do some quick stats on that era for funs.

For the sake of this

2000-2009 as the decade. If you want to go with there's no year 00 so it starts in 2001 let me know. I can run it differently.

so simple stat, best year has to have a vorp of 6. Anyone who didn't get that, seriously are you important?



Now clearly these are regular season stats only and I sorted by vorp (best stat we have). So yes we can dismiss KG all be it only if you REALLY want to ignore that he was the best player in the decade.

We see that Kobe while 3rd is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too close to Kidd (solid playoff results with less talent) and Lebron (missed the first 4 years of the sample).

If we go by winshare dirk passes him and moves him to 4th behind KG and Duncan. He's also way too close to shawn marion.

I left PER off due to well you can't just average it and I'm drunk and for some reason my formula didn't work...meh.

Anyway stats favor Duncan and KG in every scenario we use.

Kobe's best VORP in the 2000's was behind Kirlenko and Gary Payton! That isn't an knock on the stats....it's reality. Kobe was NEVER that good. Kobe's best winshare in the 00's was 20th best.

His best PER was 16th for the decade. His second best was 31st. Elton Brand has a better PER than Kobe's second best.

Oh and Magic was better than Bird in the 80's. Mose Malone should get into that love if you're doing groupings.

[LAZERUSS]

Wilt anchored two of the greatest teams in NBA history, and they were different teams. The 67 76ers and 72 Lakers > any of Russell's Celtics teams.

Also, Wilt's teams came within a basket in a game 7 from beating Russell's Celtics multiple times. Not Wilt's fault Hondo stole the ball or Jones hit a game winner.

BTW, in their career PLAYOFF H2H games, and ESPECIALLY in their BIGGEST H2H games, Chamberlain just SMOKED Russell. Again, in EVERY facet of the game.

[LAZERUSS]

It is his fault his ppg average declined from the regular season to the postseason literally every season of his career

Not against the SAME competition that he faced in the regular season, though.

For instance, Wilt RAISED his ppg against Russell in their '64, '65, '67, and '68 playoff series, and in '66 it was virtually identical (28.3 ppg on a .473 FG% in their eight regular season H2H's, and 28.0 ppg on a .509 FG% in their five playoff H2H's.) Oh, and as for "declines"...yep...all the way down to 30.5 ppg on a .500 FG% (in a post-season that shot .402 overall) in '60, and 33.6 ppg on a .468 FG% (in a post-season that shot .411 overall) in '62.

Oh, and how about his H2H DEFENSE in his post-seasons?

Wilt's post-season FG% allowed:

59-60:

Kerr regular season FG% against the league: .392
Kerr against Wilt in the playoffs: .294

Dierking regular season FG%: .365
Dierking vs Wilt in the post-season: .333

Russell regular season: .467
Russell vs. Wilt in the post-season: .446


60-61:

Kerr regular season: .397
Kerr vs Wilt: .321

Halbrook regular season: .335
Halbrook vs Wilt: .387


61-62:

Kerr regular season: .443
Kerr vs. Wilt: .376

Russell regular season: .457
Russell vs Wilt: .399


63-64:

Beaty regular season: .444
Beaty vs. Wilt: .520

Russell regular season: .433
Russell vs. Wilt: .386


64-65:

Embry regular season: .456
Embry vs Wilt: .438

Russell regular season: .438
Russell vs. Wilt: .446


65-66:

Russell regular season: .415
Russell vs. Wilt: .424


66-67:

Dierking regular season: .399
Dierking vs Wilt: .427

Russell regular season: .454
Russell vs. Wilt: .358

Thurmond regular season: .437
Thurmond vs. Wilt: .343


67-68:

Bellamy regular season: .541
Bellamy vs. Wilt: .421

Russell regular season: .425
Russell vs. Wilt: .440


68-69:

Thurmond regular season: .410
Thurmond vs Wilt: .392

Beaty regular season: .470
Beaty vs. Wilt: .383

Russell regular season: .433
Russell vs. Wilt: .397


69-70:

Walk regular season: .470
Walk vs Wilt: .395

Fox regular season: .524
Fox vs Wilt: .362

Bellamy regular season: .523
Bellamy vs Wilt: .456

Reed regular season: .507
Reed vs Wilt: .483


70-71:

Boerwinkle regular season: .485
Boerwinkle vs Wilt: .463

Fox regular season: .458
Fox vs Wilt: .434

Kareem regular season: .577
Kareem vs Wilt: .481


71-72:

Ray regular season: .499
Ray vs Wilt: .529

Kareem regular season: .574
Kareem vs Wilt: .457

Lucas regular season: .512
Lucas vs Wilt: .500


72-73:

Awtry regular season: .480
Awtry vs Wilt: .542

Thurmond regular season: .446
Thurmond vs Wilt: .373

Reed regular season: .474
Reed vs Wilt: .493

Arguably the greatest one-on-one defensive center, and the greatest rim protector in NBA history. Only Nate Thurmond would have an argument over him in terms of one-on-one defense.

[LAZERUSS]

Put Russell in place of Wilt and we have the same list. Wilt does have the regular season stats but shits his bed come playoff time. Wilt was a choker plain and simple and doesn't deserve to be on that list.

Chamberlain in his 23 "must win" playoff games...

12-11 W-L record

31.1 ppg (Regular season career average was 30.1 ppg)
26.1 rpg (Regular season career average was 22.9 rpg)
3.4 apg (Regular season career average was 4.4 apg)
.540 FG% (Regular season career average was .540 FG%)


3 games of 50+ points

5 games of 40+ points (including a Finals 40+ elimination game)

13 games of 30+ points

6 games of 30+ rebounds

20 games of 20+ rebounds

But, let's carry it even further, shall we? How about "must win" and "elimination" games...

Wilt actually played in 37 "elimination games",...games where either his team faced elimination, or could have clinched the series:

1. W: 53-22-2, 24-42 FG/FGA

2. W: 50-35-2, 22-42

3. L: 26-24-0, 8-18

4. L: 33-23-1, 13-29

5. W: 56-35-1, 22-48

6. W: 32-21-1, 12-29

7. L: 22-22-3, 7-15

8. W: 39-30-?, 19-29

9. L: 30-27-2, 12-28

10. W: 38-26-5, 14-22, 10 blks (Triple-Double)

11. W: 30-26-4, 13-22, 13 blks (Triple-Double)

12. L: 30-32-2, 12-15

13. L: 46-34-?, 19-34

14. W: 18-27-9, 7-14

15. W: 29-36-13, 10-16, 7 blks (Triple-Double)

16. W: 24-23-4, 8-13

17. W: 25-27-3, 10-19

18. L: 28-30-7, 11-21

19. L: 20-27-8, 6-21

20. L: 14-34-5, 4-9

21. W: 11-25-1, 5-9

22. W: 16-29-3, 5-11, 16 blks (Triple-Double)

23. L: 8-18-4, 1-5

24. L: 18-27-3, 7-8

25. W: 36-14-3, 12-20

26. W: 12-26-11, 4-11, 11 blks (Quad-Double)

27. W: 30-27-6, 11-18, 11 blks (Triple-Double)

28. W: 45-27-3, 20-27

29. L: 21-24-4, 10-16

30. W: 25-19-9, 7-12

31. L: 23-12-4, 10-21

32. W: 8-31-8, 4-6

33. W: 20-24-2, 8-12, 10 blks (Triple-Double)

34. W: 24-29-4, 10-14, 8 blks

35. W: 21-28-4, 10-17, 8 blks

36. W: 5-22-7, 2-2

37. L: 23-21-3, 9-16


W-L : 24-13

Here were Wilt's averages in those 37 games:

29.5 ppg

26.1 rpg

4.2 apg (missing one game)

.546 FG% (in post-seasons that shot about .440 on average in that span.)

Keep in mind that 24 of those 37 games came after his "scoring seasons" (59-60 thru 65-66)

And even further...

I just finished his H2H elimination games with Russell, Thurmond, and Kareem. Once again, these games are elimination games, or clinching games (where they could eliminate their opponent.)

4 Games vs. Thurmond

Nate: 13.0 ppg, 17.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, .345 FG%
Wilt: 12.3 ppg, 22.0 rpg, 3.8 apg, .633 FG%


2 Games vs. Kareem

Kareem: 28.5 ppg, 20.0 rpg, 6.5 apg, .383 FG%
Wilt: 21.5 ppg, 18.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, .545 FG%


15 Games vs. Russell

Russell: 14.6 ppg, 24.9 rpg, 4.5 apg, .413 FG%
Wilt: 26.9 ppg, 28.3 rpg, 4.6 apg, .505 FG%

[LAZERUSS]

Oh, and in the entire decade of the 60's...

Wilt held a 7-2 margin over Russell in First-Team All-NBA selections.

[Straight_Ballin]

In the long history of the NBA the game has seen many different changes in rules and styles. From the pre-shot clock era to the skinny key to the 3 point line to the illegal defense removal the game has changed so much that you cannot really compare the best players across eras. Each era has their own greatest.

50's GOAT Mikan
60's GOAT Russel
70's GOAT Kareem
80's GOAT Magic/Bird
90's GOAT Jordan
00's GOAT Kobe
10's GOAT Curry

The effort is appreciated, but you either got to witness the GOAT Jordan when it happened or you didn't. Since MJ is #1 on most peoples lists, it is what it is. Simply put, when I wake up I think about how blessed I was to have witnessed true greatness and watch the torch be handed from Magic to Jordan to Kobe to Curry.

Curry on pace. He's 1/1. Better not fvck it up. Never was a problem for MJ. No excuses.