Wilt would be by far the goat scorer if he hadn't changed his playstyle after 1966

[coastalmarker99]

Had Wilt been so inclined, he could have scored far more in his career. Instead, he continued to do whatever his coaches asked of him. In his first seven seasons, he averaged 39.4 PPG...combined. In the last game of his Last "scoring" season, in the 65-66 game five of the ECF's, he put up a 46-34 game against Russell so he could still put up monster scoring numbers in the playoffs if he wanted to.

However, his new coach in the 66-67 season Alex Hannum the only coach to defeat the Celtics dynasty at that point in time asked Wilt to facilitate on the offensive end. The result was that Wilt's scoring dropped from 33.5 ppg down to 24.1 ppg. From the 66-67 season thru the 68-69 season, Wilt averaged 24.1 ppg, 24.3 ppg, and 20.5 ppg. Was it because he could no longer score?

Well, after Rick Barry led the NBA in scoring in the 66-67 season, he "thanked" Wilt for "letting him" win the scoring title. Furthermore, Wilt had the HIGH games in the 66-67 (58 point game), 67-68 (52, 53, 53, and 68), and 68-69 seasons (60 and 66.)

And, when he wanted to score in those seasons, he did. For instance, near the end of the '67-68 season, he wanted to show the Lakers, who were interested in him, that he could still score. He put up a 53 point game. The Lakers did trade for him, but his new coach, Butch Van Breda Kolf, wanted Wilt to defer to West and Baylor in the Laker offence. Wilt complied. However, when SI ran an article claiming that Wilt could no longer score, he erupted for a 60 point game the very next day. And, he followed that up with a 66 point game (on 29-35 shooting) a few days later.

Continuing, when the Lakers fired Van Breda Kolf, following his incompetent decision to keep Wilt on the bench in game seven of the Finals, they brought in Joe Mullaney before the 69-70 season.

Mullaney immediately went to Wilt and asked him to be the focal point of the offence. Wilt responded by averaging 32.2 ppg over the course of the first nine games (with games of 33, 35, 37, 38, 42 and 43 points.) Unfortunately, Chamberlain suffered a devastating knee injury in that ninth game (33 points on 13-13 shooting BTW.) And, while he came back way ahead of even the most optimistic medical opinion, he was nowhere near 100%, and in fact, it affected his lateral mobility to the point that he was never quite the same offensively after that.

Having said that, though a heavily injured Wilt in the playoffs that year would average 22.1 points and 22.2 rebounds on 54 percent shooting over 18 playoff games before his Lakers eventually lost in seven games to the New York Knicks.

In any case, had Chamberlain wanted to stat pad his scoring numbers past 1966 he would have easily have put the career ppg average out of sight along with the all-time scoring list for Jordan and everyone in both the regular season and playoffs.

[Shooter]

He would not pass LeBron because Wilt only made like 3 Finals but he would probably get to top 5 or 10 instead of being at #19.

We could even extend a courtesy 70 games at 25 ppg and he would still be #5

[coastalmarker99]

He would not pass LeBron because Wilt only made like 3 Finals but he would probably get to top 5 or 10 instead of being at #19.

We could even extend a courtesy 70 games at 25 ppg and he would still be #5

Wilt is by far a better scorer than Lebron



Player A: 50 PPG peak, 100 points game-high
Player B: 31 PPG peak, 61 points game-high.



Also, it should be noted that Wilt was putting up 35 to 40 points and 30 rebounds on the GOAT defensive player on the GOAT dynasty. He didn't have a chance to stat pad against weak teams as Lebron did in the east as imagine if Lebron faced Kawhi or Tim Duncan in 30-40% of his playoff games.

[coastalmarker99]

Wilt was a finesse player (words straight out of Jim Barnett). Finger rolls, hook shots, fadeaway banker, etc. these are all skills he mastered to average 40+ points for half his career. He actively avoided dunking to avoid being seen as a brute.


Also, he to deal with less offensive physicality built into the 60s rules, unlike LeBron who can get away with offensive fouls all the time. If you include that factor, Wilt would have easily averaged even more points for his career as Wilt more or less wasn’t allowed to use his strength, which was arguably his greatest attribute.

[coastalmarker99]

Wilt with the killer instinct to crush people of a Bird or Jordan might literally have scored 60 to 65 points a game on 60% shooting during some seasons of his career

Watching the YouTube footage of the game in which the Bucks ended LA's 33 game winning streak. Going on my memory, at about the seven-minute mark of that footage, Kareem "sucker punches" Happy Hairston. a 35-year-old post knee injury Wilt then storms over to assist Hairston, and Kareem retreats to the corner. Afterwards, on the very next play, the Lakers inbound the ball to Wilt, who just blows right thru a helpless Kareem for an easy basket.





It is clear that had the rules when Wilt played allowed him to use his full power game against everyone ...well, the NBA probably would have folded. as who in the racist 1960s would want to watch a 7 foot 1 black man destroying an entire league every single year all the while sleeping with white women and being one arrogant SOB to top it all off.

[Reggie43]

How good of a scorer would Wilt be if he played in the mid 90s early 2000s where the defense was at its peak?

Lets say he goes up against the Knicks with Ewing/Oakley/Mason, a Spurs frontline of Duncan/Robinson or even the Wallace boys in 2004? A lot of teams played this way back then and there is a whole lot of competition at that big man spot so I dont really see Wilt standing out with his primitive style of play and skillset although he would still be one of the top bigs of the game.

[coastalmarker99]

How good of a scorer would Wilt be if he played in the mid 90s early 2000s where the defense was at its peak?

Lets say he goes up against the Knicks with Ewing/Oakley/Mason, a Spurs frontline of Duncan/Robinson or even the Wallace boys in 2004? A lot of teams played this way back then and there is a whole lot of competition at that big man spot so I dont really see Wilt standing out with his primitive style of play and skillset although he would still be one of the top bigs of the game.

I've been doing a film study of his half-court set offensive moves along with other stuff about Wilt's game for about 1 year now with the help of the NBA archives. It is still not ready for completion but it will be one day. When it's complete comments like this will look just plain stupid. He had probably 300 post scoring and passing variations from either block going middle or baseline which is impossible to defend and it could end up being more than that.

If God himself played center he could not guard Wilt Chamberlain based on the impossibility of predicting so many moves alone let alone the physical nightmare of a mismatch against the greatest athlete in NBA history.

You could dump him the ball and he'd be a GOAT tier problem for the opposing team in his time, today or tomorrow. Playoffs and Finals included. This guy dropped 45 on the Knicks in the Finals on a bum knee 9 months after major knee surgery that ended many players careers back then and he did it all on 2 point field goal attempts.





The reason his numbers appear so skewed for his career is - he only played 1 series of 5 NBA Finals games as a scorer (attempting 24 shots per game in those 5 games) and averaged 29ppg that finals (averaged 33 vs those Celtics that regular season).


For the rest of his NBA Finals career he literally took 11.7 shots per game for all the other series combined. Because he was older and chose to play a Russell like role on all those teams as they often had good shooters or other ball-dominant superstars much like the Celtics of that time.

How many moves does Rudy Gobert have in the post? Hell, I'd wager Wilt has more moves in the post than all but maybe Kareem or Hakeem - but he was even more dominant than either of them if he caught it in the painted area and he was more likely to catch it that deep due to his strength - he's probably the most likely to score of any player in NBA history along with Shaq if it's a deep catch inside the paint and I'm not talking backdoor plays I'm talking possessions where he was guarded before the entry pass even hit his hand.



Only guys like Kareem or Hakeem appear like they MIGHT have more total moves due to a little more flexibility outside the paint and even that I'm not actually so sure about because the number of moves Wilt seemed to have grows by 1 or 2 literally every time new footage is found.

The best way to limit Wilt offensively in any era was to lock him out of the gym.

[kenneth_griffin]

I dunno I saw some older footage of wilt and he didn't look very agile. he packed on too much muscle and was more of a finesse player than a bruiser like shaq. he couldn't score with ease anymore

[coastalmarker99]

I dunno I saw some older footage of wilt and he didn't look very agile. he packed on too much muscle and was more of a finesse player than a bruiser like shaq. he couldn't score with ease anymore

That's a 35-year-old overweight Wilt you saw who suffered a serious knee injury that nearly ended his career and even then he could still manage to block a prime Kareem's skyhook



Wilt in his Warrior and 76er days from the full remastered footage I have seen of him not available to the general public was a complete monster in transition with his speed as he is faster than LeBron.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JezoQM4uB8





Plus his fadeaway shot and hook shot was absolute money as almost every point he scored when he averaged 50 points a game in the 1961 -1962 season was outside the paint.

[kenneth_griffin]

That's a 35-year-old overweight Wilt you saw who suffered a serious knee injury that nearly ended his career.



Wilt in his Warrior and 76er days from the remastered footage I have seen of him not available to the general public was a complete monster in transition with his speed as he is faster then LeBron.

I dunno maybe wilt got tired of choking and shying away from the big moments and wanted other guys to shoulder the load since his random 15 point bed shitting moments started adding up

[coastalmarker99]

I dunno maybe wilt got tired of choking and shying away from the big moments and wanted other guys to shoulder the load since his random 15 point bed shitting moments started adding up

Please Wilt even in his bad scoring games in the playoffs was giving you 25 to 30 rebounds a night along with 10 blocks a game in the playoffs so I don't understand this present day narrative that Wilt choked in the big moments as he is a goat game 7 performer along with a goat elimination game performer.

[Reggie43]

Looking at his old videos more closely the cringiest thing you would see is Wilt with single coverage on the mid post with his back to the basket trying to find the open man.

Mind boggling to see why he would not attack the basket with a fairly open lane but I guess its understandable given the primitive play back then.

[coastalmarker99]

Looking at his old videos more closely the cringiest thing you would see is Wilt with single coverage on the mid post with his back to the basket trying to find the open man.

Mind boggling to see why he would not attack the basket with a fairly open lane but I guess its understandable given the primitive play back then.

Wilt due to the rules of the time couldn't use his legendary strength to physically back down the man guarding him in the post as it would be an offensive foul every time so hopefully, that explains to you why he played the way he did.

[kenneth_griffin]

Please Wilt even in his bad scoring games in the playoffs was giving you 25 to 30 rebounds a night along with 10 blocks a game in the playoffs so I don't understand this present day narrative that Wilt choked in the big moments as he is a goat game 7 performer along with a goat elimination game performer.

the pace and bad shooting accounts for the absurd rebounding numbers

I think 6'5 Elgin Baylor averaged like 17 or 18 rebounds a few times

I heard kobes 2006 adjusted pace for his 81 point game easily matches wilts 100

it was even more wacky than today's pace and inflated stats

[Reggie43]

Wilt due to the rules of the time couldn't use his legendary strength to physically back down the man guarding him in the post as it would be an offensive foul every time so hopefully, that explains to you why he played the way he did.

Its not about the rules and more about basketball being primitive and players still not developing the skills to execute these moves properly.

A guy like Olajuwon would basically outquick you to the basket, even Shaq had his spin move that he used to get by his man and this is a standard skill for a lot of the elite bigs at the time.