Wilt Chamberlain is limited offensively

[hiphopanonymous]

I don't even care to rattle off stats. The only thing "limited" about his game is that he was a terror in the low post that couldn't be stopped. Far far far from any guard-helped backdoor specialist big like Gobert which I'm seeing from some extremely ignorant comparisons being made.

I've been doing a film study of his half-court set offensive moves for about 3 years now. Still not ready for completion but it will be one day. When it's complete threads 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 mistmatch 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 are - 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). 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.

Best way to limit Wilt offensively was to lock him out of the gym.

[LAL]

There's a reason he was trying to lead the league in assists in the 70's and fool people. Like lebron. Mental midgets. Jack of all trades masters of none.

Especially how they talk about themselves. Insecurity, always.

[Bronbron23]

There's a reason he was trying to lead the league in assists in the 70's and fool people. Like lebron. Mental midgets. Jack of all trades masters of none.

Especially how they talk about themselves. Insecurity, always.

Bruh i don't know what you've seen from wilt but he in no way seemed insecure. He was as cool and confident as they come. I agree bron can come off as insecure at times. Sometimes his shit seems a bit forced. That wasn't the case for wilt.

[coastalmarker99]

Wilts high usage low efficiency playstyle limits the ceiling of his teams offense hence lack of success when it matters

I'm not a big fan of charts and graphs, so I will simply rely on undiluted fact and put that data in its proper context. Prior to the arrival of rookie center Wilt Chamberlain, the 1958-1959 Warriors were not considered a threat to either the Nationals or the Celtics. Wilt's impact on the league and his team was immediate.

The 1959-1960 Warriors went from 32 wins the year before his arrival to 49 wins his rookie year, 46 wins his 2nd year, and 49 wins in his historic 1961-1962 season. In those 3 years, the Warriors went to the playoffs every year and Wilt produced the greatest 3 year individual run in NBA history. Chamberlain also produced the greatest rookie season in NBA history, he was named the league MVP, and if the playoffs are all that "really" matter, this chart's attempt to marginalize the importance of his scoring dominance is borderline laughable.








In the deciding Game 3 of the 1960 Eastern Playoffs, Chamberlain scored 53 points on 24-42 from the floor in a victory over the Nationals. In the 1960 Eastern Conference Finals, the Warriors were down 3-1 against the heavily favored Celtics, so Wilt simply destroyed Bill Russell to the tune of 50 points on 22-42 from the floor to extend the series to a Game 6.



In the deciding Game 5 of the 1962 Eastern Playoffs, Wilt scored 56 points, grabbed 35 rebounds, and blocked 12 shots in a victory over the Nationals. Prior to the 1962 Eastern Conference Finals, most sportswriters predicted that the Celtics would sweep the Warriors, but Wilt and those less than impactful scoring numbers helped to take the Celtics to the brink.

The teams split the first 6 games with the Warrior's winning Games 2, 4, and 6. In the spirit of combining fact and context, Chamberlain averaged 38.3 points in the Warriors 3 wins and 30.0 points in their 4 losses. In-Game 7 of this hard-fought series, Frank McGuire asked Wilt to concentrate on defence and Chamberlain responded by blocking 14 shots.




A controversial goaltending call against Wilt wiped out his 15th blocked shot and the Celtics led 107-102 with only a few minutes left in the contest. Wilt then went back to his meaningless scoring ways and scored the games next 5 points to tie the score at 107. Sam Jones, not Bill Russell, then won game 7 at the buzzer with a 20-foot jump shot.

This narrative was repeated in the 1965 Eastern Conference Finals when Wilt's 76ers again took the heavily favored Celtics to a Game 7, and Chamberlain again scored down the stretch (e.g., last 6 points of the game) to cut the Celtics lead to 1 point. Russell then hit the backboard supporting wire on an inbounds pass, but Havlicek bailed him out by stealing Hal Greer's inbounds pass.


In that series, Chamberlain became the ONLY player in NBA history to average a 30-30 in a playoff series. If any other player in NBA history averaged 30.1 points and 31.4 rebounds against Bill Russell in a playoff series, ESPN would set aside 24 hours to blather on about why this player is the "real" GOAT. In the 2nd half of Wilt's career, the talent level of his teams allowed him to concentrate more on passing the ball and playing defence, but his offensive game was still good enough to make him the most impactful player on 2 of the 5 greatest teams (e.g., 1966-1967 76ers, 1971-1972 Lakers) in NBA history.

[Psileas]

There's a reason he was trying to lead the league in assists in the 70's and fool people. Like lebron. Mental midgets. Jack of all trades masters of none.

Especially how they talk about themselves. Insecurity, always.

Someone who was confindent enough to make bets on anything, to take up any sport he wanted, from track and field to tennis to water polo to marathons to car racing, who literally believed he'd beat Muhammad Ali in boxing and wasn't backing down and was negotiating the fight for whole months, who was spitting on idiots who were asking him "how's the weather up there" (while answering "it's raining"), who hit on more women in a day than the average ISH poster will do in a lifetime, etc, decided to lead the league in assists because he was "insecure" and a "mental midget". ROFL, man, Wilt detractors are the Flat Earthers of sports, calling competitiveness and having multiple ambitions and interests "insecurity".

[Psileas]

I'm not a big fan of charts and graphs, so I will simply rely on undiluted fact and put that data in its proper context. Prior to the arrival of rookie center Wilt Chamberlain, the 1958-1959 Warriors were not considered a threat to either the Nationals or the Celtics. Wilt's impact on the league and his team was immediate.

The 1959-1960 Warriors went from 32 wins the year before his arrival to 49 wins his rookie year, 46 wins his 2nd year, and 49 wins in his historic 1961-1962 season. In those 3 years, the Warriors went to the playoffs every year and Wilt produced the greatest 3 year individual run in NBA history. Chamberlain also produced the greatest rookie season in NBA history, he was named the league MVP, and if the playoffs are all that "really" matter, this chart's attempt to marginalize the importance of his scoring dominance is borderline laughable.








In the deciding Game 3 of the 1960 Eastern Playoffs, Chamberlain scored 53 points on 24-42 from the floor in a victory over the Nationals. In the 1960 Eastern Conference Finals, the Warriors were down 3-1 against the heavily favored Celtics, so Wilt simply destroyed Bill Russell to the tune of 50 points on 22-42 from the floor to extend the series to a Game 6.



In the deciding Game 5 of the 1962 Eastern Playoffs, Wilt scored 56 points, grabbed 35 rebounds, and blocked 12 shots in a victory over the Nationals. Prior to the 1962 Eastern Conference Finals, most sportswriters predicted that the Celtics would sweep the Warriors, but Wilt and those less than impactful scoring numbers helped to take the Celtics to the brink.

The teams split the first 6 games with the Warrior's winning Games 2, 4, and 6. In the spirit of combining fact and context, Chamberlain averaged 38.3 points in the Warriors 3 wins and 30.0 points in their 4 losses. In-Game 7 of this hard-fought series, Frank McGuire asked Wilt to concentrate on defence and Chamberlain responded by blocking 14 shots.




A controversial goaltending call against Wilt wiped out his 15th blocked shot and the Celtics led 107-102 with only a few minutes left in the contest. Wilt then went back to his meaningless scoring ways and scored the games next 5 points to tie the score at 107. Sam Jones, not Bill Russell, then won game 7 at the buzzer with a 20-foot jump shot.

This narrative was repeated in the 1965 Eastern Conference Finals when Wilt's 76ers again took the heavily favored Celtics to a Game 7, and Chamberlain again scored down the stretch (e.g., last 6 points of the game) to cut the Celtics lead to 1 point. Russell then hit the backboard supporting wire on an inbounds pass, but Havlicek bailed him out by stealing Hal Greer's inbounds pass.


In that series, Chamberlain became the ONLY player in NBA history to average a 30-30 in a playoff series. If any other player in NBA history averaged 30.1 points and 31.4 rebounds against Bill Russell in a playoff series, ESPN would set aside 24 hours to blather on about why this player is the "real" GOAT. In the 2nd half of Wilt's career, the talent level of his teams allowed him to concentrate more on passing the ball and playing defence, but his offensive game was still good enough to make him the most impactful player on 2 of the 5 greatest teams (e.g., 1966-1967 76ers, 1971-1972 Lakers) in NBA history.

Also, if you analyze Wilt's high scoring seasons game by game, you'll see that there's a positive correlation between Wilt taking many shots and his teams winning. Only his half season stint with the Sixers in '65 looks like an exception and in '66, the rule returns. If Wilt not shooting was really a good thing, then people should stop criticizing him for not scoring enough or not taking enough shots in certain crucial games.
Btw, notice also how, in that high scoring season frame of this graph, there's also a positive correlation between his high scoring and his team winning.

[Real Men Wear Green]

22.5 ppg playing 48 minutes at a extremely high pace with mediocre efficiency as he couldn't shoot the basketball to a
save his life?

That's absolutely horrific

Thanks for proving that It is the most overrated player in NBA history

The only thing proven here is that you're either too lazy to fully look up his stats or just another dishonest troll. In his Laker years he played a reduced role with 5 seasons under 20 ppg in the playoffs including 10 ppg when he was 36. Before he went there he had 5 postseasons of 9+ games over 28 ppg. 3 of those runs were over 33 points, and a 35 point peak. A 35 ppg postseason would be a highlight for any player in NBA history. Efficiency? Horrible FT shooter but he shot 52% from the field for his postseason career. No honest evaluation of Chamberlain's stats by a person of at least average intelligence can conclude that he wasn't a dominant offensive player.

[HylianNightmare]

No one here watched wilt play

[HBK_Kliq_2]

I always said his most valuable days were the 1970s when he was a defensive anchor and not a franchise player. He's not a good guy, he's a deadbeat dad even though he's rich. I also read he would cuss out the stat boy for making a mistake on his stats. He sat on the bench at the end of game 7 of the 1969 finals and Bill Russell publically called him a pu*ssy for it. In other words, he's the worst leader ever and an asshole.