Wilt averaging 50 points wasn't that impressive after all...

[iamgine]

Many would see Wilt scoring 50 ppg and either say "wow, he was so great" or "what a weak era that was that he was able to score that high." Actually, neither statement was fully correct.

Wilt's 50 point season...his per 36 minutes ppg was 'only' 37 ppg. Still extremely high right? After all, even MJ's highest per 36 minutes ppg was 33 ppg. Not so fast. Adjust that for modern pace it would be much lower. It would 'only' be around 31 ppg.

But that's still pretty darn high right? I would agree, except by playing 48.5 minuter per game, Wilt would've played in a lot of garbage minutes. So that inflated his ppg and other stats. And If you factor that by playing 48.5 minutes, it means he also played against 60's scrubs A LOT. That also inflated his ppg and other stats.

In the end his 50 PPG translated to modern era would be about 25 ppg, maybe 28 ppg if he's allowed to play 42 minutes per game. Not that extraordinary after all. Nice stamina though...

[M.Bustly15A5RU8]

And the next best scorer that season didn't come close to that. Those scrubs were just too scrubby to score on each other.

[LamarOdom]

True

[7_cody]

I'd post my opinion, but I know that it'll piss off a lot of people

Context is important. Let's pretend that an 8 foot giant that is as mobile and strong as Shaq joins the league today. He'd probably dominate. Now let's pretend that 20 years later most centers are at least 8 feet tall and that mobile and strong.

I'm not impressed by Wilt's dominance over 6'6" unathletic centers, I'm also not impressed by the method used to score his 100 point game

[DatAsh]

I'd post my opinion, but I know that it'll piss off a lot of people

Context is important. Let's pretend that an 8 foot giant that is as mobile and strong as Shaq joins the league today. He'd probably dominate. Now let's pretend that 20 years later most centers are at least 8 feet tall and that mobile and strong.

I'm not impressed by Wilt's dominance over 6'6" unathletic centers, I'm also not impressed by the method used to score his 100 point game

An 8 foot Shaq in today's game would be far more of an anomaly than 7 foot 1 inch Wilt Chamberlain was in his.

[jlip]

Seriously...How many times can this thread be done?

[coin24]

Wilt = javale mcgee

[Pointguard]

Many would see Wilt scoring 50 ppg and either say "wow, he was so great" or "what a weak era that was that he was able to score that high." Actually, neither statement was fully correct.

Wilt's 50 point season...his per 36 minutes ppg was 'only' 37 ppg. Still extremely high right? After all, even MJ's highest per 36 minutes ppg was 33 ppg. Not so fast. Adjust that for modern pace it would be much lower. It would 'only' be around 31 ppg.

But that's still pretty darn high right? I would agree, except by playing 48.5 minuter per game, Wilt would've played in a lot of garbage minutes. So that inflated his ppg and other stats. And If you factor that by playing 48.5 minutes, it means he also played against 60's scrubs A LOT. That also inflated his ppg and other stats.

In the end his 50 PPG translated to modern era would be about 25 ppg, maybe 28 ppg if he's allowed to play 42 minutes per game. Not that extraordinary after all. Nice stamina though...

Wow, and that means that Russell was averaging negative 7 ppg!!! Jerry West and the Big O right at 5 ppg!!! But not so fast, most of the league would average about about negative 10 ppg. My only guess is that points were much harder to come by in Wilt's time than now. They must have widened the rim and brought it down a foot to help boost the scoring for the modern era.

[7_cody]

An 8 foot Shaq in today's game would be far more of an anomaly than 7 foot 1 inch Wilt Chamberlain was in his.

Sure, my numbers weren't the best-chosen in order to prove a point, but my point has been proved regardless

[Poetry]

I'm not impressed by Wilt's dominance over 6'6" unathletic centers, I'm also not impressed by the method used to score his 100 point game

Just as a sampling, i'll remind you that in Wilt's rookie year, all but two teams had centers below 6'10-7'0.

The Nationals and the Celtics featuring 6'9 Bill Russell.

The Celtics went on to win the title.

Do a little research. It's enlightening.

[7_cody]

Just as a sampling, i'll remind you that in Wilt's rookie year, all but two teams had centers below 6'10-7'0.

The Nationals and the Celtics featuring 6'9 Bill Russell.

The Celtics went on to win the title.

Do a little research. It's enlightening.

How is saying that most teams had centers BELOW 6'10 NOT supporting what I said?

I acknowledge that what you wrote may have been a typo - of course 6'10 footers and 7 footers existed, but so did the 6'6" centers that Wilt dominated -- do you see any 6'6" centers today? No, there's a reason why

[jlip]

I'd post my opinion, but I know that it'll piss off a lot of people

Context is important. Let's pretend that an 8 foot giant that is as mobile and strong as Shaq joins the league today. He'd probably dominate. Now let's pretend that 20 years later most centers are at least 8 feet tall and that mobile and strong.

I'm not impressed by Wilt's dominance over 6'6" unathletic centers, I'm also not impressed by the method used to score his 100 point game

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...&postcount=202

[WillC]

I'm not impressed by Wilt's dominance over 6'6" unathletic centers

Where does this myth about 6'6" white centers come from?

In 1961-62 when Wilt averaged over 50ppg there were just 9 teams in the NBA. Here's a list of the starting centers for each of those teams:

Philadelphia Warriors: Wilt Chamberlain* 7'1"
Boston Celtics: Bill Russell* 6'10"
Syracuse Nationals: Red Kerr 6'9" (main backup: Swede Halbrook 7'3")
New York Knicks: Phil Jordon 6'10" (main backup: Darrall Imhoff 6'10")
Los Angeles Lakers: Jim Krebs 6'8" (main backup: Ray Felix 6'11")
Cincinnati Royals: Wayne Embry 6'8"
Detroit Pistons: Walter Dukes 7'0"
St. Louis Hawks: Clyde Lovellette* 6'9" (main backup: Larry Foust 6'9")
Chicago Packers: Walt Bellamy* 6'11"

*Denotes Hall of Famer

Then factor in that players were measured bare footed back then, so you can add another inch or so if you want those heights to be in keeping with modern measurements.

Wilt Chamberlain faced no more 6'6" centers than Shaq, Kareem or any other legendary center did.

Clearly, later in his career, Wilt faced even tougher competition at center, including the likes of Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Thurmond and Bob Lanier.

And guess what? He still dominated.

[Poetry]

How is saying that most teams had centers BELOW 6'10 NOT supporting what I said?

I acknowledge that what you wrote may have been a typo - of course 6'10 footers and 7 footers existed, but so did the 6'6" centers that Wilt dominated -- do you see any 6'6" centers today? No, there's a reason why

6 out of 8 teams had Centers that were 6'10 and up in Wilt's rookie year.

There were players then that played multiple positions, F-C, same as today. But primarily, almost all the teams had BIG big men.

Let's not act like LeBron wouldn't be one of the three best centers in the league today. Like Wilt, LeBron is a freak of nature athlete.

The league has gotten smaller in the last 10-15 years. And being 6'10 and up doesn't guarantee a players will be the best center in the league.

[7_cody]

Where does this myth about 6'6" white centers come from?

In 1961-62 when Wilt averaged over 50ppg there were just 9 teams in the NBA. Here's a list of the starting centers for each of those teams:

Philadelphia Warriors: Wilt Chamberlain* 7'1"
Boston Celtics: Bill Russell* 6'10"
Syracuse Nationals: Red Kerr 6'9" (main backup: Swede Halbrook 7'3")
New York Knicks: Phil Jordon 6'10" (main backup: Darrall Imhoff 6'10")
Los Angeles Lakers: Jim Krebs 6'8" (main backup: Ray Felix 6'11")
Cincinnati Royals: Wayne Embry 6'8"
Detroit Pistons: Walter Dukes 7'0"
St. Louis Hawks: Clyde Lovellette* 6'9" (main backup: Larry Foust 6'9")
Chicago Packers: Walt Bellamy* 6'11"

*Denotes Hall of Famer

Then factor in that players were measured bare footed back then, so you can add another inch or so if you want those heights to be in keeping with modern measurements.

Wilt Chamberlain faced no more 6'6" centers than Shaq, Kareem or any other legendary center did.

Clearly, later in his career, Wilt faced even tougher competition at center, including the likes of Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Thurmond and Bob Lanier.

And guess what? He still dominated.

A quick google search tells me that there are like 46 seven footers in the NBA today. The list posted earlier had like 8 or 9 I think. So what you're basically saying is that there were 8 or 9 games where he faced a seven footer, most not very talented, but other then that he had a severe size advantage

His numbers are impressive for his era, nothing else, IMO