Enough of this "weak era" nonsense for Wilt's era

[Deuce Bigalow]

The best players during Wilt's time 1959-1974: Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagan, Sam Jones, Paul Arizin, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Nate Thurmond, John Havlicek, Walt Bellamy, Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Rick Barry, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. How are those players "weak"? An all-decade lineup of Oscar, West, Baylor, Pettit, Wilt/Russell. Not so weak to me, in fact that is almost as good of a lineup you could get. The best centers he played against were Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Reed, Thurmond, Bellamy, Lucas. Far from "weak" competition.

If it was so easy to average 50 ppg then how come no one else even averaged 40 ppg besides Wilt? If it was so easy to score 60+ points, why does Wilt have more of them then the rest of league history combined including the '60s? Why did Kareem continue to dominate in the "modern" era including winning an MVP in '80 at age 33 while also leading the playoffs in scoring and winning a Finals MVP at age 38 in '85 when Wilt who played in the "weak" era was able to beat prime Kareem's Bucks in the '72 playoffs? If it was so easy to average a triple double, then why was Oscar the only player to do it while averaging 30+ppg too? Couldn't someone average just 10 ppg along with 10 rpg and apg if it was so easy?

[JohnFreeman]

Weak era is weak

[Deuce Bigalow]

Weak era is weak

Weak poster

[JohnFreeman]

Weak poster

weak era of posting, similar to wilts era of bball

[oarabbus]

I don't buy into the "Weak Era" argument, but I do think that the era was weaker than it is today. Total talent pool is much larger now. Number of teams is much larger.

Look at any professional sport, all of them were weaker in the 60s/70s than they are today. Note that this is NOT the same as saying, the best players in those eras couldn't play today. Most legends in any sport are timeless and would beast in any era.

[bdreason]

Nobody denies Wilt's greatness, but his numbers were most certainly inflated because of the lack of size/athleticism when he joined the league. When Wilt joined the NBA, it was less than 10% African American. By the end of the 60's, the league was more than 50% African American. It's not a coincidence that Wilt never averaged more than 30ppg after 1966, despite still being in the prime of his career. The league got exponentially more athletic and more talented over the course of the decade.

[Deuce Bigalow]

weak era of posting, similar to wilts era of bball

All the players I listed are weak? Keep in mind that they had no Jordan, Magic, Bird to watch to learn from, they came up with everything on their own. Those players learned from the first players that ever played. Kobe learned from MJ who learned from Dr J who learned from Baylor.

[T_L_P]

When a rookie can average 32 PPG and 19 RPG for a season, you know the era is weak

Also, you constantly used to shit on Wilt...what the **** happened?

[The-Legend-24]

You're trying too hard.

[bdreason]

And there are quite a few PF/C's who could average 40-50ppg in the early 60's if they took as many shots and played as many minutes as Wilt did.

Kareem, Shaq, Hakeem, Malone, Ewing, Barkley, and Duncan just to name some off the top of my head. Again, these are all great players, so I'm not saying Wilt wasn't a great player... but his inflated stats from the early 60's aren't what made him great.


The real question should be, how can a guy who averages 50ppg not win a championship? Maybe if Wilt would have played a more team oriented game he wouldn't have had to wait until the twilight of his career to win a ring.

[Deuce Bigalow]

Nobody denies Wilt's greatness, but his numbers were most certainly inflated because of the lack of size/athleticism when he joined the league. When Wilt joined the NBA, it was less than 10% African American. By the end of the 60's, the league was more than 50% African American. It's not a coincidence that Wilt never averaged more than 30ppg after 1966, despite still being in the prime of his career. The league got exponentially more athletic and more talented over the course of the decade.

You are misinformed about that one. Wilt focused on being a defensive anchor, playmaker, and being more efficient.

65-66: 33.5 ppg, 25.2 FGA, 54.0 FG%, 5.2 apg
66-67: 24.1 ppg, 14.2 FGA, 68.3 FG%, 7.8 apg

Notice the difference in FG% and APG, and of course the 11 FGA difference. The 68.3 FG % was a record that he later broke during his last season.

[CavaliersFTW]

Nobody denies Wilt's greatness, but his numbers were most certainly inflated because of the lack of size/athleticism when he joined the league. When Wilt joined the NBA, it was less than 10% African American. By the end of the 60's, the league was more than 50% African American. It's not a coincidence that Wilt never averaged more than 30ppg after 1966, despite still being in the prime of his career. The league got exponentially more athletic and more talented over the course of the decade.

lol, he executes the exact same moves no matter who the competition is, and no matter what volume he was scoring. Nobody at the end of Wilt's career was blocking or stopping his fall away shots or finger rolls any more than they were at the beginning of his career, in fact when he dropped his volume his accuracy went up even higher... or in other words when the 'competition was more black' he scored even more accurately. Maybe his competition that was more black was actually WORSE at defending him, but his 'more black' teammates were less willing to pass him the ball?

Or

Here's the reality: he stopped scoring after his first 7 seasons on his own accord. This is documented as such. Whether his competition was black or white was moot.

[Yankstar]

You are misinformed about that one. Wilt focused on being a defensive anchor, playmaker, and being more efficient.

65-66: 33.5 ppg, 25.2 FGA, 54.0 FG%, 5.2 apg
66-67: 24.1 ppg, 14.2 FGA, 68.3 FG%, 7.8 apg

Notice the difference in FG% and APG, and of course the 11 FGA difference. The 68.3 FG % was a record that he later broke during his last season.

So according to shot % birdman = new Wilt?. It is not hard to miss dunks when your playing mostly against weaker players who shouldn't be in the same league as you. Wilt would be a slightly more athletic Dwight in the current league

[bdreason]

Your post reminds of LeBron James claiming he could win the scoring title every year if he "really wanted to". The point is to win the game, and the fact that Wilt so deliberately focused on statistics only lowers my opinion of him.


Kevin Durant could average 40 ppg in the modern era if he took 30 shots per game and played 48 mpg... so what? Stat whoring doesn't make a player great.

[CavaliersFTW]

So according to shot % birdman = new Wilt?. It is not hard to miss dunks when your playing mostly against weaker players who shouldn't be in the same league as you. Wilt would be a slightly more athletic Dwight in the current league

http://youtu.be/0iw95y9QiZ0?t=8m21s

The fade away is Wilt's primary offensive move from the left block... Next to that, a finger roll. He would opt to pass out of those did not seem like ideal shots. Only if those options were not available or he had an opening from being fronted did he try to spin or bull his way in for a dunk. From the right block his primary was a finger roll and he secondary was a fall away. Wilt wasn't achieving scoring records doing just backdoor dunks and rebounds.