The reason Wilt Chamberlain was traded from Philly to L.A (according to Jack Ramsay)

[PHILA]

From Dr. Jack Ramsay's 2004 book, Dr. Jack's Leadership Lessons Learned From a Lifetime in Basketball.


Another "do-over" decision I still think about was more of a delayed decision, but nonetheless had a negative result. It centered on the man I regard as the most talented, intelligent, complex, and interesting of all the players I've known - Wilt Chamberlain. Prior to the 1966-67 season, in Philadelphia, Wilt had set all kinds of scoring records (he had been the league's perennial leader in scoring and rebounding, at one time averaging over 50 points a game for a season), but he had won no championships.

The Boston Celtics ruled then, having won eight titles in a row. Wilt seemed to sense that this Sixers team had the player personnel, in addition to new coach, Alex Hannum, that together could reach that goal. Under Hannum's influence, Wilt became a true team player, scoring a modest - for him - 24 points a game, grabbing 24 rebounds, and dealing just under 8 assists. The Sixers set a league record at the time for most wins with a 68 and 13 mark, and went on to win the 1967 championship, Wilt's first in his eight seasons in the NBA.

I was general manager of that Sixers team and got to know Wilt quite well. When Alex Hannum left the Sixers to coach Oakland in the ABA, I talked with many candidates to replace him. Among them were Frank McGuire, John Kundla, and Earl Lloyd, each of whom could have had the job, but declined it for various reasons. Chamberlain often stopped by the Sixers office to inquire how the coach search was going. When time went by without a selection, he told owner Irv Kosloff and me that he'd be interested in becoming player/coach if I would help him with the Xs and Os. The suggestion took us both by surprise and we said that we'd give it some thought. We agreed to meet again in a week, after Wilt had returned from a trip to the West Coast.

I liked the idea. I thought that Wilt would play with added intensity knowing his name was on the line, and I was confident that I could help with the technical aspects of the job. Koz and I talked it over and agreed that we'd make a deal with Chamberlain to be the team's coach. But when Wilt returned, he said that he had changed his mind, that he was not going to play in Philadelphia again, and he demanded a trade to a West Coast team - to Seattle, Los Angeles, or San Diego. When we indicated that we weren't interested in trading him, he said that he'd jump to the ABA team in Los Angeles. (The ability of NBA players to leave their existing teams began in 1967 when Rick Barry, a free agent at the time, left the San Francisco Warriors of the NBA to join Oakland of the newly formed ABA. Barry was forced by a court order to sit out a year, but then played for Oakland in 1968-69, and played three more years in the ABA for other teams before returning to the NBA with the Golden State Warriors in 1972. With that precedent established, NBA players who were not under contract looked to enhance their bargaining position by threatening to "jump" to the ABA. Chamberlain knew that he was playing with a strong negotiating chip.)

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I had come to the meeting brimming with enthusiasm, prepared to fill the coaching void, and suddenly found myself, still without a coach and with the prospect of losing the most powerful player in the game. Koz, who was accustomed to Wilt's negotiating ploys (he only did one-year contracts, had no agent, and did all the negotiating himself), tried to push the discussion aside. But Wilt said that he was serious about his decision and that in now way would he play for Philadelphia again. He walked out of the meeting leaving me with my mouth hanging open.

We eventually worked out a deal with the Lakers - the only team Wilt later said he would go to - and moved on. Had Luke Jackson not torn and Achilles tendon, the deal might not have been so detrimental. (Jackson was a powerhouse rebounder, who could score inside and from the perimeter; but he never regained his ability to run and jump like he once had, and the Sixers started a downward trend.)

Thinking back, I've often wondered what the outcome would have been if I had jumped on Wilt's first offer to coach the team. Might we have finalized a deal before he went to the West Coast? Or, when Wilt visited the Sixers office to ask about the progress in hiring a new coach, could I have suggested become player/coach to him? Or, could the Sixers have kept him if we had not caved in when he threatened to jump to the ABA, and told him instead that he was staying in Philly and that the player/coach opportunity was still open?

[EarlTheGoat]

Curious, so he went from "coaching" the team to wanting to leave to the West Coast in a couple of weeks? Lol, something changed in his mind.

I think that trip to the West Coast the article talked about was the decisive factor in Wilt`s decision, it might sound stupid, but when he looked at the weather, the culture and lifestyle in places like California and all the marketing machine the LA Lakers was turning into he practicly made his decision.

[jlauber]

From Dr. Jack Ramsay's 2004 book, Dr. Jack's Leadership Lessons Learned From a Lifetime in Basketball.


Another "do-over" decision I still think about was more of a delayed decision, but nonetheless had a negative result. It centered on the man I regard as the most talented, intelligent, complex, and interesting of all the players I've known - Wilt Chamberlain. Prior to the 1966-67 season, in Philadelphia, Wilt had set all kinds of scoring records (he had been the league's perennial leader in scoring and rebounding, at one time averaging over 50 points a game for a season), but he had won no championships.

The Boston Celtics ruled then, having won eight titles in a row. Wilt seemed to sense that this Sixers team had the player personnel, in addition to new coach, Alex Hannum, that together could reach that goal. Under Hannum's influence, Wilt became a true team player, scoring a modest - for him - 24 points a game, grabbing 24 rebounds, and dealing just under 8 assists. The Sixers set a league record at the time for most wins with a 68 and 13 mark, and went on to win the 1967 championship, Wilt's first in his eight seasons in the NBA.

I was general manager of that Sixers team and got to know Wilt quite well. When Alex Hannum left the Sixers to coach Oakland in the ABA, I talked with many candidates to replace him. Among them were Frank McGuire, John Kundla, and Earl Lloyd, each of whom could have had the job, but declined it for various reasons. Chamberlain often stopped by the Sixers office to inquire how the coach search was going. When time went by without a selection, he told owner Irv Kosloff and me that he'd be interested in becoming player/coach if I would help him with the Xs and Os. The suggestion took us both by surprise and we said that we'd give it some thought. We agreed to meet again in a week, after Wilt had returned from a trip to the West Coast.

I liked the idea. I thought that Wilt would play with added intensity knowing his name was on the line, and I was confident that I could help with the technical aspects of the job. Koz and I talked it over and agreed that we'd make a deal with Chamberlain to be the team's coach. But when Wilt returned, he said that he had changed his mind, that he was not going to play in Philadelphia again, and he demanded a trade to a West Coast team - to Seattle, Los Angeles, or San Diego. When we indicated that we weren't interested in trading him, he said that he'd jump to the ABA team in Los Angeles. (The ability of NBA players to leave their existing teams began in 1967 when Rick Barry, a free agent at the time, left the San Francisco Warriors of the NBA to join Oakland of the newly formed ABA. Barry was forced by a court order to sit out a year, but then played for Oakland in 1968-69, and played three more years in the ABA for other teams before returning to the NBA with the Golden State Warriors in 1972. With that precedent established, NBA players who were not under contract looked to enhance their bargaining position by threatening to "jump" to the ABA. Chamberlain knew that he was playing with a strong negotiating chip.)

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I had come to the meeting brimming with enthusiasm, prepared to fill the coaching void, and suddenly found myself, still without a coach and with the prospect of losing the most powerful player in the game. Koz, who was accustomed to Wilt's negotiating ploys (he only did one-year contracts, had no agent, and did all the negotiating himself), tried to push the discussion aside. But Wilt said that he was serious about his decision and that in now way would he play for Philadelphia again. He walked out of the meeting leaving me with my mouth hanging open.

We eventually worked out a deal with the Lakers - the only team Wilt later said he would go to - and moved on. Had Luke Jackson not torn and Achilles tendon, the deal might not have been so detrimental. (Jackson was a powerhouse rebounder, who could score inside and from the perimeter; but he never regained his ability to run and jump like he once had, and the Sixers started a downward trend.)

Thinking back, I've often wondered what the outcome would have been if I had jumped on Wilt's first offer to coach the team. Might we have finalized a deal before he went to the West Coast? Or, when Wilt visited the Sixers office to ask about the progress in hiring a new coach, could I have suggested become player/coach to him? Or, could the Sixers have kept him if we had not caved in when he threatened to jump to the ABA, and told him instead that he was staying in Philly and that the player/coach opportunity was still open?

Excellent post. This is one thread that explodes Simmons' MYTH's that Wilt was traded twice for "pennies on the dollar."

And while this is perfectly plausible, the main reason, according to Chamberlain himself, was that the previous Sixer owner, Ike Richmond, had verbally promised Wilt a share in ownership. Unfortunately, Ike had a sudden heart-attack during a Sixer-Celtic game in 1965, and passed away. The new Sixer ownership told Wilt that they would not honor that verbal agreement.

Wilt was also dealt in the middle of the 64-65 season. Why? How could a Warrior team, that had been to the Finals just the season before, trade a player of Chamberlain's caliber? Wilt had a mysterious aliment during the off-season, and the Warrior team physicians ran some tests which seemed to indicate a heart condition. In fact, they advised that he take several months, if not the entire season, off. Wilt did come back, very early (the Warriors started 1-6 without him.) He was not 100%, and it showed in his play (although he averaged 39 ppg on 50% shooting.) Wilt was so frustrated with the diagnosis, that he went to his personal physician who declared that he had pancreatitis. The Warriors took no chances, however, and shipped him off. All Wilt did in teh second half of that season, was take another mediocre roster (the Sixers had gone 34-46 the year before) to the playoffs, where they wiped out a 48-32 Royals team, and then took the 62-18 Celtics to a game seven, one point defeat. And, Wilt was maginificent in that series, posting a 30-30 series, and thoroughly outscoring, outshooting, and outrebounding Russell.

Of course, the rest was history. Over the course of the next three seasons, Philly had the best record in the league. In the 66-67 season, they set all kind sof records, and crushed the NBA en route to a championship...including a 4-2 pounding of the Warriors. And had they not been decimated by injuries, they probably would have easily won the title in 67-68.

BTW, after Philly "traded" Wilt to LA, they went on an immediate decline, and by Wilt's last season, in 72-73, they finished with the worst record in NBA history. Meanwhile, all Wilt did in his five years in LA was to take them to FOUR Finals, and their first-ever championship in Los Angeles, in the magical 71-72 season...a season that was culminated by a Finals MVP for Wilt.

[PHILA]

It also could have been to be closer to his father living in L.A. (who apparently was terminally ill). Did Wilt mention in any of his autobiographies the reason for this trade? In addition to the broken ownership agreement, I've heard stories that Ramsay and Wilt had a very strong dislike for each other (after Wilt realized Ramsay would badmouth his game behind his back). Truth or fiction?

[jlauber]

It also could have been to be closer to his father living in L.A. (who apparently was terminally ill). Did Wilt mention in any of his autobiographies the reason for this trade? In addition to the broken ownership agreement, I've heard stories that Ramsay and Wilt had a very strong dislike for each other (after Wilt realized Ramsay would badmouth his game behind his back). Truth or fiction?

I believe all of those were among the reasons.

When Wilt was traded to the Lakers, the media immediately proclaimed that not only would LA win the championship, but that they might go unbeaten (which was shattered by an 0-2 start.)

Personally, I was devastated. The Sixers were on the brink of a "mini dynasty." They had had the best record in the NBA over the course of the three previous seasons. They had crushed the league in 66-67, and easily won a title. And, in 67-68, they were well on their way to a repeat. They ran away with the best record in the league, beating Boston by eight games. BUT, they were decimated by injuries in the post-season. Despite not having HOFer Cunningham, they still led Boston, 3-1. But then Luke Jackson injured his leg in game five, and was worthless the rest of the way. And, Wilt, himself, was nursing a variety of ailments. And with Chamberlain's teammates firing blanks (33% combined) all game long in that game seven, Boston managed to eke out a 100-96 win.

IMHO, the Sixers might have won 4-6, or more titles. Cunningham and Walker were just becoming great players, while Jackson, Greer, and Wilt were all in their primes.

Instead, Wilt engineered that deal to LA, where he encountered an incompetent coach, and a team with virtually no depth. Not only that, but while West was in his prime, Baylor was in a rapid decline. In fact, that first season, was the ONLY full-season in which Wilt and Baylor played together in the next four seasons. Wilt was injured in 69-70, and was never quite the same afterwards, while Baylor missed almost the entire 70-71 season. And then Elgin retired early into the 71-72 season (and the Lakers immediately won 33 straight games.) West was also fighting injuries for much of the five seasons that he and Wilt were paired together. He missed the last fourth of the '71 season (including the playoffs), and he had TWO injured wrists in the '70 Finals. He also had aching knees in the 72-73 post-season.

So, instead of Chamberlain probably amassing 4-5, or more rings with the Sixers, he was only able to garner one more (albeit, four finals in five years), with the Lakers.

[ThaRegul8r]

Curious, so he went from "coaching" the team to wanting to leave to the West Coast in a couple of weeks? Lol, something changed in his mind.

I think that trip to the West Coast the article talked about was the decisive factor in Wilt`s decision, it might sound stupid, but when he looked at the weather, the culture and lifestyle in places like California and all the marketing machine the LA Lakers was turning into he practicly made his decision.

Wilt had decided before the end of the '67-68 season that he wanted to play for the Lakers if it was at all possible:

After that three-game splurge in mid-December, I only had one other game all season where I scored more than 40 points. That game was against Los Angeles in the last week of the regular season. I got 53 points—and I wanted every one of them; I’d pretty much decided I’d like to play for the Lakers the next season, if possible, and I wanted to show them I could still score—just in case they had any doubts.

He decided to have a big scoring game against them to make him more attractive to them. It was March 18, 1968, the 76ers' third-to-last game of the season.

[jlauber]

Wilt had decided before the end of the '67-68 season that he wanted to play for the Lakers if it was at all possible:



He decided to have a big scoring game against them to make him more attractive to them. It was March 18, 1968, the 76ers' third-to-last game of the season.

Wilt gets ripped here by some, when they look at the second half of his career. In the first half, he averaged nearly 40 ppg over the course of his first seven seasons...COMBINED. But in the last half of his career, he "only" averaged about 20.

I actually break Wilt's career into THREE sections. The first being his "scoring" seasons. The second came from the 66-67 thru the 68-69 seasons, when he basically cut back his shooting and led quality teammates to the the best records in the league. And then the last one was from 69-70 thru 72-73, which was his "post-injury" seasons.

And even 69-70 season was deceptive. Why? Because in the first nine games of that season (just before his devastating knee injury), his new coach had asked him to become the focal point of the offense. He responded with a 32.2 ppg average over those first nine games (which included games of 33, 35, 37, 38, 42, and 43 points...and another game in which he outscored, outshot, and outrebounded Kareem.)

After his knee injury, which affected his lateral movement, and along with arthritis in his other knee, he was never quite the same offensively again. However, he also bulked up to over 300 lbs., and he had moments in games in which he played like Shaq, and just over-powered his opposing center. He still would put up a few 30+ point games, and in fact had the last two of his staggering 109 30-30 games in the 71-72 season (one against Lanier BTW.)

In any case, Regul8r mentioned that Wilt put up a 53 point game near the end of the '68 season to impress the Lakers. He led the NBA in assists that season, but he still had the FOUR highest scoring games, which were games of 52, 53, 53, and 68.

In the 66-67 season, which was the year after his last "scoring" season, he "only" averaged 24.1 ppg. BUT, he had the highest game of the season, with a 58 point outburst (on 26-34 shooting), as well as a 42 point game, which came on 18-18 shooting. EVERYONE knew that Wilt could have led the league in scoring that year. In fact, Rick Barry, who did lead the NBA in scoring at 35.6 ppg, "thanked" Wilt for "letting" him win the scoring title.

As Regul8r mentioned, Wilt put up that 53 point game to show the Lakers that he could still score. He was subsequently traded to LA. However, his new coach, Butch Van Breda Kolf, preferred Baylor to shoot, and asked Wilt to play the high post. He even BENCHED Chamberlain during the course of that season. It got so bad, that Sports Illustrated ran an article claiming that Wilt could no longer score. Wilt got wind of that article before it hit the newstands, and the night before it came out, Wilt poured in a 60 point game. He followed that up with a 66 point game (on 29-35 shooting) a few days later. In fact, over the course of the next 17 games, he averaged 31 ppg, which included a 35 point game against Russell, which was his highest against him since his 46 point playoff game in '66.

So, when someone mentions that Wilt was "only" scoring around 20 ppg in the last half of his career, ...keep in mind that he COULD have scored MUCH more.

[PHILA]

[chips93]

the more i hear about wilt the more interesting he seems

could anybody recommend any books about wilt, preferably not an autobiography, he seems very biased

[PHILA]

the more i hear about wilt the more interesting he seems

could anybody recommend any books about wilt, preferably not an autobiography, he seems very biased

[jlauber]

Great post. IMHO, the best book on Wilt. Cherry certainly views Chamberlain in a much more favorable light than say, Simmons, who had an obvious anti-Wilt agenda. Of course, the facts back up Cherrys take, as well.

[Psileas]

It's reasonable. Cherry doesn't have any specific bias for any athlete. If you read the introduction, he doesn't even care about athletes more than he does for other categories of people. He just found Wilt a very exciting person to search and write about and that was the main reason for this book. On the other hand, Simmons is a guy with very distinctive likes and dislikes and as a Celtics' homer, he really dislikes anything linked with the Lakers. With Wilt, he has more reasons to hate on, since a lot believe that he was better than the GOAT Celtic, who played in the same era and dominated the rings - so he would dislike Wilt whatever his team would be. Distort/exaggerate also some of the things Wilt got blamed about (including things that he shouldn't get blamed at all, like competition level) to write a few quick-witted lines, and that's Simmons for you.

[puppychili]

Drinking Game: Every time JLauber says what Wilt COULD have or SHOULD have done, drink a shot. You'll be drunk in 10 minutes.

[jlauber]

Drinking Game: Every time JLauber says what Wilt COULD have or SHOULD have done, drink a shot. You'll be drunk in 10 minutes.

Very true.

As was Wilt's career.

[jlauber]

It's reasonable. Cherry doesn't have any specific bias for any athlete. If you read the introduction, he doesn't even care about athletes more than he does for other categories of people. He just found Wilt a very exciting person to search and write about and that was the main reason for this book. On the other hand, Simmons is a guy with very distinctive likes and dislikes and as a Celtics' homer, he really dislikes anything linked with the Lakers. With Wilt, he has more reasons to hate on, since a lot believe that he was better than the GOAT Celtic, who played in the same era and dominated the rings - so he would dislike Wilt whatever his team would be. Distort/exaggerate also some of the things Wilt got blamed about (including things that he shouldn't get blamed at all, like competition level) to write a few quick-witted lines, and that's Simmons for you.

Simmons' goes out of his way to disparage Wilt, the Sixers, Kobe, and the Lakers.

He has almost nothing good to say about Wilt, and ranks him sixth all-time. He doesn't even have the '67 76ers in his top-10. At one point he had Kobe 15th all-time, but even he realized how ridiculous that made him look, so he reluctantly dropped him to 9th. Then, he ripped Kobe for pulling himself out of the Mavs game in which he had scored 62 points...BUT...he rips Kobe's 81 point game because he firing away late in the game. THEN he praises Bird in his 60 point game, in a meaningless rout.

The man has an obvious agenda...and most all of it has little supporting facts.

Cherry is critical of Wilt somewhat in game seven of the '68 ECF's, although, he, like myself, blames Wilt's coach and teammates, as well. He also blames Wilt for the Lakers game six loss in the '69 Finals (although he does NOT blame him for the game seven loss.)

Still, even he was amazed at Wilt's basketball career and his incredible athleticism...hence the title...'Wilt: Larger than Life.'