Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal physical data/visual comparison:

[Psileas]

typical bullshit

Like he did in this pic? All I see here is fatass shaq not being able to take a decent position and resorting to a gay ass hook that he obviously bricked.

GOAT gonna GOAT

[Psileas]

OP, is there any way you can make a visual comparison of Laker Wilt to a post retirement Wilt? I'm interested to see how Wilt at his heaviest as a player (excluding periods like the '64 pre-season) compares to his older, still bulky, version.

[GIF REACTION]

Wilt to me seemed like a switched on athlete... It was certainly evident after retirement, but he was ahead of his time both as an athlete and in his training methods... During his playing time weight-lifting was shunned upon... I would think it wasn't until the late 70's that weight-lifting caught some drift in the NBA (Cavs will have to correct me on this)... Also the game was at an extremely much faster pace, so the weight disparity can be explained with some logic. Even at 320, Wilt was playing a much faster paced game, I wonder what his Shaq playing weight could have been. I think Shaq might have been slightly thicker, but this is hard to know because Wilt was usually lean to the bone and wearing tighter, shorter uniforms, whereas Shaq was always usually a little bit higher bodyfat and wearing baggier clothing.

Honestly physically I don't think there is much between them in a structural sense. Shaq probably was a little thicker, but Wilt was slightly longer and more explosive. I picture Wilt as a Shaq-David Robinson hybrid. That cannot be understated how good that is.

[Elosha]

Tried to scale it as accurate as possible. The images seemed to be of similar enough zoom lens and perspective. The lighting is off but other than that I think it turned out okay. Happy to have found a good image of Shaq shooting a jump hook in his athletic prime when he was both nimble AND big. Him at his most physically dominant probably 350lbs yet as nimble as a forward. And then of course Wilt at his physical strongest as a player - his Laker years at 310lbs.

I replaced Jabbar from this image, who was shooting a skyhook over Wilt. Simply cropped Shaq with the ball in his hand and placed him in place of Jabbar while scaling the basketballs so they'd be identical in size. Then got rid of Jabbar and cleaned up the image.

Not a bad photoshop. I don't think the advantage of height and reach that Wilt would have would be quite as pronounced. However, in the picture you created, Shaq would be further from the "camera" and thus would be a slightly smaller image. Did you take that into account?

It does show some of their differences. Wilt definitely a bit longer, but significantly less bulky than Shaq in the back, trunk, chest and legs. About equal arm size, or Shaq with slightly larger, but shorter arms. If you're comparing these two images, you are comparing a prime athletic/strength Shaq to a post-prime athletic but probably prime strength Wilt. I'd definitely give the edge in explosiveness, physical dominance, quickness and overall basketball strength to Shaq, and the edge in length, stamina, defense, and possibly finesse to Wilt.

Would be an absolute war.

[SyRyanYang]

Wilt or Jordan? Deandre that is

[Elosha]

Wilt or Jordan? Deandre that is

Deandre is probably a better leaper than Wilt or Shaq. He routinely gets rim level, even though he's 3-5 inches shorter than them. Other than that, he has no advantages over either of them and would get absolutely crushed.

[mehyaM24]

shaq aka MDE > wilt

better fundamentals. stronger. more dominant. better teammate.

above all else though:

a greater playoff performer.

[Dragonyeuw]

Interesting that Shaq's hands were considerably longer(11 to 9.5) but Wilt's hand spread was longer (11.5 to 11).

[Pointguard]

Wilt to me seemed like a switched on athlete... It was certainly evident after retirement, but he was ahead of his time both as an athlete and in his training methods... During his playing time weight-lifting was shunned upon... I would think it wasn't until the late 70's that weight-lifting caught some drift in the NBA (Cavs will have to correct me on this)... Also the game was at an extremely much faster pace, so the weight disparity can be explained with some logic. Even at 320, Wilt was playing a much faster paced game, I wonder what his Shaq playing weight could have been. I think Shaq might have been slightly thicker, but this is hard to know because Wilt was usually lean to the bone and wearing tighter, shorter uniforms, whereas Shaq was always usually a little bit higher bodyfat and wearing baggier clothing.

Honestly physically I don't think there is much between them in a structural sense. Shaq probably was a little thicker, but Wilt was slightly longer and more explosive. I picture Wilt as a Shaq-David Robinson hybrid. That cannot be understated how good that is.

Good stuff Gif. Really on point.

Wilt's work ethic and hustle doesn't get enough play. Very few were ever going to outwork him. And a lot of his contemporaries were among greatest workers (Unseld,Thurman, Russell, Reed). When Dwight Howard hustled, he was competing for best player in the league (a Lebron, Dirk, Kobe, Duncan league) without being very skilled. In Shaq's physical prime he wasn't in the conversation of best rebounder or top shot blocker. Rodman could embarrass Shaq by outworking him.

[deja vu]

Shaq couldn't overpower Dennis Rodman.

While Rodman was a terrific post defender, he was also a dirty player. People always point to that YouTube video where Rodman was successful against Shaq but the fact is Shaq put up his usual offensive numbers against the Bulls.

[senelcoolidge]

All imho:

Shaq was probably quicker, way stronger and jumped higher than Wilt. He also had better offensive moves and foot work.

Wilts advatages over Shaq are defense, shot blocking and rebounding.

Shaq also played withing the team, and didn`t statpad not nearly to the degree Wilt did.

Would have been fun to see them go at it. Both ATGs.

Sure Shaq was quicker and jumped higher if you compare young/prime Shaq to old Wilt. I think old Wilt was probably stronger than Shaq. But young Wilt was not as strong as Shaq in his prime. Wilt had a better post game and fade away..just better offensive game. He didn't just have to overpower and dunk on people.
You are right that Wilt was a better defender, shot blocker, and rebounder.
Wrong again. Wilt played within the system. Coach wanted Wilt to score a lot, he did. Coach wanted him to be more of a distributer, so he did that. Coach wanted him to be a defensive anchor, check he did it.

[AirFederer]

Wilt got this, 330+ pounds of muscle






The power:

[LAZERUSS]

Wilt got this, 330+ pounds of muscle






The power:

I can see this topic has been bothering you for the last nine months.

You must have lost a lot of sleep worrying about it.

[Jasper]

These guys measure out at 11" ...

man I am at least an easy 12.

[ILLsmak]

lol at Shaq running a 5.8 40 in 2009. Why would you even put that up there? Dude could barely run in 2009.

-Smak