Kareem Abdul Jabbars open letter to Wilt Chumberlame

[sportjames23]

Stringer, why you resurrect this thread?

[AirFederer]

I`d have to say Kareem is coming of as very balanced here, and it`s the same thing Wilts teammates and peers said about him. Barry etc.

Only years later would they say positive things about the GOAT statpadder and quitter.

[LAZERUSS]

Interesting...

How about Kareem's open letter to Scottie Pippen in 2011...

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakers...t-player-.html

[QUOTE]So without further ado, here is Abdul-Jabbar's open letter to Pippen, which was recently obtained by The Times:

How Soon They Forget: An Open Letter to Scottie Pippen

Dear Scottie,

I have nothing but respect for you my friend as an athlete and knowledgeable basketball mind. But you are way off in your assessment of who is the greatest player of all time and the greatest scorer of all time. Your comments are off because of your limited perspective. You obviously never saw Wilt Chamberlain play who undoubtedly was the greatest scorer this game has ever known. When did MJ ever average 50.4 points per game plus 25.7 rebounds? (Wilt in the 1962 season when blocked shot statistics were not kept). We will never accurately know how many shots Wilt blocked. Oh, by the way in 1967 and 68, Wilt was a league leader in assists. Did MJ ever score 100 points in a game? How many times did MJ score more than 60 points in a game? MJ led the league in scoring in consecutive seasons for 10 years but he did this in an NBA that eventually expanded into 30 teams vs. when Wilt played and there were only 8 teams.

Every team had the opportunity to amass a solid nucleus. Only the cream of the basketball world got to play then. So MJ has to be appraised in perspective. His incredible athletic ability, charisma and leadership on the court helped to make basketball popular around the world -- no question about that. But in terms of [COLOR="DarkRed"]greatness, MJ has to take a backseat to The Stilt[/COLOR].

In terms of winning, Michael excelled as both an emotional and scoring leader but Bill Russell

[Overdrive]

Cap sounds like an ish troll.

Too bad you can't register alt in real life between this

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-...final-season/5




found this on another forum

thought it was interesting. seems as though wilts choking, cancerous attitude and jealousy was well known back then. dunno why its been burried for so long until now

he was a serious quitter, ring chaser, spitefull sour small minded beta individual

is wilt the truest form of stats not telling the whole story or what

and this

Kareem in 2011...

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakers...t-player-.html



Looks like KAJ came to his senses a few years later...

[PJR]

Damn, Kareem ethered that closet hom0 Wilt!

[LAZERUSS]

I`d have to say Kareem is coming of as very balanced here, and it`s the same thing Wilts teammates and peers said about him. Barry etc.

Only years later would they say positive things about the GOAT statpadder and quitter.

Ah yes, Barry. The Barry whom Chamberlain slaughtered in the '67 Finals, and a few years later in his Wilt's last post-season in '73. BTW, I was at the game in Oakland in the '73 playoffs in which Wilt's Lakers beat Barry's Warriors by a 126-70 margin.

In any case....here was Barry just a few years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSTt_TxoFVo

"At one time you called Wilt Chamberlain a loser."

"I was wrong about that... and I really regret saying that."

"If you have ONE player to start a team around, who would it be?"

"No question...it would be Wilt Chamberlain."

[Dresta]

Interesting...

How about Kareem's open letter to Scottie Pippen in 2011...

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakers...t-player-.html

You already posted that letter on the first page you idiot.

[Big164]

Wilt made more money as a volleyball player than Ka__em Jabba did as a Laker.

[1987_Lakers]

Good read.

[coastalmarker99]

Good read.

Actually, as well written as the letter is... it’s pretty much all bullshit.

Kareem said that Wilt had trouble playing second fiddle, but Alex Hannum actually found that Wilt Chamberlain was so content with putting up a mere 20 points in a victory that the coach literally had to plant news articles criticizing Wilt in order to motivate him to score more aggressively.



Wilt also was more than happy to take a more defensive and low volume role on the Lakers, especially under Bill Sharman.


Wilt was actually pretty consistent in his willingness to sacrifice personal glory for his team, but because of his gaudy numbers, most people simply assume the more entertaining narrative.

Kareem speculated that Chamberlain was merely envious and bitter, but Wilt actually had the greatest respect for Kareem.

He took Kareem under his wing as a teenager, recognized him as the best player in the NBA toward the end of Wilt’s career, and after retirement praised him seemingly nonstop and stated he only ever criticized Kareem because he thought Kareem was capable of better.

Kareem called him a quitter who blamed everyone else around him because Wilt left NCAA after he lost due to getting consistently triple-teamed every game, but Wilt had repeatedly stated that he had no ill feelings toward his teammates or the school and merely prioritized spending his life doing what he enjoyed.

Kareem mocked Wilt for blaming his teammates for losing to Bill Russell Celtics.

But the Elgin Baylor/Jerry West duo and Oscar Robertson-led-offense lost to the Celtics every year they made it far enough, making Wilt Chamberlain the only player to ever lead a team past the Celtics in the 60s.


Wilt was given the responsibility to score more and more points for the Warriors by the coaches until they had lost their two other best scores and became widely recognized as having the slowest players in the NBA and the worst shooters in the NBA on the same team.


While on the Warriors, coach after coach praised Wilt for his willingness to do whatever it took for his team to win, despite how poorly run the organization was.

He accused Wilt Chamberlain of quitting in 1968 after he had blown a 3–1 lead to the Celtics.

Actually Wilt had a serious disagreement with the front office in the off-season (he was promised a significant role and stake in the organization that was now being reneged on due to change in executives) before that and wanted to leave after winning the championship, but was convinced to stay for one more season.

He criticized Wilt for losing the series in 1969, but it is nigh-universally agreed upon, then and today, that the biggest reason the Lakers lost was due to Coach Bretta van Kolff’s misuse of Wilt, which is why he was fired after the series.

He criticized Wilt for losing the series in 1970, ignoring the fact that he had earlier in the season had a full patellar tendon tear that had potential to end his career.

After coming off the injury a few games before the postseason, Wilt Chamberlain was arguably the most dominant player in the playoffs, even giving one of the greatest elimination game performances in history.

And Wilt’s infamous disappearance game? He put up an overall efficient 21/24/4, giving the best performance on his team.

He criticized Wilt for retiring after losing the series in 1973, but truth of the matter is that despite being the best player on his team at age 36 with a bum knee, Chamberlain’s interests had already shifted toward beach volleyball which he had been enjoying more than the NBA, both in his championship season or a losing season.

He criticized Wilt for saying that Kareem should’ve retired years earlier, but Wilt had always been consistent in his preference of the all-time great’s retiring before they become merely a shadow of their best selves.

He criticizes Wilt For winning only two championships compared to Kareem’s plethora.

Naturally, he mentions nothing of Wilt Leading the best team from the 60s as well as the best team from the 70s to unprecedented records of victory.

Naturally he mentions nothing of the teammate, front office, and coach that fell into his lap, each of whom were superior than everyone Wilt had ever the luxury to play with or under.

Read any and every quote by Wilt Chamberlain’s teammates you can find, then you’ll get a pretty good picture of how full of crap Kareem was.

Kareem clearly knew all of this, so why did he work to fuel a silly narrative?

A lot of people tend to forget that this is the same Kareem Abdul Jabbar who racistly criticized Wilt for dating white women and was widely considered an overly aggressive “punk” on the court. The animosity in this relationship was very one-sided.

[1987_Lakers]

Actually, as well written as the letter is... it’s pretty much all bullshit.

Kareem said that Wilt had trouble playing second fiddle, but Alex Hannum actually found that Wilt Chamberlain was so content with putting up a mere 20 points in a victory that the coach literally had to plant news articles criticizing Wilt in order to motivate him to score more aggressively.



Wilt also was more than happy to take a more defensive and low volume role on the Lakers, especially under Bill Sharman.


Wilt was actually pretty consistent in his willingness to sacrifice personal glory for his team, but because of his gaudy numbers, most people simply assume the more entertaining narrative.

Kareem speculated that Chamberlain was merely envious and bitter, but Wilt actually had the greatest respect for Kareem.

He took Kareem under his wing as a teenager, recognized him as the best player in the NBA toward the end of Wilt’s career, and after retirement praised him seemingly nonstop and stated he only ever criticized Kareem because he thought Kareem was capable of better.

Kareem called him a quitter who blamed everyone else around him because Wilt left NCAA after he lost due to getting consistently triple-teamed every game, but Wilt had repeatedly stated that he had no ill feelings toward his teammates or the school and merely prioritized spending his life doing what he enjoyed.

Kareem mocked Wilt for blaming his teammates for losing to Bill Russell Celtics.

But the Elgin Baylor/Jerry West duo and Oscar Robertson-led-offense lost to the Celtics every year they made it far enough, making Wilt Chamberlain the only player to ever lead a team past the Celtics in the 60s.


Wilt was given the responsibility to score more and more points for the Warriors by the coaches until they had lost their two other best scores and became widely recognized as having the slowest players in the NBA and the worst shooters in the NBA on the same team.


While on the Warriors, coach after coach praised Wilt for his willingness to do whatever it took for his team to win, despite how poorly run the organization was.

He accused Wilt Chamberlain of quitting in 1968 after he had blown a 3–1 lead to the Celtics.

Actually Wilt had a serious disagreement with the front office in the off-season (he was promised a significant role and stake in the organization that was now being reneged on due to change in executives) before that and wanted to leave after winning the championship, but was convinced to stay for one more season.

He criticized Wilt for losing the series in 1969, but it is nigh-universally agreed upon, then and today, that the biggest reason the Lakers lost was due to Coach Bretta van Kolff’s misuse of Wilt, which is why he was fired after the series.

He criticized Wilt for losing the series in 1970, ignoring the fact that he had earlier in the season had a full patellar tendon tear that had potential to end his career.

After coming off the injury a few games before the postseason, Wilt Chamberlain was arguably the most dominant player in the playoffs, even giving one of the greatest elimination game performances in history.

And Wilt’s infamous disappearance game? He put up an overall efficient 21/24/4, giving the best performance on his team.

He criticized Wilt for retiring after losing the series in 1973, but truth of the matter is that despite being the best player on his team at age 36 with a bum knee, Chamberlain’s interests had already shifted toward beach volleyball which he had been enjoying more than the NBA, both in his championship season or a losing season.

He criticized Wilt for saying that Kareem should’ve retired years earlier, but Wilt had always been consistent in his preference of the all-time great’s retiring before they become merely a shadow of their best selves.

He criticizes Wilt For winning only two championships compared to Kareem’s plethora.

Naturally, he mentions nothing of Wilt Leading the best team from the 60s as well as the best team from the 70s to unprecedented records of victory.

Naturally he mentions nothing of the teammate, front office, and coach that fell into his lap, each of whom were superior than everyone Wilt had ever the luxury to play with or under.

Read any and every quote by Wilt Chamberlain’s teammates you can find, then you’ll get a pretty good picture of how full of crap Kareem was.

Kareem clearly knew all of this, so why did he work to fuel a silly narrative?

A lot of people tend to forget that this is the same Kareem Abdul Jabbar who racistly criticized Wilt for dating white women and was widely considered an overly aggressive “punk” on the court. The animosity in this relationship was very one-sided.

I was thinking when you were gonna show up. BTW, nice thread on realgm regarding Wilt in 1962, it seems like it blew up.

[coastalmarker99]

I was thinking when you were gonna show up. BTW, nice thread on realgm regarding Wilt in 1962, it seems like it blew up.

Here is Wilt (ages 33-36) vs. Kareem (ages 22-25): 1970-73:

RS: 9-8 Wilt > KAJ

PO: 5-6 Wilt < KAJ (1-1 in PO series)

Total: 14-14 Wilt = KAJ


They basically played each other to a draw when their careers overlapped.


It would have been great to have another series in the playoffs between the two of them in 1973 but Nate ruined that.