Wilt Chamberlain is THE MOST DOMINANT scorer in NBA history, period:

[LAZERUSS]

Baby Shaq.

Shaq was nowhere near 300 back then. Like I said, Wilt was probably 280 in but I'd give him 290 because of that wingspan from the first clip

I really don't see how you could think he was that big.

So you are going to dispute NUMEROUS articles that had Wilt at over 300 lbs for at least half of his career?

Furthermore, Chamberlain was MUCH stronger than Shaq. This is also indisputable. Again, NUMEROUS articles and eye-witness accounts which have Chamberlain doing staggering bench press weights.. Hell, Arnold Schwartzenegger, himself, was STUNNED by the massive weights that Chamberlain worked out with.

[Rocketswin2013]

Alright, I don't really care about his weight anymore because I just ran into something.....



He consistently hit fadeaway jumpers from the left block.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOBX9ikNzEk

Dirk-like.

[CavaliersFTW]

Baby Shaq.

Shaq was nowhere near 300 back then. Like I said, Wilt was probably 280 in but I'd give him 290 because of that wingspan from the first clip

I really don't see how you could think he was that big.

Shaq weighed 301lbs during week 1 of the draft process before he ever stepped foot on an NBA court, and 303lbs during week 2... this is actual recorded data, do you seriously think your amateur analysis of photography trumps recorded data? Wilt's weights have been recorded... so have Shaqs... these are facts that need not be speculated through attempting to analyze sports photography spanning several decades. Of which you are not even remotely qualified to do. Wanna know what changing the focal length on a photographers lens can do? Here:



Which model weighs the least?...

Which focal length do you think represents 1960's era sports photography and which focal length do you think represents modern era sports photography?

Here's a very rare opportunity for comparison of IDENTICAL focal length pictures of Shaq and Wilt taken from the same camera, in the same arena, at the same spot 30 years apart:


50/50


Which player looks bigger? The effect, surprise surprise, is still akin to watching old man Wilt and young Shaq stand next to each other. Shaq would literally be able to disappear behind him. Wilt was a huge dude, like, one of the biggest players that ever played the game. I'm not just talking weight either, I'm talking his stature, the height and breadth of his shoulders, etc. Shaq eventually got fat and outweighed Wilt by like 50 pounds, but it's because he got fat. Wilt was naturally a bigger, taller, wider shouldered player.

[LAZERUSS]

For those that might be interested, I am currently working on a PRIME "scoring" Wilt (from '60 thur '66). It will involve Wilt vs. Russell, Bellamy, Reed, and Thurmond, including their regular season and post-season H2H's in that span. I am also going to include Wilt's stats in each of those seasons against the Lakers. Why? Because had Wilt had the good fortune to have met them in the playoffs in the Western Conference in those six seasons (instead, he was only in the Western Conference in two of them, and his roster was so awfull that they didn't make the playoffs in one of them), he likely would hold virtually every playoff scoring record imaginable.

Included will be some interesting tidbits...such as...

In Wilt's rookie season, he and Russell squared off 11 times in the regular season. I used a newspaper article from NYCelts84 which included their H2H FG%'s in their first ten H2H's, and then added in the known 11th game H2H's. There were several interesting facts about those regular season H2H's, but one that really jumped out...Wilt shot .464 against Russell, in a season in which he shot .461 overall against the NBA,while holding Russell, who had shot a career high .467 against the NBA, to a .393 FG% in their 11 H2H games. Also, subtract their very first H2H game...a poor game for Wilt...and his stats over the last ten H2H's... 40.2 ppg, 29.7 rpg, and a .467 FG% (in a league that shot an eFG% of .410.)

And Russell did an outstanding job in holding Wilt's FG% down in their first six H2H games of the 60-61 season, as well. Overall, Russell "held" Chamberlain to 35.5 ppg, 30.6 rpg, and on a .492 FG% in their 13 H2H games that season. BUT, in their last seven straight H2H's that year...Wilt averaged 38.4 ppg, 26.4 rpg, and on a staggering .580 FG%. Oh, and for the second straight season, Chamberlain held Russell to well below the league eFG% (which was .415) ... to a .387 FG% in those 13 games.

Much more to come...

Here are the numbers from the seven straight games that Wilt hung on Russell in their last seven H2H's in that '61 season...

Game 7: 44 points, 35 rebounds, 17-27 FG/FGA, oh, and 15 blocked shots.
Game 8: 25 points, 24 rebounds, 10-18 FG/FGA
Game 9: 46 points, 20 rebounds, 19-29 FG/FGA
Game 10: 46 points, 25 rebounds, 20-34 FG/FGA
Game 11: 34 points, 28 rebounds, 15-23 FG/FGA
Game 12: 27 points, 27 rebounds, 11-23 FG/FGA
Game 13: 47 points, 26 rebounds, 20-39 FG/FGA

Overall in those seven straight H2H's: 38.4 ppg, 26.4 rpg, and an unfathomable .580 eFG%. Oh, and keep in mind that the NBA shot an eFG% of .415 in that '61 season...

I am still working on this long project, but I suspect that those seven straight games were Wilt's best ever in a seven game stretch against Russell (albeit, Russell did have two games of 28 and 37 points against Wilt in that span.)

[CavaliersFTW]

Alright, I don't really care about his weight anymore because I just ran into something.....



He consistently hit fadeaway jumpers from the left block.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOBX9ikNzEk

Dirk-like.

and the right block, and even from deep in the post or off of offensive rebounds

[Rocketswin2013]

Forget it, forget it.

[LAZERUSS]

Alright, I don't really care about his weight anymore because I just ran into something.....



He consistently hit fadeaway jumpers from the left block.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOBX9ikNzEk

Dirk-like.

Glad to see another convert...

BTW, you can thank CavaliersFTW for that footage...

[Rocketswin2013]

Glad to see another convert...

BTW, you can thank CavaliersFTW for that footage...

Excuse the comment above. I just don't like leaving comments unattended to unless they are very stupid.

[CavaliersFTW]

What year did he get fat?


In 2000 Shaq was solid as ****. And in very good physical condidtion playing 40+ minutes per game.

Look these legends are all cool, but you have to be delusional as **** to think Wilt much stronger. He was at best just as strong. Shaq's girth is unmatched. So the breadth of his shoulders really doesn't matter. Just looking at Chamberlain, what really made him huge was his long arms and the lean weight on them. But Shaq was just much, much larger everywhere else.

And on the rookie weight, give me some "data" and your proof because you obviously like to cite things but had nothing when you said Shaq was 303 pounds.

Also, my eye test is just as legit as yours, just because I don't agree with you doesn't mean you're as inept at judging weight purely off of the eyes too. Unless you want to cite some sort of photography background proof, then I'll stfu.

Citation for Shaq:
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...e-O-neal-3796/
If you'd like I can even find the data that seperated his different weeks at the camp (301lbs vs 303lbs for 2nd measurement)


I'm only an amateur photographer, but who cares, I don't need credentials to prove to you that focal length effects how filled out subjects are, you can google it and literally find chart after chart demonstrating this, and with a couple minutes of explanation even a child could learn to point out whether or not a picture was taken with a zoom lens or not. Modern sports photography lenses are almost ALL (by design for marketing athletes) zoom lenses, 1960's technology lenses were not, large focal length lenses of that time were not capable of absorbing enough light to capture movement and so all sports photography lenses of that time were mostly black and white, and had hardly any zoom at all, and only a small fraction of early 1970's technology lenses were but even those were at best only half the zoom capability of what has been used from the 1990's to present which is a deliberate effort to help market all modern athletes look huge and volumous. What effect does this have? It makes comparisons spanning time frames and photography formats via "eyeball test" among the masses of totally clueless people incredibly misleading.


How much does Dwight weigh in this pic?


How much does Dwight weigh in this pic?


*ANSWER* He weighs 15lbs MORE in the first pic.

Why does he look so yoked in the 2nd pic, yet so ordinary in the first?

Focal length.

Why do athletes look so ordinary and unimpressive in photographs 40+ years ago despite many known weight/size/strength figures to overlap modern weight/size/strength athletes?

Focal length.

[Psileas]

Know anything about photography? If not, than you shouldn't be comparing photographs, because focal length of lenses makes a MASSIVE difference in how filled out subjects appear. And zoom lenses capable of capturing quick movements (thus, apt for sports photography) were barely coming into existence in the 60's. You really want to see Shaq next to Wilt? Watch them literally standing next to each other in video.

300lb young Shaq could literally DISAPPEAR if he stood behind Wilt. Wilt was f*cking huge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRX-0FsCYO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU43dTuMuig

You forgot to make the most obvious correction: This wasn't 1964 Wilt, this was 1962 Wilt, several pounds lighter than 2 years later.
Citing this photo by someone who wants to seriously argue on Wilt as "1964 Wilt" is borderline trolling.

[sundizz]

I actually think Wilt was bigger than Shaq. However, he was nowhere near as powerful. Stronger does not mean more powerful or explosive.

Wilt can out bench press Shaq. Sure, and there are probably other people that can do that too.

However, no man ever in the history of recorded video comes even close to the pure explosive power of a young Shaquille O'neal.

Wilt could likely run a 100 meter sprint faster than Shaq.
Wilt could likely bench 1.5x more than Shaq.

However, as it matters for basketball, Shaq's speed from 0 to 5 feet is significantly significantly faster than anyone else at his size. Combine that quickness with his weight and that is what makes him the beast that he is.

It's his ability to move his heavy mass in an explosive manner. Not his overall strength, not his overall running speed.

Wilt would do just fine in this era. He would not be better than a prime Shaq though.

[CavaliersFTW]

Much better rebounder and defensive player no matter what version he is and either a better scorer or passer, pick one, either way he's overall better

[Rocketswin2013]

Wilt was probably close to as heavy as Shaq because of how long and lean his body was, but Shaq was probably stronger because he wasn't as long and the actual muscle and weight was more compact.


Best way I can put it. But to say Wilt was "way" or "much stronger" than Shaq is kind of off.

As players, Wilt was probably better, but it's hard for me to say by how much.

[CavaliersFTW]

1962 game log:

[CavaliersFTW]

Wilt was probably close to as heavy as Shaq because of how long and lean his body was, but Shaq was probably stronger because he wasn't as long and the actual muscle and weight was more compact.


Best way I can put it. But to say Wilt was "way" or "much stronger" than Shaq is kind of off.

As players, Wilt was probably better, but it's hard for me to say by how much.

being more compact does not make you stronger, Wilt's upper body was bigger than Shaq's, look at the footage of Shaq and Wilt together, in both instances it looks like Shaq could literally disappear if he stood behind Wilt... Shaq obviously bulked up in both strength and fat by about 5 years later but his stature as in - the breadth and height of his upper body, was never in the same league as Wilt's. Shaq's immense weight advantage during his prime was in gut, he did not train in the off season and keep fat off where as Wilt did. Wilt both looked, and was according to eyewitness accounts, the stronger athlete up top.