Would Prime Wilt make the NBA today?

[DFish24]

Since it's well known fact that he played in a weak era, do you think he would be able to make a NBA roster today? I think if Prime Wilt was on the Lakers summer league team he might not even make the final roster over Robert Upshaw and Tarik Black. Thoughts?

[outbreak]

how many of these threads have we had this month?

[Sarcastic]

Wilt was the anchor of the greatest Laker team of all time.

[ClipperRevival]

Since it's well known fact that he played in a weak era, do you think he would be able to make a NBA roster today? I think if Prime Wilt was on the Lakers summer league team he might not even make the final roster over Robert Upshaw and Tarik Black. Thoughts?

I think your statement is completely based on ignorance.

[ClipperRevival]

Wilt was about the same height as Shaq and his prime, playing weight was about 280 lbs. The guy wasn't your normal sized big, he was huge. And you add in his rare athleticism and his talents would've translated into any era. You can't teach his size or athleticism. If he was a prospect coming out of college, he would be heralded as a can't miss prospect like Shaq or Robinson. People would be drooling over his size and athleticism.

[Psileas]

No, he'd have made the NBA quit.

[FKAri]

Athletic centers transcend eras more than anyone else.

[warriorfan]

Wilt could be openly gay today and play beach volleyball full time

[IncarceratedBob]

It would be awesome to have Wilt in today's NBA. Kareem was known as the guy who was the activist and pro colored rights BUT Wilt was secretly one of the biggest advocates for not only gay rights but also same sex marriage. He would be such a huge star nowadays, you see how much attention Jason Collins got and he was a scrub. Wilt would be an elite player in the NBA. would be insane

[ClipperRevival]

Athletic centers transcend eras more than anyone else.

Yup. Because they not only possess the size you can't teach but also the rare athleticism for a big. Just look at DJ today. No post skills yet is a force on the court almost exclusively because of his athleticism. And DJ is only 6-10" without shoes. Wilt was a legit 7 footer bare foot and had about 20 lbs on DJ. So Wilt was just a bigger man than DJ but also had freakish athleticism. Not to mention he had the offensive post skills to dominate offensively.

[Inferno]

New York versus Sacramento....easy choice city-wise?

Jk idk, I visited Sacramento once like 8 years ago, I think it was pretty nice...

[Asukal]

He and lebron would compete for 2/7.

[ISHGoat]

He and lebron would compete for 2/7.

so you are saying him and lebron would be leading their teams to the finals and facing off vs eachother for a ring?

sounds about right

this 2/6 2/7 argument is so retarded

[Asukal]

so you are saying him and lebron would be leading their teams to the finals and facing off vs eachother for a ring?

sounds about right

this 2/6 2/7 argument is so retarded

No, they would collude and lose in the finals because that's what betas do.

[Westbrook0]

I'll just leave this here:

Questions for everyone:

1. If Wilt was so dominant, so transcendent, and would put up historic stats even in today's game, why couldn't he win MVP during his "best" years against a bunch of tiny unathletic white boys? I mean, if he would be by far the best player in the game today, and assumingly win MVP, why wouldn't he have won MVP from 1961-65? That's when he was putting up his best numbers, against inferior competition, and there were less than 1/3 of the players that there are in today's NBA. It seems like if he was THAT transcendent and other-worldly, they would really have no choice but to give him the MVP right?

2. If Wilt was so dominant, so transcendent, why was he not winning rings in his prime? I know the Celtics has a better supporting cast than Wilt did, but is Bill Russell and Bob Cousy seriously all it took to overcome a player that you guys say would absolutely transcend TODAY'S game? Was Wilt literally playing with four cats on the court as his teammates? People make fun of LeBron for "only" having two rings, but give Wilt a pass for only having two rings during an incredibly weak era when the game was still developing around him?

3. If Wilt was so dominant, and you all say he would completely dominate players like Anthony Davis, Tyson Chandler, etc. then why was he so easily contained by 6-10, 220-pound Bill Russell? If you go back and look at all of their matchups, Wilt was almost always held to around 30 or less when playing Russell, often less than 20. His monster games all came against teams with no real big man. If Wilt was the strongest player of all time, then surely he would have absolutely no issue bullying around a skinny player that weighed 70-80 pounds less than him. 6-10, 220 pounds. Think about that. Kevin Durant is listed as 6-9, 240. KD circa 2009 was almost exactly the same size as Bill Russell:



If that's all it took to slow Wilt down by comparison as opposed to normally jumping right over 6'4 white guys, then how can we possibly say he would dominate guys like Chandler, Jordan, Davis, Dwight, Duncan, etc. on a regular basis? It's simple: he wouldn't. Not only because they are much bigger and more athletic than the guys he faced, but infinitely more skilled.

4. If Wilt was so transcendent and would dominate today's game, how come his numbers actually went down significantly when he went into his prime rather than up? It's generally considered that about late 20s to 30ish is an NBA player's prime. Wilt's best numbers were in his first handful of seasons and then it started going down significantly. Why is this? There's only one answer: the game was adapting around him. Coaches were learning how to double team him and deny entry passes, rather than letting him catch the ball every time and go to work on a little 6'4 guy. If the game changed enough in those 5 years or so to start bringing his numbers down in his prime, imagine how much the game has changed in the past 50 years *since*.

5. If Wilt's greatness had nothing to do with the competition of his era, how come other players like Bob Pettit and Walt Bellamy could average 30 and 20? It's because there were more misses, more rebounds, more offensive rebounds, more shots, and less defense. Stats were hugely inflated. Just look at highlights from back then. Today's game is tighter, more structured and more efficient. You don't have rebounds bouncing around like a pinball and players getting 3-4 rebounds in one possession anymore.

6. Players like Shaq in his prime and Durant last year both averaged 30+ on about 20 shots per game. Wilt averaged his 50 on 40 shots per game. In addition Wilt actually shot about 60 PERCENT MORE FREE THROWS than Shaq or KD. Adjusted for numbers (FG and FT), and without the butterfly effect, guys like Shaq and Durant would average 65-70 if they were taking the same number of shots Wilt was back then. Against infinitely superior competition, and infinitely superior schemes and coaching designed to stop superstars much better than when Wilt was the superstar. Cut Wilt's FGA down to what KD and Shaq were attempting, and you essentially have a 25-30ppg scorer, once again that's in the weak era. Give him only 20 shots in today's game, going up against freakishly athletic larger defenders, and much better more modern defensive schemes, and that 25-30 ppg goes down to 20ish at best.

7. And finally, I'm sorry, but if you watch a video such as this one and you can't see how incredibly primitive both he and his competition are, then you will never be able to understand. With the exception of his fadeaway bank shot, he doesn't have any "moves." The size, skill, athleticism, coaching, and every single other aspect of the game today is absolutely galaxies away from how it was in the past. Watch these videos side by side. If you can't see the difference between Wilt back then and players these days, you will never see:

http://goo.gl/d1AH0d