1st and 10: How would Wilt do in today's NBA (Anyone catch this today?)

[abuC]

35 and 15 is silly, I dont think any big man can do that today, especially with the zone. But, I could see Wilt averaging a solid 25, 13 and 3, he was skilled offensively, some of the things he did on offense wouldnt work out as well today, but he wouldnt turn into Diekembe Mutumbo either.

He would be an elite center, I dont think he'd be better than the 99-03 Shaq though.

[2LeTTeRS]

There is no way Dwight would be better than Wilt. No way in hell.

[Dasher]

Wilt's passing ability must be also thrown into the equation. His all-around game was special. Outside of Shaq and maybe Yao there is not really anyone in the Association that would be able to work him in the post.

[dyna]

One thing I wonder about this situaiton. Put in in reverse. Put Dwight Howard in 1960. Know what would happen?

Insane numbers resulting in people today saying he couldnt dominate the modern league because all he did was dunk and get rebounds over skinny white centers. All we would see of him is layups and dunks(no impressive lobs...they didnt throw them back then) and blocks that didnt count.

And the same people saying Wilt would get owned today would be saying it about Howard. If they dont care Wilt was a near olympic level high jumper and long jumped 21 feet at his size they wouldnt care that Dwight could say...dunk on a 12 foot rim(As wilt did in an experimental thing in Kansas in the 50s).

Nobody back then could really show their full athletic potential because for one....little was recorded...and two...you didnt have people trying to do it. Wilt is a 7'1'' or 2 high jump champ who could hold a basketball with 2 fingers. Think he couldint windmill? He long jumped 21 feet. Think he couldnt take off from the FT line and dunk when he had a 9'6'' standing reach? Nobody threw him lobs to go get. He never had to jump much to dunk.

Whats the motivation to make crazy plays? If hes not blocking a shot he has little reason to go high. And even then its rare.

Dwight Howard, or Amare, or most any athletic bigman these days playing back then puts up numbers and has people making dumb claims about them likely being garbage today.

And something else...if nobody would throw him a lob and he couldnt do something fancy on the break without being benched for showing off...how would you know say...Iguodala was a great athlete? Driving by guys quickly and laying it up? Cant even really bang on people too much. Was considered disrespect.

How would you know exactly?

How would you know Jrich was athletic without the dunk contest, lobs, showing off on the break, and dunking on people(last one he rarely does).

How would you go about looking athletic in a 60s situation?

[Psileas]

I googled "2 Live Stews", since I have no idea who the hell they are and I found out that, fortunately, they are former NFL players. When you think that the 60's and 70's centers were "midgets" and that Wilt wasn't a physical specimen, you shouldn't be qualified to talk about basketball.

I'm not going to elaborate, kblaze already did a good job. I'll just have one more laughter at the idea of Dwight "destroying" Wilt, the very same Dwight who can't even destroy an above average center, like Gasol and the same Dwight who, at this very moment, is being outplayed by 37 year-old Shaq.

Btw, after the 0:50 mark of the following video, there's some new footage from college Wilt. Dwight would only wish he could make shots like Wilt's last one:

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

[stephanieg]

LOL @ the thought of Wilt ****ing Chamberlain going up against:

Rasho
Biedrins
Bosh/Bargz
Gasol
Lee

Or half the "C's" in the league who are actually PFs playing out of position. I mean really now. 35/10 or something might not be too far off the mark for right now. Zone? Whatever. Old Shaq doesn't care, he's just old so he can't go all out, plus he's lost his touch around the basket a little and his moves are slower than they used to be. Wilt had more range and was quicker. He would badly embarrass current big men. Look at his arms. Look at film. Dude just runs to the paint, lob him the ball, he jumps up and grabs it, and then flicks it home. Easy. Plus he runs the floor like a gazelle.

[Lakers13]

Wilt would continue to dominate in this era playing in his prime, as others said, he was a freak of nature. With today's technology, it wouldnt be far off to say he may have been even more athletic then he was already.

[clayton]

He will get man handled by both Shaq and Duncan.

[gts]

Kblaze8855 excellent post. i'll add wilt was an accomplised volleyball player and would often play volleyball during the day and play a laker game at night and after retiring from the lakers was on a pro volleyball team

this is also from his wiki page

Even far beyond his playing days, Chamberlain was a very fit person. In his mid-forties, he was able to humble a young Los Angeles Lakers rookie called Magic Johnson in practice,[95] and even in the 1980s, he flirted with making a comeback in the NBA. In the 1980-81 NBA season, coach Larry Brown recalled that the 45-year old Chamberlain had received an offer by the Cleveland Cavaliers. When Chamberlain was 50, the New Jersey Nets had the same idea, and Chamberlain declined again.[95] Chamberlain however participated in several marathons instead.[4] He would stay an epitome of physical fitness for years to come, until his health rapidly worsened in 1999.[32]

Of all his memories of Wilt Chamberlain, the one that stood out for Larry Brown happened long after Chamberlain's professional career was over.


On a summer day in the early 1980s at the Men's Gym on the UCLA campus, Chamberlain showed up to take part in one of the high-octane pickup games that the arena constantly attracted. Brown was the coach of the Bruins back then, and Chamberlain often drove to UCLA from his home in Bel Air, Calif.


"Magic Johnson used to run the games," Brown recalled Tuesday after hearing that Chamberlain, his friend, had died at the age of 63, "and he called a couple of chintzy fouls and a goaltending on Wilt.


"So Wilt said: 'There will be no more layups in this gym,' and he blocked every shot after that. That's the truth, I saw it. He didn't let one (of Johnson's) shots get to the rim."


Chamberlain would have been in his mid-40s at the time, a decade removed from one of the greatest careers any basketball player ever produced. But the advancing years meant little to Chamberlain in terms of physical conditioning.


Into his 50s and his 60s, Chamberlain remained an incredible specimen -- a mountain of a man who was as coordinated and talented athletically as he was imposing physically.


The Cleveland Cavaliers called him in the early '80s and asked him if he'd still be interested in playing. Five or six years later, when Chamberlain was 50, the New Jersey Nets had the same idea.


Neither of those potential comebacks ever came to pass, but the very idea of signing a player so old shows just how well Chamberlain kept himself in shape -- and how shocked people were when they heard he had died.

http://static.espn.go.com/nba/news/1...12/110842.html

[Quata]

Everyone keeps saying that he get dominated because everyone today is bigger etc. hint: it because they are modern day professionals that put 24/7 into there body and sport. Imagine if Wilt had the same **** available to him, he would be bigger and stronger and be able to bump bodies with big guys like dwight and dominate him.

[OldSchoolBBall]

Holy cow, I just watched kblaze's video in the OP, and take a look at Wilt's speed from 51-53 seconds. Dude just put on the jets and covers huge distance incredibly quickly at 7'1"+. Amazing speed for anyone, much less a big guy like him. Check it out.

[highwhey]

How do you know that?

Ummm if Wilt played in Today's he'd be as conditioned as well as Today's NBA players, correct?

[momo]

1st and 10/cold pizza are the worsto... anything with Skip Bayless is suspect right out the box.

Wilt might have actually wound up with a better legacy in a way if he played today IMHO. He would not have his 100 point game but he also would not have so many sports writers assuming he posted #'s JUST due to being a giant. To my eye he has everything needed and then some to dominate today.

[db23]

He scored 100 points on a stiff team and ball hogging/being fed the ball for the record, come the playoffs he averaged 22ppg and only won 2 chips, 1 of them as nowhere near the best player on his team.Much like Kobe could do it against the stiffs but cracked up when it really mattered.End of the day regular season is a warmup, playoffs are where it matters.James white can jump longer than anyone ive seen yet he sucks in the nba.

[gts]

Holy cow, I just watched kblaze's video in the OP, and take a look at Wilt's speed from 51-53 seconds. Dude just put on the jets and covers huge distance incredibly quickly at 7'1"+. Amazing speed for anyone, much less a big guy like him. Check it out.

welcome to the the real world...lol