PROOF why Wilt was overrated.

[LAZERUSS]

Here is another example of Wilt's dominance...his very first H2H game against 6-11 HOFer Walt Bellamy. Keep in mind that Bellamy came into this game averaging nearly 30 ppg...

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...51&postcount=1

Chamberlain blocked Bellamy's first NINE straight shots, en route to outscoring him by a 51-14 margin.

BTW, just how tall was Bellamy?

How about NBA super scout Marty Blake...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/sp...ll/15TALL.html

Some players prefer to be smaller than they actually are. Blake said Walt Bellamy, a Hall of Famer, asked to be listed at 6-11 even though he was 7 feet tall.

"I know he was 7 feet, but Walt thought it made him look extraordinarily tall," Blake said.

[LAZERUSS]

Of course the "bashers" claim that Wilt faced inferior competition, and played in an era of high pace.

At some point, or another, in his 14 NBA seasons, Wilt faced...Willis Reed, Walt Bellamy, Wes Unseld, Clyde Lovellette, Elvin Hayes, Dave Cowens, Bob Lanier, Bob McAdoo, Nate Thurmond, Bill Russell, and KAJ. And if you include the '72 NBA-ABA ASG...Artis Gilmore. ALL in the HOF.

And again, a prime Chamberlain was just shelling the likes of Russell, Reed, Bellamy, and even Thurmond (the same Nate who reduced a peak Kareem to a shot-jacking brick-layer.) He had three separate seasons, with between 9 to 13 H2H's, against Russell, in which he averaged 38.1 ppg, 39.1 ppg, and even 39.7 ppg. Included were 24 games of 40+, with five of 50+, and a high of 62.

He had a season against Reed of 38.6 ppg, which included beat-downs by margins of 46-25, 41-9, 52-23, and 58-28.

He had a long career of just crushing Bellamy, including a two year span, covering 20 straight H2H games of...get this... a cumulative average of 48.2 ppg. Included were four games of 60+, and a high of 73 points.

He only faced Thurmond in his "scoring" seasons, in '64-65, and 65-66. However, if you include their first H2H game of the '67 season, in a span of 13 H2H games, Chamberlain hung a total of six 30+ point games on Nate, including carpet-bombing him by margins of 30-10, 33-17, 38-15, and 45-13. Again, a peak Kareem faced a full-time Nate in some 35 H2H games, and had a total of five 30+ point games, with a high of 34.

[90sgoat]

Did you hear him talk about assists being inflated in this era?

That's why Westbrook averages 10 and Plumlee 8 in the playoffs.

Today, you get an assist for making a post entry pass with the center then making moves and scoring, that's not an assist in the 60s or even in the 90s. Today you get an assist for passing the ball to a guy on the break who takes 3 dribbles and 2 steps, that's not an assist in the 60s or 90s.

You also have to adjust players of today for their far higher free throw rate, you have to adjust for their far higher And-1 plays again due to absurd interpretation of the continuation rule.

All in all, it evens out, when I see Blake Griffin last year average like 30-8-8, you know it is inflated stats too.

A lot of players today would have far lower assist numbers if called 90s style only, very few real 10+ assist guys left in the league if old school rules.

[LAZERUSS]

A small sample of Wilt's domination...

In his 14 seasons in the league, there were a total of 37 60+ point games. Five combined by all the other players in the league in those 14 seasons... and 32 by Wilt.

Career 30-30 games:

Aside from Chamberlain, there have been 36 30-30 games in NBA history, and Russell is the leader of that group, with 7 (Bellamy and Thurmond are next with 3 each.)

How about Wilt? 132.


40-30 (or 30-40) games: Other than Wilt, the NBA has had 9 40-30 games, with Baylor being the only player to have 2.

Chamberlain? 73


50-30 games: Pettit and Baylor each with 1

Wilt? 32


60-20 games: Aside from Wilt, there have been four (Baylor with 3 and Shaq with 1)

Chamberlain? 28


60-30 games: Baylor with 1

Wilt? 8


40-40 games: There have been 8 in the history of the NBA, and Chamberlain had all of them.


50-40 games: Obviously, Wilt would be the only player to have ever have accomplsihed that feat, which he did 5 times.


70-30 games: Chamberlain has the only 2, 78-43 and 73-36 (against Bellamy.)

Chamberlain has the THREE highest "perfect games from the field" in NBA history, with games of 15-15, 16-16, and 18-18 (BTW, he also had an 18-19 game.)

Wilt also made 35 straight FGAs.

If "estimated" blocks are even remotely close, Chamberlain had the most Triple Doubles in NBA history, and certainly the most Quad-Doubles.

And why the NBA lists Elmore Smith's 17 block game in '74 as the record is beyond me. True, blocked shots were not "officially" kept until that season, BUT, in a NATIONALL TELEVISED game in 1968, Chamberlain had a RECORDED 23 blocks. There are also now MANY "estimated" 20+ block games by Chamberlain (but not verifiable.)

Wilt also had a KNOWN Triple Double game of 53 points, on 24-29 shooting, with 32 rebounds, and 14 assists. Not only that, but he had "estimated" blocks and steals of 24 and 11 respectively.

Chamberlain also had a Triple Double game in the post-season of 16 points, 30 rebounds, and 19 assists (and a questionable "estimated" 20 blocked shots.)

Chamberlain also has the ONLY 20-20-20 game in NBA history (22 points, 25 rebounds, and 21 assists.)

Wilt has FOUR of the SIX 60+ games on .700 FG% shooting (Karl Malone and David Thompson each have one.) And his .829 mark (29-35) is the all-time record. BTW, that 66 point game was his LAST 60+ point game.

How about this...

In Wilt's LAST post-season, and covering 17 games, Chamberlain averaged 22.5 rpg, in a post-season NBA that averaged 50.6 rpg team. The next highest rpg since... Garnett's 18.3 rpg in a 3 game series, and KAJ's 17.3 rpg in 11 post-season games.

I could go on...

but ask yourself this...

Why Only Wilt????

[Asukal]

ILt isn't even top 10 anymore. A closer look at all his blunders put him out of the top 10 permanently. The guy couldn't destroy an injured Reed in a must win game ffs. Probably the most shameful choke of all his performances.

[LAZERUSS]

ILt isn't even top 10 anymore. A closer look at all his blunders put him out of the top 10 permanently. The guy couldn't destroy an injured Reed in a must win game ffs. Probably the most shameful choke of all his performances.

You mean the Wilt who was only four months removed from major knee surgery, and was nowhere near 100%, who outscored Reed in that must win game by a 21-4 margin; outrebounded him, 24-3; and outshot him from the floor by a .625 to .400 margin?

Oh, and for the series, Chamberlain averaged 23.2 ppg, 24.1 rpg, and shot .625 from the field.

[LAZERUSS]

The OP brought up Wilt's 61-62 season...

how about later on in his career...

Chamberlain's '69-70 season could have been one of the most interesting of his career. I say could have, simply because he shredded his knee in the ninth game of the season, and essentially missed the rest of it (he did come back to play the last three games of the regular season.)

Again, with a new coach, Joe Mullaney...Wilt was asked to play the role of scorer again. Mullaney realized that the Butcher's strategy of Baylor being a key player in the offense was a disaster. So his first order of business was to go WILT, and ask WILT to become the focal point of the offense.

Chamberlain relished this role, and in fact, was leading the league in scoring, at 32.2 ppg (on a .579 FG%, with 20.6 rpg) when he went down with that horrific injury. BTW, West was STILL averaging 30.8 ppg at that time. Oh, and in that ninth game, Chamberlain scored 33 points, on 13-14 shooting...in 28 minutes. In other words, he was on pace for an easy 40+ point game, and perhaps yet another 50 point game. For the sake of argument, let's assume that Wilt would have scored 50 points in that game (he had a 66 point game against that same team the year before BTW)...that would have meant that he would have been averaging 34.1 ppg thru those nine games (and again, on a .579 FG%.)

Then think about this: Kareem (Alcindor) was a rookie in that same season. He would put up a 28.8 ppg, .518 F%, 14.5 rpp season. Two years later, in '71-72, he would have the greatest regular season of his entire career, with a 34.8 ppg, 16.6 rpg, .574 season.

So, here was a 32 year old Wilt, on pace for a season that was essentially the equal (actually better, since he was a much better defensive player) of a PEAK Kareem.

And before someone suggests that nine games is a small sample size, Wilt's numbers were not inflated by one or two big games. He had games of 33 (that might have been 50), 35, 37 (against 7-0 Tom Boerwinkle, who used to give KAJ fits), 38 (against reigning MVP Wes Unseld), 42 (against Bob Rule...go ahead and look him up), and 43 (against Connie Dierking...whom BTW, KAJ's highest career game was 41 points.) Oh, and in their one H2H before Wilt's injury...Chamberlain easily outplayed Kareem. He outscored him, 25-23; outrebounded him, 25-20; outassisted him, 5-2; outblocked him, 3-2 (including two sky hooks); and outshot him from the floor, 9-14 to 9-21.

Of course, after shredding his knee, Wilt was never the same player again. True, he could still occassionally hang a 32-31 game on 6-11 HOFer Bob Lanier, or even a 45 point Finals game, but his lateral quickness took a big hit, and he was never again the dominant unstoppable scorer that he had been.

BTW, Chamberlain had the HIGH scoring game in the NBA in every season of the decade of the 60's...even in his lessor scoring seasons. For instance, in his '67 season, he went out and hung a 58 point game. In his '68 season he had games of 52, 53, 53, and 68. Even under the idiotic VBK, he still had games of 60, and 66.