What was Wilt Chamberlain's top speed?

[iamgine]

All the talk about Wilt being era specific are not interesting because it's just speculation cannot be proven either way. What might be proven however, is his speed.

Based on this video, what do you think was his top speed:

http://youtu.be/S8JuK2dVky0?t=53s
http://youtu.be/S8JuK2dVky0?t=11m50s


The length of the NBA court is 94 feet or 28.65 meters.

Usain Bolt's top speed was 27.79 miles per hour or 12.42 meters per second.

[Harison]

I'm also very impressed by his speed, hops, etc. The best athlete (physically) to ever play this game.

[Mass Debator]

His speed is called damn!

[CavaliersFTW]

All the talk about Wilt being era specific are not interesting because it's just speculation cannot be proven either way. What might be proven however, is his speed.

Based on this video, what do you think was his top speed:

http://youtu.be/S8JuK2dVky0?t=53s
http://youtu.be/S8JuK2dVky0?t=11m50s


The length of the NBA court is 94 feet or 28.65 meters.

Usain Bolt's top speed was 27.79 miles per hour or 12.42 meters per second.
What is the length of the top of the key to the top of the key (and I mean the half-circular part beyond the FT line not the FT line itself). If you can give me that precise distance I can give you an idea of how fast his velocity is, but even then I'm not sure it will be his "peak" velocity because his "peak" velocity only happens for about 2 or 3 strides in a short span before he needs to slow down

[CavaliersFTW]

Better yet, what is the distance from the half circle at the top of the key to the half-court line? Based on the 2nd clip during the SFU game that stands the best chance to capture the brief moment he's at a high velocity I think.

BTW... I doubt he's anywhere NEAR Usain Bolt speed. He's undoubtedly fast though. I can believe the 4.6 40 yard dash claim by HOF coach Hank Stram. That's the same 40 time Lebron measured last off-season.

[kshutts1]

http://www.basketball-goals.com/basketball-court-dimensions.htm#bbcourt

Based on that dimension/drawing/chart, the top of the circle is 25 feet from the end line. Half court is 57 feet. The difference, 32 feet, is the answer you wanted.

[Marchesk]

BTW... I doubt he's anywhere NEAR Usain Bolt speed.

Yeah, let's not give the doubters ammunition with stuff like that. Bolt makes Bob Hayes look slow, and he's the fastest NFL player of all time.

Wilt's 100 time was 10.9? I'm guessing that equates to around 4.6 or 4.7.

[CavaliersFTW]

Yeah, let's not give the doubters ammunition with stuff like that. Bolt makes Bob Hayes look slow, and he's the fastest NFL player of all time.

Wilt's 100 time was 10.9? I'm guessing that equates to around 4.6 or 4.7.
Wilt's 100 time is not known - I would treat that number as if it is nothing but hear-say because literally that's all that it is. That number cannot be traced to any official Track and Field event he participated in because in college he never competed in that event. Perhaps in High School he ran it but even then, he only shows up on the high-jump in the Philadelphia city-league record books. The only thing he competed in in college was the high jump and triple jump. And I've only ever heard his KU track teammates mentioned one other thing he did (during practices) and that was (as they put it) "jog" the 440 in about 49 seconds (He didn't compete in the 440 because KU had guys that ran it in the 47's at the time). So - I'm not saying he didn't - or couldn't run run a 100 in 10.9, all I'm saying is that that number is untraceable to any source and has no supporting information.

[iamgine]

In the first video, I'm estimating Wilt's top speed to be inbetween 17.5-19 miles per hour.

Still not even close to Bolt's 27.79 miles per hour. But it might be very good among non runners. And who knows if that was his best. I would guess Wilt's best top speed to be around 19 MPH.

[CavaliersFTW]

The distance from the top of the half circle of the key to the half court stripe is precisely 22 feet.

Wilt covers exactly that distance in the Colorado clip in 0.9 seconds
Wilt covers exactly that distance in the SFU clip in 0.825 seconds

I slowed the footage down by a factor of 10 and analyzed frame by frame to come up with precisely when he went from one line in question to the other line in question. (9 seconds, and 8.25 seconds)

If Wilt remained at the pace of 0.9 seconds per 22 feet over the distance of 1 mile it would take him 216 seconds to complete 1 mile. Or, at 0.825 seconds per 22 feet 198 seconds to complete the mile.

In miles per hour that is:
16.7mph **EDIT (16.7mph is his speed the first half) - he averaged 18.2mph after crossing half court)**
18.2mph is also the speed he covered the distance in the SFU game

Now, I do not believe those figures represent his peak speed - as he only had about 2 or 3 steps head start before he was within the 22 foot "ruler" I used. He is also so big and takes such long strides he had to slow down almost immediately after crossing half court so I don't think he ever reached his full stride over any measurable sort of distance. But those figures definitely appear to be his average speed within the 22 feet I measured. What's most impressive to me, is his acceleration. He reaches those speeds almost immediately. Later tonight I can upload video of this if you guys would like, right now got to leave and head to work.

**EDIT** In the Colorado clip on the OTHER side of the floor (after he passes half court) the half court line to the other half circle is covered in 8.25 seconds - and this is despite him actually physically turning around. This is the same time it took him to cover that ground in the SFU clip.

So that means in both clips he's seen covering a 22 foot distance at a speed of 18.2mph

[kshutts1]

That's not an impressive speed in a vacuum. But considering his size, and the lack of acceleration time, and that most runners reach a peak speed after X amount of feet (most 100m runners get faster with each 10m split until they hit their max).... it's quite impressive.

[Poetry]

http://i44.tinypic.com/5nk507.jpg

[CavaliersFTW]

Interesting article on the fastest players recorded in the NBA 2 seasons ago

Young Wilt's 18.2mph clip on the court is very fast, he'd be up with the modern NBA's top point guards if the measurement is correct:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/blogs/nba-point-forward/2012/03/08/who-is-really-the-fastest-point-guard/index.html

Tony Parker peaked at 20.9mph 2 seasons ago
Ricky Rubio peaked 19.4mph 2 seasons ago

And Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, Brandon Jennings and Calderon only managed to peak in the 17's range. Derrick Rose (who's team wasn't constantly monitored with equipment like the others) peaked at 17.0 mph when he played at the arenas that tracked this advanced data. All these players save for Derrick Rose had basically all their home games with which to analyze footage, a much larger sample size to determine top speed than Wilt's 5 game NCAA stretch (though to be honest, I haven't seen any other clips of Wilt's from the half dozen NBA or his 2 other NCAA games that indicated he ran faster than during the Colorado or SFU game in this 5 game NCAA stretch).

[Fresh Kid]

Athletic and flexible girls?

[KobesFinger]

Interesting article on the fastest players recorded in the NBA 2 seasons ago

Young Wilt's 18.2mph clip on the court is very fast, he'd be up with the modern NBA's top point guards if the measurement is correct:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/blogs/nba-point-forward/2012/03/08/who-is-really-the-fastest-point-guard/index.html

Tony Parker peaked at 20.9mph 2 seasons ago
Ricky Rubio peaked 19.4mph 2 seasons ago

And Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, Brandon Jennings and Calderon only managed to peak in the 17's range. Derrick Rose (who's team wasn't constantly monitored with equipment like the others) peaked at 17.0 mph when he played at the arenas that tracked this advanced data. All these players save for Derrick Rose had basically all their home games with which to analyze footage, a much larger sample size to determine top speed than Wilt's 5 game NCAA stretch (though to be honest, I haven't seen any other clips of Wilt's from the half dozen NBA or his 2 other NCAA games that indicated he ran faster than during the Colorado or SFU game in this 5 game NCAA stretch).

Are these with or without a ball?

[HomieWeMajor]

Have a white woman at the finish line and he'd clock 100 metres in under 9.5 .

[CavaliersFTW]

Are these with or without a ball?
If you read the article, they are simply pointing out these players max recorded speed during the season - they do not specify any variables such as "on ball/while dribbling". So to me, it appears they are simply tracking the top speed of these guys whether it be on or off the ball. :confusedshrug:

[inclinerator]

40 miles per hr in the 60s 5 mph in todays league

[LAZERUSS]

I agree with CavsFan on Wilt's reported 10.9 100 yard time. I don't think that is even close.

In one of Chamberlain's books, he claims to have barely lost footraces with KU's fellow track star, Ernie Shelby, who supposedly ran a 9.3 100 yards. And both were members of KU's 4x100 yard relay team. I would suspect that Chamberlain was probably easily running sub-10.0's in a 100 yards at the time.

Chamberlain also claims that he ran a timed 4.4 40 yards while at Kansas. And before someone scoffs at that, and claims that Wilt was "exaggerating", none other than Hank Stram, who invited Wilt to a Chief's mini-camp in the mid-60's, timed a 27 year old Wilt, and who weighed in at 292 lbs at the time, with a 4.6 40 (which was faster than any of the Chief's RBs at the time.) So, I don't see how anyone could dispute a 4.4 by a 20-22 year old, 250 lb Chamberlain, who was routinely running track at the time.

[Psileas]

I agree with CavsFan on Wilt's reported 10.9 100 yard time. I don't think that is even close.

In one of Chamberlain's books, he claims to have barely lost footraces with KU's fellow track star, Ernie Shelby, who supposedly ran a 9.3 100 yards. And both were members of KU's 4x100 yard relay team. I would suspect that Chamberlain was probably easily running sub-10.0's in a 100 yards at the time.

Chamberlain also claims that he ran a timed 4.4 40 yards while at Kansas. And before someone scoffs at that, and claims that Wilt was "exaggerating", none other than Hank Stram, who invited Wilt to a Chief's mini-camp in the mid-60's, timed a 27 year old Wilt, and who weighed in at 292 lbs at the time, with a 4.6 40 (which was faster than any of the Chief's RBs at the time.) So, I don't see how anyone could dispute a 4.4 by a 20-22 year old, 250 lb Chamberlain, who was routinely running track at the time.

Yeah, someone who runs both 100 and 440 yards and runs the 440 in 49'' is expected to run 100 in significantly less than 10.9''. Heck, it's almost the same speed and there's no way someone maintains his supposed top speed in 100 yrds for 4.4 times the same distance.

[kshutts1]

I know that there are factors that limit full blown sprint speed in the NBA... namely a really short court (relative to sprints and the player's size) and not much time and place to sprint... That being said, I'm shocked that the listed speeds earlier are tops in the NBA. I have a friend from HS that could do that, and he was not a D1 level college athlete.

[Marchesk]

Yeah, someone who runs both 100 and 440 yards and runs the 440 in 49'' is expected to run 100 in significantly less than 10.9''. Heck, it's almost the same speed and there's no way someone maintains his supposed top speed in 100 yrds for 4.4 times the same distance.

Not really. A 10.9 pace for 100 meters is 43.6 for the 400. So 49 is quite reasonable.

[Psileas]

Not really. A 10.9 pace for 100 meters is 43.6 for the 400. So 49 is quite reasonable.

I've read that 100 referred to yards, not meters. So, I'm saying that 10.9 for 100 yards is unrealistically low.

[CavaliersFTW]

I've read that 100 referred to yards, not meters. So, I'm saying that 10.9 for 100 yards is unrealistically low.
Also the "400 meter" and "800 meter" people always reference were actually the 440 yard quarter mile and 880 yard - which are both a little longer than the modern 400/800 meter. But yeah the 100 yard is less distance than the 100 meter, and a 4.6 40 yard dash athlete when in his late 20's and 290lbs is probably going to cover the 100 yard quicker than 10.9 during his 240lb (and lighter) competitive track years if he actually participated in it. AFAIK he never did though, at least not in college or at the Philadelphia city-league level in HS. Unless someone comes forward with a specific first hand account - like they're the ones who timed him at multiple events just while Wilt was at Track and Field practice (not unheard of, I used to do this too when I ran Track) etc than the 10.9 100 yard should be treated as hearsay with no known source. He could have done that as an 10th grader in HS for all we know, or not at all it could even be a made up number.

[LikeABosh]

33.1 Mph, 1000 pound bench press, 5 confirmed mountain lion kills

[iamgine]

18.2 MPH seems about right.

[Marchesk]

33.1 Mph, 1000 pound bench press, 5 confirmed mountain lion kills

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Shaq would be 20,000 and one on the list! Wait, are those cougars from the 60s?

[CavaliersFTW]

I know that there are factors that limit full blown sprint speed in the NBA... namely a really short court (relative to sprints and the player's size) and not much time and place to sprint... That being said, I'm shocked that the listed speeds earlier are tops in the NBA. I have a friend from HS that could do that, and he was not a D1 level college athlete.
I think the court size, the fact that these players are all sharing floor space with other bodies and trying to avoid collisions plus being alert and focused on playing the game all prevent them from sprinting as fast as physically possible. I doubt the measured speeds represent the peak of how fast these athletes are capable of running. I'm sure a good number of the fastest players in the league could crack 20mph in a dead sprint if the court was empty and that was their primary objective. They're all pre-occupied playing the game though, and only running as fast as they can or as fast as they feel is necessary given the flow and opportunites present within a game.

[CavaliersFTW]

In spite of visibly slowing down and turning around to catch the ball Wilt averages 18.65mph in the 2nd half of the 22 foot stretch of court I'm using for measurement in the SFU game sprint. Even faster than his 18.2mph he averages when accelerating. 18.65mph is the fastest average speed he achieves within the aforementioned 22 foot length of floor I'm using for measurement. I've used clips of his from several games now, that's definitely his peak over that span of distance. I'm going to attempt to get his absolute "peak" speed by just measuring how many frames it takes his body to cross the 12 foot circle in the middle of the court. That should be the closest I can get to measuring his peak speed on a basketball court w/o him visibly slowing down or speeding up to skew the results.