Wilt Chamberlain's one-step vertical-reach revealed in Photographers Light

[Round Mound]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4Teje8_1As8/T0xwAxfoP7I/AAAAAAAADFY/ASpGRhx5mW8/s800/download.jpg

A 1957 photographers flash reveals Wilt Chamberlain's incredible reach from a one-step gather during a regular season NCAA game. Wilt's hand appears to be well above the square in spite of leaping from a near stand-still!

The footage comes from Northwestern University in their matchup vs the Kansas Jayhawks on December 9th 1957.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDMCh5HrcG0

Wilt the Greatest Athlete That Ever Lived :bowdown:

[9erempiree]

It's a testament to his long reach because if you look at his head it's still way below the rim.

[crisoner]

This is at an angle.....

[Round Mound]

Wilt Will Forever Be Underrated Cause He Played Way Before Our Times. :bowdown:

[jongib369]

It would be epic to see Wilt try to block this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFYxLN5yvwg

[deja vu]

http://img3.cache.netease.com/photo/0005/2012-03-03/7RL4BK500AI90005.jpg

Look at that vertical! :bowdown:

[Round Mound]

http://img3.cache.netease.com/photo/0005/2012-03-03/7RL4BK500AI90005.jpg

Look at that vertical! :bowdown:

[B]Its Fake!...Its Dwight Howard Dunking in 2013...They Just Photoshoped Dwight With Wilt

[CavaliersFTW]

You are all fools. Wilt only has a 24 inch vertical (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98884) and he was basically just like Mutombo but with less coordination (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2111574&postcount=21).

[Round Mound]

You are all fools. Wilt only has a 24 inch vertical (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98884) and he was basically just like Mutombo but with less coordination (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2111574&postcount=21).

And He Was Guarded By Slow, White, Skinny, Unathletic White Boys All of His Career

[PHILA]

Wilt at Overbrook High School.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNw0c19DhIU&t=2m



http://i.imgur.com/IJ4rSdL.png

[Round Mound]

[B]People Here Have a Problem When Trying To Admit How Athletic Wilt Was and Yes, It Was The 50s and 60s. Same Thing That Happens When They Say "Sir Charles was 6

[eliteballer]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4Teje8_1As8/T0xwAxfoP7I/AAAAAAAADFY/ASpGRhx5mW8/s800/download.jpg

A 1957 photographers flash reveals Wilt Chamberlain's incredible reach from a one-step gather during a regular season NCAA game. Wilt's hand appears to be well above the square in spite of leaping from a near stand-still!

The footage comes from Northwestern University in their matchup vs the Kansas Jayhawks on December 9th 1957.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDMCh5HrcG0

Wilt the Greatest Athlete That Ever Lived :bowdown:


Idiot...he's clearly much closer to the camera than the rim:roll:

[CavaliersFTW]

Guys I have to come clean. I sped up the footage to make Wilt jump higher. Sorry :(

[La Frescobaldi]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4Teje8_1As8/T0xwAxfoP7I/AAAAAAAADFY/ASpGRhx5mW8/s800/download.jpg

A 1957 photographers flash reveals Wilt Chamberlain's incredible reach from a one-step gather during a regular season NCAA game. Wilt's hand appears to be well above the square in spite of leaping from a near stand-still!

The footage comes from Northwestern University in their matchup vs the Kansas Jayhawks on December 9th 1957.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDMCh5HrcG0

Wilt the Greatest Athlete That Ever Lived :bowdown:
Wilt is the greatest athlete I've ever seen - greater even than Mark Spitz.

My dad always said the greatest athlete he ever saw was Jim Thorpe; he saw all the greats from Walter Johnson, Ruth, Red Grange, Gino Bartali right through the 80s with Jordan, Joe Montana, and all the steroids sprinters.

One interesting thing he used to say was that Josh Gibson has always been horrifically overrated, mostly by people who never saw him. He didn't hit well against great pitchers; often misjudged batters (Gibson was a catcher) - something you NEVER saw Johnny Bench do; mostly played against basically sandlot teams, and couldn't possibly be held in the same esteem as Satchel Paige.
I have no frame of reference, since I never saw ANY of them (except the immortal Bench, of course). But my dad had a great eye for athletes and always hated the loss of natural athleticism that we started seeing in the mid 80s as America turned from a country of outdoorsmen to a more purely sports culture.

[La Frescobaldi]

It's a testament to his long reach because if you look at his head it's still way below the rim.
It's awe-inspiring to see how easily it had to be for him to get to the top of the backboard.
He was, like all men who blow out their knee, very nervous about putting pressure on his leg in the '70 playoffs. I will always protest guys who never saw him play, that say he choked in the Willis Reed game. The Lakers got shelled by the Knicks outside shooting. Anyhow, that nervousness about his leg was an example of what he could do. He was going up for a rebound and somebody from the Lakers was under him. Maybe it was Johnny Egan, im not sure, but Wilt just lifted up off one foot, right off the ground and went up... and kept going up... right over his teammate. Incredible power and he was just using one leg!
Another guy who has that kind of amazing awareness of where he is, and where everybody else is.... is D Wade. Those kinds of athletes, they are like a cat the way they can twist and twirl in mid-air and land on their feet at a sprint!! Like a panther.

[Deuce Bigalow]

Celtic #12 is 7 feet tall while crouching on the ground, must be 8'6" straight up :bowdown: Wilt played against 8 footers :bowdown:

[b1imtf]

Old men jerking center in here

[FKAri]

Unimpressive is an understatement. lol @ a big many resorting to a floater at point blank range. Like a modern day.....nobody.

[Psileas]

Unimpressive is an understatement. lol @ a big many resorting to a floater at point blank range. Like a modern day.....nobody.

Point blank? Your fellow haters seem to disagree and claim the camera distorts the distance. Once again, haters are unable to reach a consensus what excuse to use.

However, since even a broken clock is correct twice a day, I do believe that the distance is longer than the apparent. Which means that the photo doesn't correctly depict Wilt's vertical. And also that it isn't at "point blank range".

[LAZERUSS]

Idiot...he's clearly much closer to the camera than the rim:roll:

Forget the photograph, which was taken early in Wilt's NBA career, and instead, focus on the block in the video footage. Even the Chamberlain-haters have to admit that that is an impressive one-step leap.

[Marchesk]

Forget the photograph, which was taken early in Wilt's NBA career, and instead, focus on the block in the video footage. Even the Chamberlain-haters have to admit that that is an impressive one-step leap.

Don't worry, there's enough video footage now on youtube to establish that Wilt was blocking (or goal tending) shots within a few inches of the top of the backboard.

[LAZERUSS]

Don't worry, there's enough video footage now on youtube to establish that Wilt was blocking (or goal tending) shots within a few inches of the top of the backboard.

You mentioned it in another topic, ...

The Wilt-bashers no longer argue his amazing athleticism. The evidence is just overwhelming to the contrary. For a while the few remnants left of the "anti-Wilt gang" ripped him for dominating "short, white, nerds" in a "weak era." But that argument has been blown to shreds here, as well, and only the complete fools make that claim. Now they only argue that the Record Book should be split into two categories...one, pre-1989, and two, post-1989. Of course, what they REALLY mean is that the Record Book should be divided into two categories...one, the "Wilt-era", and two, the "Post Wilt-era."

[CavaliersFTW]

You mentioned it in another topic, ...

The Wilt-bashers no longer argue his amazing athleticism. The evidence is just overwhelming to the contrary. For a while the few remnants left of the "anti-Wilt gang" ripped him for dominating "short, white, nerds" in a "weak era." But that argument has been blown to shreds here, as well, and only the complete fools make that claim. Now they only argue that the Record Book should be split into two categories...one, pre-1989, and two, post-1989. Of course, what they REALLY mean is that the Record Book should be divided into two categories...one, the "Wilt-era", and two, the "Post Wilt-era."
My Youtube channel ethered a lot of the criticisms and ignorance Wilt used to get spread around about his athleticism. But then the trolling shifted to "Well it's just him then nobody else was any good / weak era / ahead of his time" So I've turned my attention towards his competition have uploaded a few projects and have a few more in the works related to his competition that should ether that nonsense as well.

Now I've recently decided it is very important to start turning the attention towards his scoring skillset. Because I've seen him display a wider array of moves in the post than Kareem. Not necessarily better moves because Kareem's skyhook was so consistent, but definitely more variety (variations of his bank shots, fade-aways, reverse layups, fingerrolls, etc). What triggers me to go in that direction was when I did my Wilt vs Kareem video. Some people responded with the assumption that Kareem had a wider repertoire of moves than Wilt and that simply isn't true from what I've seen but I realize practically nobody has seen what I've seen therefore I am going to start a Wilt offensive skillset video at some point. Also, he's one of the greatest passing bigmen in NBA history... his passing skill needs to be showcased.

Pretty soon there will be no fictional criticisms left for Wilt haters to bitch about other than REAL criticisms like having less rings than Russell (which isn't necessarily his fault but it's at least historically true - unlike saying Wilt wasn't athletic etc).

[andgar923]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4Teje8_1As8/T0xwAxfoP7I/AAAAAAAADFY/ASpGRhx5mW8/s800/download.jpg

A 1957 photographers flash reveals Wilt Chamberlain's incredible reach from a one-step gather during a regular season NCAA game. Wilt's hand appears to be well above the square in spite of leaping from a near stand-still!

The footage comes from Northwestern University in their matchup vs the Kansas Jayhawks on December 9th 1957.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDMCh5HrcG0

Wilt the Greatest Athlete That Ever Lived :bowdown:

Dude, it's the angle.

[jongib369]

My Youtube channel ethered a lot of the criticisms and ignorance Wilt used to get spread around about his athleticism. But then the trolling shifted to "Well it's just him then nobody else was any good / weak era / ahead of his time" So I've turned my attention towards his competition have uploaded a few projects and have a few more in the works related to his competition that should ether that nonsense as well.

Now I've recently decided it is very important to start turning the attention towards his scoring skillset. Because I've seen him display a wider array of moves in the post than Kareem. Not necessarily better moves because Kareem's skyhook was so consistent, but definitely more variety (variations of his bank shots, fade-aways, reverse layups, fingerrolls, etc). What triggers me to go in that direction was when I did my Wilt vs Kareem video. Some people responded with the assumption that Kareem had a wider repertoire of moves than Wilt and that simply isn't true from what I've seen but I realize practically nobody has seen what I've seen therefore I am going to start a Wilt offensive skillset video at some point. Also, he's one of the greatest passing bigmen in NBA history... his passing skill needs to be showcased.

Pretty soon there will be no fictional criticisms left for Wilt haters to bitch about other than REAL criticisms like having less rings than Russell (which isn't necessarily his fault but it's at least historically true - unlike saying Wilt wasn't athletic etc).
Will the highlight be an offensive skill set/ passing video or separate?

[CavaliersFTW]

Will the highlight be an offensive skill set/ passing video or separate?
Same, a video showcasing his offensive IQ, skillset, and moves this includes passing. This could be something u won't see for a year or two though because I've got a lot I'm finishing up as it is.

[jongib369]

Same, a video showcasing his offensive IQ, skillset, and moves this includes passing. This could be something u won't see for a year or two though because I've got a lot I'm finishing up as it is.
You should get paid for all this time put into it. Work for the NBA lol

[LosScandalous]

http://i39.tinypic.com/u3mvp.jpg

his head is clearly above the rim, no gimmick

[LAZERUSS]

My Youtube channel ethered a lot of the criticisms and ignorance Wilt used to get spread around about his athleticism. But then the trolling shifted to "Well it's just him then nobody else was any good / weak era / ahead of his time" So I've turned my attention towards his competition have uploaded a few projects and have a few more in the works related to his competition that should ether that nonsense as well.

Now I've recently decided it is very important to start turning the attention towards his scoring skillset. Because I've seen him display a wider array of moves in the post than Kareem. Not necessarily better moves because Kareem's skyhook was so consistent, but definitely more variety (variations of his bank shots, fade-aways, reverse layups, fingerrolls, etc). What triggers me to go in that direction was when I did my Wilt vs Kareem video. Some people responded with the assumption that Kareem had a wider repertoire of moves than Wilt and that simply isn't true from what I've seen but I realize practically nobody has seen what I've seen therefore I am going to start a Wilt offensive skillset video at some point. Also, he's one of the greatest passing bigmen in NBA history... his passing skill needs to be showcased.

Pretty soon there will be no fictional criticisms left for Wilt haters to bitch about other than REAL criticisms like having less rings than Russell (which isn't necessarily his fault but it's at least historically true - unlike saying Wilt wasn't athletic etc).

:applause: :applause: :applause:

BTW, I knew that your great footage of the Kareem-Wilt battles would bring on criticism of Chamberlain. While it was very well done (and almost exactly in the fashion in which it took place), it was unfair to a well past his prime Wilt.

Furthermore, I have long said that Wilt was every bit as skilled offensively as KAJ (if not moreso.) Your college footage and early NBA footage is clearly indicative of that. However, by the mid-60's, Wilt's scoring came mainly from inside of ten feet. And even though he still had a myriad of post moves, the perception was, that he had very little range.

And, for those that believe that Wilt would not have been nearly as capable of scoring in the modern era, it must be pointed out that an early-NBA Chamberlain could start his offense from 10-15 ft. He was so athletic, and so quick, that it didn't make any difference who, or how many, were defending him. IMHO, he was very similar to a taller, stronger, and more athletic Garnett (albeit, with less range.)

Hopefully you can at least release a "teaser" of what to expect.

And for those that can't wait....here is some excellent footage...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCWrGWuU2Ak

[eliteballer]

Wilt as skilled as KAJ:roll:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDK5VDdX-yo&t=5m5s

The guy used to bend halfway down to post up.

How do you compare that to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDK5VDdX-yo&t=5m5s

at 100 pounds heavier no less.

Hell, show him get this high:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EefJHAWigvY&t=6m00s

at 340....and no horrible angle pictures/vids either.

[Laker Logic]

I'm no forensic analyst but I think his left hand is the one that provides the critical point of reference.

Discuss.

[CavaliersFTW]

Wilt as skilled as KAJ:roll:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDK5VDdX-yo&t=5m5s

The guy used to bend halfway down to post up.

How do you compare that to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDK5VDdX-yo&t=5m5s

at 100 pounds heavier no less.

Hell, show him get this high:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EefJHAWigvY&t=6m00s

at 340....and no horrible angle pictures/vids either.
Here's a gem of context for you:
"More significantly, the pain in Chamberlain's knees had grown worse with each game. Now the slightest bend in either knee sent an excruciating jolt through the leg, and he was forced to go up and down stairs sideways, to avoid bending his knees. When he arrived for practice on Friday, he could barely walk. D. Lorber examined him and realized that Chamberlain's knee-joint capsules had become inflamed. Lorber instructed Chamberlain to spend the entire day receiving heat treatment on his knees. He thought that if Chamberlain remained inactive, and received heat treatement that day and the next, the inflammation might subside enough for him to at least start on Sunday. Chamberlain spent several hours each day with his knees under an infrared heat lamp, but by Saturday afternoon, when the team was leaving for Boston
(to play precisely the game which you posted footage from), he was still walking stiff-legged."

"Chamberlain's sore knees had hampered his running and jumping throughout the game"

[PHILA]

The guy used to bend halfway down to post up.
That is him holding his ground and protecting the ball, one of the basic fundamentals of low post basketball. How about Shaq where he would crab dribble (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rye1hRrkLro&t=1h48m24s) very close to the floor on his back downs. Despite Wilt's thin legs below the knees, he was impossible to move off the block. As Russell said, he needed an "earth mover". Wayne Embry, Willis Reed, Nate Thurmond, Walt Bellamy, Wes Unseld, all would say the same. Or is he supposed to arch his back while dribbling like the Harlem Globetrotters?

[plowking]

It seems as though some people will never understand angles, depth perception or the such when it comes to judging this.
Its always the same idiots posting photos from 2 feet off the ground looking up and claiming the players head is at the rim when they're going for a basic layup.

There is seriously no hope for some people.