Regarding Bill Walton

[Amar'e_Juwanna]

Top 2 college player of all time?
Most verbose announcer of all time?
Top 3 careers ruined by injury?

Is anyone old enough to have seen this guy play? Amazing stuff on youtube, I wish there was a lot more.

[andremiller07]

Only reason why I watch Pac 12 basketball on ESPN is to listen to him

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Only reason why I watch Pac 12 basketball on ESPN is to listen to him

Love his announcing.

[Amar'e_Juwanna]

Would love to hear Walton, Clyde Frazier, and Jeff Van Gundy narrate a game...

What about Walton's playing? Was he really the best passing center of all time? Was he really destined to be among the greatest centers of all time?

[andremiller07]

Love his announcing.
Yeah I loved when he did the odd Kings game had me laughing hard, I remember Chuck Hayes got a rebound and he's like "where would the Kings be without Chuck Hayes", lmao.

[SHAQisGOAT]

I'm not old enough to have watched him in his prime but I've seen footage of his college and pro days, just great to see, what an amazing baller, lots of skill in every area, terrific IQ, impactful af, athletic enough for his size. Easily top5 center all-time if not for injuries.

[SHAQisGOAT]

Would love to hear Walton, Clyde Frazier, and Jeff Van Gundy narrate a game...

What about Walton's playing? Was he really the best passing center of all time? Was he really destined to be among the greatest centers of all time?

Imho yes, he's the best passing center of all-time, and again he would easily be a top5 all-time center if he didn't got injured.

[Element]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXgdpR3a2L4

Bill Walton is GOAT :bowdown: :roll: :roll:

[La Frescobaldi]

Top 2 college player of all time?
Most verbose announcer of all time?
Top 3 careers ruined by injury?

Is anyone old enough to have seen this guy play? Amazing stuff on youtube, I wish there was a lot more.

Sure thing I watched Bill his whole career, from UCLA through his battles with Kareem & Moses & Wes Unseld & A Train and all those terrible injuries.... ring years with Blazers & Celtics.... Walton was a real hippie, not just for the style but the real thing which is a true high compliment if you knew those days. The real character of that era, not just the whole mystique and the beads and leather shirts & tie-dye & incense & beards, but the message underneath - there was a valuable story there if you knew how to listen to that whole hippie movement, how nature is important and has to be preserved from the overkill of humanity. Walton had that.

Dude had a very seriously bad attitude when he went to San Diego Clippers, publicly saying really heavy sh!t and just a whole negative vibe was going on at that point and lots of people thought he was sitting instead of playing, although I never did. How can you play when your foot is jacked up? And his always was.

He was far more valuable to Boston than a lot of people give him credit for. Lots of games that great Boston team would get elevated clear to the stratosphere when he played just 5 or 8 minutes. Believe it, your are really saying something when you talk about a guy so good he can elevate guys like DJ or McHale, or Larry Bird. Well he did, over and over.

At his best he was one of the greatest to ever play.

Bill Walton is like Gale Sayers - no matter how short their careers were, or how much injuries wrecked their game, these guys are NOT just "if only...."

They were true brilliance.

[jlip]

His game 6 of the 1977 Finals is one of the most overlooked dominating performances in NBA history. 20pts 23rbs 7asts 8blks

Video (http://www.platypuscomix.net/fpo/videos/blazergame.html)

In this game you really get to see how a big man can dominate a game and be clearly the best player on the court without being a volume scorer.

[EllEffEll]

Followed him through college and the pros. Frescobaldi's post is on target. I was at Game 1 of the 1977 Lakers vs Trailblazers playoff series and ready for Kareem to tear him a new ginger clad starfish. He torched KAJ and the Lakers the entire first half and the Blazers coasted to a pretty easy win. As a diehard Laker fan, that sucked hard, but I knew I was watching an historic performance (sucked because it wasn't a Laker doing it). We all know how that playoff run ended up.

His passing was sublime and he was a very smart player. Seemed to know what was going to happen before anyone else, similar to Larry Bird.

I think it's pretty safe to say that UCLA's run will never be bettered or even equaled. John Wooden was old school genius, and the relationship between he and Walton was the stuff of legends. He led them to B2B 30-0 undefeated seasons in 72' and 73'.

Bonus Question: In between Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, the Bruins won two titles consecutively with another starting center, who scored 29 points in the title game against Villanova in 71'. Who was it?

[Amar'e_Juwanna]

Bonus Question: In between Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, the Bruins won two titles consecutively with another starting center, who scored 29 points in the title game against Villanova in 71'. Who was it?

Nobody else was interested in answering it, so i looked it up: Steve Patterson of the Cavs!

Re: Walton v Abdul-Jabbar in the '77 WCF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_TvlkTJa0U

Thanks La Frescobaldi and LFL for your insights. I play in a Grateful Dead cover band, consider my self something of a modern day deadhead/hippie (although I never saw Jerry Garcia play), and its awesome to me how Walton combines these two favorite areas of my life. Plus he was at his best a sublime player!! Very cool stuff.

[LAZERUSS]

Followed him through college and the pros. Frescobaldi's post is on target. I was at Game 1 of the 1977 Lakers vs Trailblazers playoff series and ready for Kareem to tear him a new ginger clad starfish. He torched KAJ and the Lakers the entire first half and the Blazers coasted to a pretty easy win. As a diehard Laker fan, that sucked hard, but I knew I was watching an historic performance (sucked because it wasn't a Laker doing it). We all know how that playoff run ended up.

His passing was sublime and he was a very smart player. Seemed to know what was going to happen before anyone else, similar to Larry Bird.

I think it's pretty safe to say that UCLA's run will never be bettered or even equaled. John Wooden was old school genius, and the relationship between he and Walton was the stuff of legends. He led them to B2B 30-0 undefeated seasons in 72' and 73'.

Bonus Question: In between Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, the Bruins won two titles consecutively with another starting center, who scored 29 points in the title game against Villanova in 71'. Who was it?

Steve Patterson was the answer, BUT, it was Sidney Wicks who was tasked with defending the 7-2 Artis Gilmore in the '70 NCAA Finals. Keep in mind that Gilmore was, by far, the leading rebounder in the country, had averaged 27 ppg, and had shot about 60% from the field on the season. The 6-8.5 Wicks outrebounded Gilmore, 18-16, and held him to 9-29 shooting from the field,...and, blocked FIVE of Gilmore's shots.

It just amazed me that when IBM came out with their 25 greatest college players of all-time...there was no mention of Wicks, who was a three-time champion, and a Tourney MVP.

[EllEffEll]

Steve Patterson was the answer, BUT, it was Sidney Wicks who was tasked with defending the 7-2 Artis Gilmore in the '70 NCAA Finals. Keep in mind that Gilmore was, by far, the leading rebounder in the country, had averaged 27 ppg, and had shot about 60% from the field on the season. The 6-8.5 Wicks outrebounded Gilmore, 18-16, and held him to 9-29 shooting from the field,...and, blocked FIVE of Gilmore's shots.

It just amazed me that when IBM came out with their 25 greatest college players of all-time...there was no mention of Wicks, who was a three-time champion, and a Tourney MVP.

Without a doubt, Wicks was a beast. And pretty cocky about it too. Great story about how he handled Gilmore in the second half of that game as Patterson had no answer for him.

http://youtu.be/kYvw3-G0iTU

Gratuitous name dropping manuever: Sidney was a close friend of a guy I worked with back in the mid-70's, but it was when he had already gone to the NBA. The same guy that got me the tickets to that 1977 playoff game mentioned earlier :~)

[Uncle Drew]

Bill Walton loves himself some 12 inch from DMC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2fyT8-N1gU

[dankok8]

Good call on Wicks guys! The guy had some brilliant seasons in the NBA too before he just petered off. Didn't get injured AFAIK. Was it motivation that was an issue?

Walton, if it weren't for his foot and knee problems in particular, would be a top 15 player for sure. The man was remarkable... had that knack for making the right play that you can't teach. Bill Russell 2.0 if there ever was one.

[raiderfan19]

Some of you really need to tap the breaks. If you are saying he's easily a top 5 center of all time without injurys, who do you have him over out of wilt, Russell, Kareem, shaq and dream? He wasn't as good as any of those guys injuries or no.

[Amar'e_Juwanna]

Some of you really need to tap the breaks. If you are saying he's easily a top 5 center of all time without injurys, who do you have him over out of wilt, Russell, Kareem, shaq and dream? He wasn't as good as any of those guys injuries or no.
???

[moe94]

???

Who is he better than?

[Amar'e_Juwanna]

Who is he better than?

i was putting the question to those who can answer it.

[TheBigVeto]

Top 2 college player of all time?
Most verbose announcer of all time?
Top 3 careers ruined by injury?



Yes to all three.

[SHAQisGOAT]

Some of you really need to tap the breaks. If you are saying he's easily a top 5 center of all time without injurys, who do you have him over out of wilt, Russell, Kareem, shaq and dream? He wasn't as good as any of those guys injuries or no.

At age 24 he was having ridiculous impact and led his team to the championship. I mean just go watch him play, check out the numbers, his impact was ****ing crazy. Top-notch basketball IQ, pretty athletic, dpoy-level defense, elite rebounding, arguably the goat passing center, almost 20 ppg efficient scoring... And again, can't stress enough his all-around impact, things you can't put on paper, making the right pass, going for the right play, great screen-setter... Greatly elevated the game of those around him. Very similar to Bill Russell you can say, defense and rebounding were close enough, great understanding of the game as well, better scoring, edge in passing too.
And he was 25 when he went down, already MVP, ring and FMVP (dpoy too had there been the award), he most likely would've improved, and continue to win some rings and so on. Not far fetched by any means to say that he could've definitely bounced ahead of a couple of those guys (worse rated ones) on the all-time list. (had he continued to do the same and of course always working hard)