How come Wilt missed the playoffs in his prime? (with no missed games)

[Deuce Bigalow]

In 62-63 his team went 31-49 with Wilt playing all 80, missing the playoffs. In 64-65 his team was 10-28 through the first 38 with him playing all 38 before he was traded to a 22-23 team. If there was no trade then that is likely another missed playoffs for Wilt. Dominant they said. Check the record book they said. "GOAT" they said.

[TommyGriffin]

Wilt's stats look awesome if you are a little kid who doesn't know anything about basketball.

Once you learn more and more about the game, the numbers come back down to earth.

[Dr Hawk]

If you don't have a team good enough, you might miss the PO's. Look at what happened to Kobe or KG

[aj1987]

If you don't have a team good enough, you might miss the PO's. Look at what happened to Kobe or KG
Except for 2-3 idiot Kobe stans, literally no one else call Kobe or KG the GOAT. CavsFTW, Loozerus, jongrib, etc. all consider Wilt to the GOAT and they aren't trolling either.

EDIT: IIRC, Ilt had HOF teammates during both seasons.

[AirFederer]

Big Wilt stan here, but this is serious damage. Luckily we will soon be served essays on
-how bad his team mates and coach were
- his stats vs opposing centers ("he crushed them, but his team mates let him down)
- he was a good shooter
- a clutch permformer
- aka the GOAT

He is to me anyway. :cheers:

[feyki]

Big Wilt stan here, but this is serious damage. Luckily we will soon be served essays on
-how bad his team mates and coach were
- his stats vs opposing centers ("he crushed them, but his team mates let him down)
- he was a good shooter
- a clutch permformer
- aka the GOAT

He is to me anyway. :cheers:


:lol :lol

[Angel Face]

He missed playoffs puting up 45ppg? Wow! talk about "Empty stats". Not only he is the GOAT choker, he might also be the GOAT stat-padder.

Wilt Chamberlame :facepalm

[Horatio33]

In before his teammates were TERRIBLE, Wilt had SIX DIFFERENT CANCERS AND TEMPORARY AIDS, and STILL AVERAGED 45 PPG.

It WASN'T his fault guys!

[Asukal]

waiting for grandpa loseruz's cherrypicked stat essay. :rolleyes:

[deja vu]

Damn. It's not like he had no help. He had HOF teammates yet still missed the playoffs?

[Sarcastic]

Despite all that Wilt is still a tier above Kobe.

:lebronamazed:

[STATUTORY]

guy crushed mountain lions like beer cans

GOAT

[Psileas]

Despite all that Wilt is still a tier above Kobe.

:lebronamazed:

He obviously is.
After all, Kobe also missed the playoffs in his prime. :lebronamazed:
With prime Lamar and Butler in his team. :biggums:
And with his team posting a 28-38 record with him. :facepalm
But 31-33 with Lamar. :eek:
Oh, and way worse stats.

[LAZERUSS]

In 62-63 his team went 31-49 with Wilt playing all 80, missing the playoffs. In 64-65 his team was 10-28 through the first 38 with him playing all 38 before he was traded to a 22-23 team. If there was no trade then that is likely another missed playoffs for Wilt. Dominant they said. Check the record book they said. "GOAT" they said.

As for Wilt's 62-63 season,...I could tell you that he...

Played 47.6 mpg
Had a PER of 31.8, which is the NBA record
Led the NBA in FIFTEEN categories
Led the league in WIN SHARES, and by a mile, at 20.9 (on a team with 31 wins.)
Averaged 38 ppg against RUSSELL in their nine H2H's

Or that he had the EXACT same roster the very next year, and led them to a 48-32 record, and into the Finals...in an 11 game post-season in which he averaged 34.7 ppg, 25.2 rpg, and shot .543 (in a post-season that shot .420.)

Oh, he did have rookie Nate Thurmond in that 63-64 season, who had played center in college, and who then played part-time, out of position, and because of that, shot .395 in his limited minutes. That will be important.

So, again, with a new coach, Chamberlain carried that same exact roster, except with part-time rookie Thurmond added, to the Finals the very next year...

Then, in his 64-65 season, Wilt became ill with what turned out to be pancreatitis. He missed some games, and his team played so poorly, that in the games he played, his team went 10-27.

He was then traded (the SF doctors had diagnosed him with a heart problem, so they unloaded him ASAP), for three players, and a boatload of cash, to the Sixers, who had gone 34-46 the year before.

Ok, so the Warriors moved Thurmond to the pivot, where he would go on to have a HOF career. However, after the trade, Nate's Warriors could only go 7-36.

Meanwhile, Wilt then took his Sixers to a 40-40 record. And then, in the first round, he destroyed Oscar's stacked 48-32 Royals. And in the EDF's, he took that 40-40 team, to a game seven, one point loss against Russell's 62-18 Celtics...in a series in which Chamberlain averaged 30 ppg, 31 rpg, and shot .555 from the field.

Back to the Warriors. Since they had gone 17-63 in '64-65, it enabled them to draft Rick Barry, who would go on to have a HOF career. Ok, so now with HOFer Thurmond, and HOFer Barry...the 65-66 Warriors would go 35-45. TWO HOFer replaced Wilt, and they could top Chamberlain's 48-32 team of '64.

But, it gets even better. The Warriors then added Jeff Mullins and Clyde Lee to that roster in '66-67. Furthermore, Barry would average 35.6 ppg, and Thurmond would have the greatest season of his career. With all of that since the Wilt trade... a 44-37 record.


Back to Wilt. He would take the Sixers to the best record in the league over the course of the next three straight seasons, including a dominating title, over...you guessed it... Nate's Warriors...in a series in which Chamberlain just destroyed Thurmond.

[LAZERUSS]

BTW, let's take a look at some other "GOATs" shall we?

How about MJ? Guess what? In his highest scoring season, he led his team to a ...you guessed it...LOSING RECORD. Sure, he got them to the post-season...where they were SWEPT in the first round, in a series in which he ashot .417 from the field, and which included a clinching game performance, in a blowout loss, of 9-35 from the floor!

How about KAJ? In his the middle of his prime, he played on TWO STRAIGHT LOSING teams, and missed the playoffs in both of them. Not only that, but in one of them, Rick Barry, with a roster of no-names, led his team to a 48-34 record, and a title. BTW, and this is hilarious...KAJ won an MVP that season. :roll: :roll: :roll:

So, we can safely remove those two from ANY GOAT conversations, right?

[riseagainst]

Wilt sucks. He wilts away in the playoffs and turns into Ilt.

[Young X]

Kareem missed the playoffs in 2 consecutive seasons as well. Oscar Robertson? 3 straight times. Both were in their primes.

[feyki]

Kareem missed the playoffs in 2 consecutive seasons as well. Oscar Robertson? 3 straight times. Both were in their primes.


Kareem won mvp (also would dpoy) in 76 . Probably greatest individual force to team focused awards .

[LAZERUSS]

Kareem won mvp (also would dpoy) in 76 . Probably greatest individual force to team focused awards .

Why didn't Wilt win MVP in '63, then, when he did this...


As for Wilt's 62-63 season,...I could tell you that he...

Played 47.6 mpg
Had a PER of 31.8, which is the NBA record
Led the NBA in FIFTEEN categories
Led the league in WIN SHARES, and by a mile, at 20.9 (on a team with 31 wins.)
Averaged 38 ppg against RUSSELL in their nine H2H's

BTW, Bob McAdoo deserved the MVP in '76. And he played on a 46-36 team.

[feyki]

Why didn't Wilt win MVP in '63, then, when he did this...



BTW, Bob McAdoo deserved the MVP in '76. And he played on a 46-36 team.

Yes , you are retarded . You're right .

[livinglegend]

LAZERUSS owning wilt haters in every thread. :oldlol: :oldlol: :oldlol:
They make a statement. LAZERUSS owns them and they disappear. :applause: :applause:

[livinglegend]

He missed playoffs puting up 45ppg? Wow! talk about "Empty stats". Not only he is the GOAT choker, he might also be the GOAT stat-padder.

Wilt Chamberlame :facepalm

And you'll go in another thread and cry about how Jordan went 1-9 because his teammates were bad and how his stats were not empty. :facepalm
1-9

[Deuce Bigalow]

Kareem missed the playoffs in 2 consecutive seasons as well. Oscar Robertson? 3 straight times. Both were in their primes.
74-75 Kareem missed 17 games, 35-30 when he played, 3-14 without him.
75-76 Kareem played every game but was 40-42 which is good enough for a playoff spot some seasons (Look at MJ).

67-68 Oscar missed 17 games and his team was 35-30 with him as well, 4-13 without.
68-69 Oscar was 41-38 in the 79 games he played (0-3 without) which is a positive record that makes playoff spots in other years
69-70 Oscar missed 13 games, 32-37 record with him, 4-9 without. Possible .500 record if he was able to play more games.

None of these compare to a 31-49 record while playing all 80 games.

[LAZERUSS]

74-75 Kareem missed 17 games, 35-30 when he played, 3-14 without him.
75-76 Kareem played every game but was 40-42 which is good enough for a playoff spot some seasons (Look at MJ).

67-68 Oscar missed 17 games and his team was 35-30 with him as well, 4-13 without.
68-69 Oscar was 41-38 in the 79 games he played (0-3 without) which is a positive record that makes playoff spots in other years
69-70 Oscar missed 13 games, 32-37 record with him, 4-9 without. Possible .500 record if he was able to play more games.

None of these compare to a 31-49 record while playing all 80 games.

And neither KAJ, nor Oscar, had the cast of clowns roster that Wilt had in '63 (and then carried to the Finals the very next year.)

Nor were either anywhere near as dominant as Wilt had been in '63, either.

[Soundwave]

Wilt Chamberlain once beat Arnold Schwarzenneger in the Mr. Universe contest by training for a week. He then bench pressed Andre the Giant 500 times before a game.

[dankok8]

Actually two of Wilt's teammates in 1963 made the All-Star game... Guy Rodgers and Tom Meschery. The roster also had another HOF player in Tom Gola although he really declined that year. They had some solid role players like Wayne Hightower, Al Attles, and Willie Naulls. It wasn't a great team that could do something big. The Celtics, Lakers and even Hawks and Royals were more talented but Wilt should have led them to the playoffs.

Kareem in 1976 didn't play with a single All-Star by the way.

[LAZERUSS]

Actually two of Wilt's teammates in 1963 made the All-Star game... Guy Rodgers and Tom Meschery. The roster also had another HOF player in Tom Gola although he really declined that year. They had some solid role players like Wayne Hightower, Al Attles, and Willie Naulls. It wasn't a great team that could do something big. The Celtics, Lakers and even Hawks and Royals were more talented but Wilt should have led them to the playoffs.

Kareem in 1976 didn't play with a single All-Star by the way.

"All-stars"

Meschery: 16 ppg, 9.8 rpg, on a .425 FG% in 64 games.
Rodgers: 13.9 ppg on a career high .387 FG%
Gola: 21 games and was shipped out.

Naulls: 11.0 ppg 6.7 rpg in 47 games, which was better than any of his three seasons with Russell BTW

Hightower: 7.4 ppg on a .350 FG%.

Oh, and Wilt also had the luxury of playing with these guys...

Howie Montgomery, Fred LaCour, Dave Fedor, Ted Luckenbill, Hubie White, and Dave Gunther. SIX players who probably combined for about 8 NBA seasons.


And one more time...

Wilt's WS in that '63 season... 20.9 on a team that went 31-49. Oscar was next at 16.8, and Russell was well down the list at 13.5

I'll give KAJ his due in '76. Led the league in WS ay 17.0...on a 40 win team. McAdoo was next at 12.3.

BTW, while Chamberlain had practically no offense from anyone else (and I mean from players in their entire careers)...KAJ had a legitimate HOFer in Gail Goodrich, who averaged 19.5 ppg in '76.

And again...how about the '64 Warriors with the same exact roster, except a new coach...

48-32 and then a 4-3 series win over the 46-36 Hawks, who were much better player-for-player 2-6...in a series in which Chamberlain averaged 38.6 ppg, 23.0 rpg, and shot .559. Then Wilt slaughtered Russell in the Finals, but Russell had a 7-2 margin in HOF teammates (and Wilt's two "HOF" teammates, rookie and part-timer Thurmond, and Rodgers...who shot .326 and .258 respectively.) BTW, that was close to being a typical post-season FG% for Rodgers.

[LAZERUSS]

How good were Wilt's teammates in his '63 season?

Well, his new coach in 1964 found out pretty quickly...

http://www.si.com/vault/1964/03/02/608684/meet-the-new-wilt-chamberlain


So are the Warriors, a team that lists on its roster some of the slowest players and worst shooters ever to play in the NBA. With just 14 games remaining in the regular season, San Francisco—in next-to-last place this time last year and until recently the obvious choice to finish there again—is in first place, ahead of the St. Louis Hawks and the defending Western Division champions, the Los Angeles Lakers. There is a related phenomenon: the curious fans of early last year are back, along with quite a few brand-new ones. When they press the horn now they get a sturdy, melodious toot for their money.

San Francisco had a coach, but what Hannum got was no bargain. The team had the morale of a bunch of recruits immediately after their first G.I. haircuts. Says Hannum, "I realized how completely inadequate the team had become. They had learned to depend on Wilt so completely they were even incapable of beating a squad of rookies. I had to convince them that they, too, had responsibilities."



And yet, Chamberlain single-handedly took that cast of "Jerry's Kids" to a 48-32 record, and a 4-3 knockout of the Hawks, and then to the Finals, where they lost 4-1 to the HOF-laden Celtics, but the last two losses were in the waning seconds...in a series in which Wilt outscored Russell, per game, 29.2 ppg to 11.2 ppg; outrebounded Russell, per game, 27.8 rpg to 25.2 rpg; and outshot Russell from the field by a .517 to .386 margin.

[Angel Face]

Excuses... :sleeping

30 - 22 - 18

[LAZERUSS]

74-75 Kareem missed 17 games, 35-30 when he played, 3-14 without him.
75-76 Kareem played every game but was 40-42 which is good enough for a playoff spot some seasons (Look at MJ).

67-68 Oscar missed 17 games and his team was 35-30 with him as well, 4-13 without.
68-69 Oscar was 41-38 in the 79 games he played (0-3 without) which is a positive record that makes playoff spots in other years
69-70 Oscar missed 13 games, 32-37 record with him, 4-9 without. Possible .500 record if he was able to play more games.

None of these compare to a 31-49 record while playing all 80 games.

Let's break down KAJ's '75-76 season further, shall we?

Before we do...a little background.

In his '71-72 regular season, Kareem played 44.2 mpg, on a team that went 63-19, AND, had a scoring differential of +11.1 ppg. In that season, he averaged a career high 34.8 ppg, to go along with a .574 FG%, (in a league that shot .455 overall), and with 16.6 rpg. He did subsequently choke big time in that post-season, though. In his first round, he was held to 22.8 ppg on a .405 FG%, by a aged Nate Thurmond, who averaged 25.0 ppg on a .437 FG% against him. Fortunately, with an overwhelming edge in surrounding talent, his Bucks won that series, 4-1. Then, in next round, he averaged 33.7 ppg, on a .457 FG% against a 35 year old Wilt. However, in the last four games of that series, he couldn't hit a shot to save his life, shooting .414 from the field, in a 4-2 series loss.

Ok, after their losing season in '74-75 the Bucks traded KAJ away to a 30-52 Lakers team.

Now, here was a prime Kareem's opportunity to REALLY go after some of Wilt's records. Now he would be THE focal point of an offense that desperately needed his scoring.

So what happened? He played 41.2 mpg, for a 40-42 team that had a 106.9 to 106.8 scoring margin (obviously +0.1 ppg.) Nope, he couldn't go 44.2 mpg.

He also averaged a then career low, 27.7 ppg, on a .529 FG% (in a league that shot .458), albeit, he led the league in rpg, at 16.9. But, even that rebounding stat was somewhat deceptive. Gone were the truly great rebounders of the late 60's and early 70's...Wilt and Thurmond. Who, BTW, were also the greatest one-on-one defensive centers of all-time, as well.

So, without the GOAT defensive centers, a prime KAK should have been routinely hanging 40+ point games. For instance, in his '71-72 season, he hung 19 40+ games, including five of 50+, with his career high of 55. How about that '75-76 season? FOUR of 40+, with a high of 48.

Now, before some idiot claims that he was being more of a "team player" in '76, WHY? When he was firing the skyhook all game long in '72, his team overwhelmed the league. Now, when he doesn't, his team has a losing season. What happened? BTW, yes, scoring declined in '76 from '72...but from 110.2 ppg down to 104.3 ppg, Nothing dramatic.

And with that massive decline, in scoring, efficiency, and team record...he STILL won the MVP? In a league in which McAdoo averaged 31.1 ppg, and led his team to a 46-36 record and the playoffs?

[Deuce Bigalow]

Actually two of Wilt's teammates in 1963 made the All-Star game... Guy Rodgers and Tom Meschery. The roster also had another HOF player in Tom Gola although he really declined that year. They had some solid role players like Wayne Hightower, Al Attles, and Willie Naulls. It wasn't a great team that could do something big. The Celtics, Lakers and even Hawks and Royals were more talented but Wilt should have led them to the playoffs.

Kareem in 1976 didn't play with a single All-Star by the way.
https://media.giphy.com/media/WxDZ77xhPXf3i/200w.gif

Ouch