How well do you think Wilt would have done on Kareem's teams if he replaced him.

[coastalmarker99]

What happens? More rings, fewer rings, Would Wilt win a ring with the bucks as Kareem did. Does he play as badly as Kareem did vs Nate in the 1973 playoffs? can Wilt swing the 1974 finals his way and win a title that year with the bucks.

Also, How do you think would Wilt would do on those late 70's laker teams
how many MVPs does Wilt win in the '70s and '80s
Does Wilt get more finals MVP's then Kareem even if he wins 1 ring less or 2 rings less?

How do you think Wilt does against the 80's Celtics and sixers in the finals does Moses destroy him in 1983 as he did with Kareem
How would Magic and Wilt fit together do they clash or they do they get along with each other

[coastalmarker99]

I think Wilt does not get beaten on the boards as badly as Kareem was in the 1983 finals by Moses so that series won't be a sweep.
The 1984 finals were close and could go the lakers way if magic plays a little better and the lakers don't choke as they did in games 2 and 4.

1985 through Kareem was awesome in that series I don't think the lakers win that year with Wilt but I do think the Lakers still win in 1987 and maybe 1988 with Wilt in place of Kareem as the lakers supporting cast was great.

[coastalmarker99]

The 1980 finals are also tough Kareem was great throughout the first 5 games before he got hurt can Wilt replicate at least 80 to 90 percent of that performance that year if not then the lakers are going into game 6 facing elimination through Wilt would not be hurt for game 6 like Kareem was.

[Roundball_Rock]

To generally answer the OP, those teams do worse with Wilt in place of KAJ.

Wilt lasted only 14 seasons (1960-1973). So if Wilt is drafted in 1970 that means he retires after the 1983 season--which would change 1984-1987 (even in 88' it was KAJ winning Game 6 to keep the Lakers alive). Moreover, Wilt declined a lot faster than Kareem (since KAJ had GOAT longevity) so that has to be baked in too when we look at what Wilt would be doing in his final seasons compared to what KAJ did at the some point in his career.

Wilt had a higher peak but the difference in longevity is far greater than the slight difference in peaks.


I think Wilt does not get beaten on the boards as badly as Kareem was in the 1983 finals by Moses so that series won't be a sweep

True, but Wilt also was putting up only 10.4 PPG in the playoffs at that point in his career. Kareem matched peak Moses scoring wise at 36--the difference was on the glass. What do the Lakers do if they have to go from 24 from KAJ to 10 from Wilt?


Does he play as badly as Kareem did vs Nate in the 1973 playoffs?

Wilt was 7/24 against Thurmond that same year, whereas KAJ went 23/16. Thurmond was an all-time great defender who gave a lot of people trouble relative to their normal standards.

A younger Wilt did face Thurmond in 67' and 69'. Wilt scored 17.7 and 12.0 in those series, respectively.

[1987_Lakers]

Wilt relied on his physical advantages to score, he was considerably taller and more athletic than most centers in his early NBA years. From the game tape I've seen of Wilt, his post game wasn't very refined, he looked a bit awkward to me. Put him in the 70's & 80s where players in general were better I see his scoring taking a dive, Kareem was extremely skilled, I would bet my money on Kareem being a better scorer if they both played in that time. An advantage Wilt does have on Kareem is that his defense & rebounding never really took a dip. I don't see Wilt winning at all if you place him on those mid-late 70's Lakers teams, 80's is interesting, but I can't really pin point a year where I say "Wilt would have won that year if you replaced Kareem with him". Kareem got owned in '83 by Moses, but it was still a sweep and the Sixers were an all-time great team. In '84 the Lakers lost in 7, but Kareem put up 27/8/4/2 in that series, Wilt would be on the verge of retirement in '84, no way would he impact that series like Kareem did, Kareem's scoring was too valuable & Wilt wouldn't match that scoring. Kareem even had a better series vs Boston the next year in '85, winning Finals MVP, I'm not even sure the Lakers win that series if you replace Kareem with an aging Wilt.

[Roundball_Rock]

Good points, 87. :applause:

One note, if we are assuming Wilt starts his career in 1970 that would mean he would retire after the 83' season. So the Lakers would get 0 from Wilt for 84'-86', seasons for which KAJ was still an elite player, and 87' where KAJ was still an all-star player who scored 18 PPG in the RS and 19 in the playoffs (22 in the finals). In 88' Kareem's scoring finally fell off but he still provided 15 PPG at age 40.

I think Kareem's longevity (and to a lesser extent durability) is a big reason why it is hard to think of KAJ being replaced by any legend and that team or teams doing better with the other guy. Even if you assume the player in question was slightly better, Kareem will have a big edge on longevity on anyone not named LeBron, and LeBron of course started his career out of high school so we can't really do an "apples to apples" longevity comparison between him and any other top 10 all-time player, other than Kobe.