Wilt Chamberlain had a fade away jump shot

[JohnMax]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O9MgNfcGJA

[Gotterdammerung]

The odd thing about this shot was that it was a low percentage one, even though Chamberlain had a good touch, and that it took him out of rebounding position. As Chamberlain got older, he stopped going to this shot, especially after moving back to Philadelphia, and more willing to give it up to a teammate to hit the open shot.

Hakeem Olajuwon went to this shot more and more the older he got, and further and further out, far enough to the point he was fading left outside of the baseline!

[hiphopanonymous]

The odd thing about this shot was that it was a low percentage one, even though Chamberlain had a good touch, and that it took him out of rebounding position. As Chamberlain got older, he stopped going to this shot, especially after moving back to Philadelphia, and more willing to give it up to a teammate to hit the open shot.

Hakeem Olajuwon went to this shot more and more the older he got, and further and further out, far enough to the point he was fading left outside of the baseline!
This is a total fabrication as far as I've ever been able to deduce. Just seems to have appeared out of thin air from fans who didn't want to give Wilt Chamberlain credit.

Wilt has insane scoring records and he never - I repeat never - took this shot out of his repertoire.

Be it 100 points, or be it 18 for 18 FG in one game with multiple NBA records of consecutive FG's without a miss which was so many it happened over a multi-game stretch (35 straight). Don't come in here with theories about his accuracy unless you can prove it.

There is now undeniable footage in substantial quantities at this point of him taking fall away jump shots every. single. season. of. his. career. Yes it took him out of rebounding position. But it wasn't his first option shot. He'd give you a middle attack and a baseline attack to the rim first. Offensive fouls were called more often back then, so when he felt like going to the middle or baseline wasn't a good fit for his next attack he'd just have one of the all-time best 3rd option shots. That fall-away. He can get it off no matter how he was defended because it was guaranteed to create space.

I think people often mistake this shot as one of his attacks. His attacks are to the middle first. A-la a Kareem Skyhook is an attack to the middle. Wilt's attack was a finger roll - identical footwork for example to Kareem trying to get into the middle. (Crab dribbles and Drop steps, etc). And he's always in position to rebound his own shot this way as with any other player going to the middle.

So he has a great backup plan with a fall-away so what? It's an extra dimension that literally most centers don't have. It's not a knock that he has it it's a plus hands down. - And he never stopped taking it.

[Gotterdammerung]

It was a low percentage shot, when compared to some of the other shots in Chamberlain's repertoire - right handed layup off the right block, dipper dunk, etc.
:kobe:
By shooting and scoring less in the last 7 years of his career, Chamberlain reduced if not wholly eliminated this shot from his game, and passed the ball a lot more. As a result he won two titles and made the finals 4 times in his final 5 seasons.

[hiphopanonymous]

It was a low percentage shot, when compared to some of the other shots in Chamberlain's repertoire - right handed layup off the right block, dipper dunk, etc.
:kobe:
By shooting and scoring less in the last 7 years of his career, Chamberlain reduced if not wholly eliminated this shot from his game, and passed the ball a lot more. As a result he won two titles and made the finals 4 times in his final 5 seasons.

I've been working on a post-up project about Wilt for literally years and one day I'll have it finished and clear up these horse shit theories about his post up shot repertoire.

He did not eliminate the fall away at all. It was ALWAYS in his repertoire.

• The biggest change in the Warriors years was (peaks and valleys from 38-50-38ppg etc) was coaching based, instructing him whether to shoot more or pass more. Offense always ran through him in the post first. Due to his quality of teammates shooting ability he and his coaches all felt he should shoot it at those rates. And even though today we say "wow, lower percentage years" - remember he was setting ALL-TIME FG% records even these years.
• Biggest change in Sixers years was similarly - coach dependent and offense still always ran through Wilt. He had better teammates so he shot it even less often when posting up. Still touched it in the post most of the time to decide the fate of the basketball on a possession. Still took fallaways as "3rd option shot". May have reduced them in favor of hitting a shooter, but never got rid of that shot and he took less of ALL post up opportunities not just fall aways to allow his teammates to shoot it more often.
• Lakers years now he's sharing the ball with 3 superstars and the problem of 3 stars 1 basketball happens. No longer is the offense run through Wilt from this point forward. Baylor needs the ball in hand and not only that he needs Wilt OUT of the post so Wilt is forced to move away from the hoop and do nothing on offense but set screens and pass from the high post or mid range and be ready for a rebound a far higher percentage of a game than ever before. He still posts up a good portion for himself to have his own offense intact. He still takes the exact repertoire he's always taken including fallaways.
• Lakers years from 1972-73 where his offense totally plummets is his "I'll play like Bill Russell" years. He focuses more on just his defensive game (which he also always had) but a difference now is more outlet passes and less incentive to move himself up to the offensive end at all. He's - by choice - now the Lakers last ditch effort for points and it's not because he sucked at scoring it's just a team dynamic that seemed to work well and kept the Lakers a running team. He tosses in points at a super high accuracy clip because he only posts up when the Lakers can't seem to hit a basket and want a different look. He'll have random games of 0-10 points. Then a random 25-30 point game. He didn't suck, he just showed up when he was needed. Taking fall away shots - still.

This stuff is on tape. I'd heard for years he retired the shot. If that were true the tape wouldn't exist let alone be prolific. His posts ups look the same throughout his career. He tries middle, he tries baseline - he tries to probe the defense for a weakness in the armor getting to the hoop first. He's also pretty well aware of his teammates and will hit them if it seems like a good shot - and if he's got nothing else he's always got that nice fallaway to literally fall back on as a pretty good last ditch shot option.