coastalmarker99
04-11-2021, 08:41 AM
"Jordan is the most visible player of the present; I'm the most visible player of the past," Chamberlain said. "I just don't see how (broadcaster and former center) Bill Walton has the right to say Michael's the greatest player ever. He can only say it's his opinion of the players he's seen. He saw me three or four years with the Lakers, that's all."
Still “I think Michael Jordan should get 10% of every guy’s contract. Because he’s made basketball exciting. Young guys coming up should be taking their hat off to Michael Jordan.”
Being 60 allows Chamberlain to offer a perspective on the growth of the NBA, on changes in the game. He retired after the 1972-73 season and says he hasn't attended "more than five games" since, but that he watches as many as he can. His bedroom system includes two huge TV sets and three dishes.
"When you're young and you're faster, stronger and jump higher than anyone, at the lower levels of the game you can be far above your contemporaries," he said. "At that point, you're depending on talent rather than knowledge.
"I compare Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins. Dominique is gifted, can jump to the moon. Yet there's Bird, seemingly slower, can't jump more than 4 or 5 inches.
Apparently, Bird had something Dominique doesn't have. The league is full of those guys. But my favourites in recent years have been Bird, Magic, Jordan and Sir Charles (Barkley). They could play in any era and rebound, pass, score, run, the complete game.
"Too many guys have become specialists. We've limited some of them to doing just the part they can do."
Chamberlain seems to be enjoying the league's concept of a 50th anniversary, but questions whether it's enough.
"Basketball has been totally good to me, and I've reciprocated," he said. "No organization in sports has done more to elevate men of colour, to give them a chance to prove themselves worthy in all endeavours, than the NBA, and they're to be applauded for that.
"But they've forgotten the people who started it, people like Danny Biasone (who invented the 24-second clock), like Walter Brown (the former owner of the Boston Celtics). I understand that the media is out there to sell today's game, the same way Oldsmobile is trying to sell today's model, not the 1956 one. But the league and the media need to pay more attention to those who have come before. I'm putting the knock on the league for that a little in the book."
What about the differences between the players of Chamberlain's era and now?
"Some of the problems today are not the fault of the kids," he said. "When I was in high school, did that stop me from working? I was a bellhop at Kutsher's (in the Catskills). I remember one day, Red Auerbach wanted (the high school kids) to practice at 3 p.m. I said, 'Hey, Red, at 3 I'm servicing the mahjong games.' I'm not intentionally picking out one guy, but how many jobs has Shaquille O'Neal ever had? Today's young players don't know what it means to be out there in the workforce.
"Again, I understand. A family sees a chance for a kid to make zillions of dollars. Our parents said having a paper route was part of the deal. That's why I see young guys - like Kenny Anderson - with talent but not the work ethic.
"Every tall black kid is compared to Wilt, not Bill Russell. Am I the standard? Yet when they want to talk about standards, the media goes to other doggone places. Along comes Shaquille O'Neal. He plays as different from me as I did from Bird. I resent people not understanding that. I was skinny, weighed 100 pounds less than Shaq when I came in, but I was breaking records, doing incredible things."
Still “I think Michael Jordan should get 10% of every guy’s contract. Because he’s made basketball exciting. Young guys coming up should be taking their hat off to Michael Jordan.”
Being 60 allows Chamberlain to offer a perspective on the growth of the NBA, on changes in the game. He retired after the 1972-73 season and says he hasn't attended "more than five games" since, but that he watches as many as he can. His bedroom system includes two huge TV sets and three dishes.
"When you're young and you're faster, stronger and jump higher than anyone, at the lower levels of the game you can be far above your contemporaries," he said. "At that point, you're depending on talent rather than knowledge.
"I compare Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins. Dominique is gifted, can jump to the moon. Yet there's Bird, seemingly slower, can't jump more than 4 or 5 inches.
Apparently, Bird had something Dominique doesn't have. The league is full of those guys. But my favourites in recent years have been Bird, Magic, Jordan and Sir Charles (Barkley). They could play in any era and rebound, pass, score, run, the complete game.
"Too many guys have become specialists. We've limited some of them to doing just the part they can do."
Chamberlain seems to be enjoying the league's concept of a 50th anniversary, but questions whether it's enough.
"Basketball has been totally good to me, and I've reciprocated," he said. "No organization in sports has done more to elevate men of colour, to give them a chance to prove themselves worthy in all endeavours, than the NBA, and they're to be applauded for that.
"But they've forgotten the people who started it, people like Danny Biasone (who invented the 24-second clock), like Walter Brown (the former owner of the Boston Celtics). I understand that the media is out there to sell today's game, the same way Oldsmobile is trying to sell today's model, not the 1956 one. But the league and the media need to pay more attention to those who have come before. I'm putting the knock on the league for that a little in the book."
What about the differences between the players of Chamberlain's era and now?
"Some of the problems today are not the fault of the kids," he said. "When I was in high school, did that stop me from working? I was a bellhop at Kutsher's (in the Catskills). I remember one day, Red Auerbach wanted (the high school kids) to practice at 3 p.m. I said, 'Hey, Red, at 3 I'm servicing the mahjong games.' I'm not intentionally picking out one guy, but how many jobs has Shaquille O'Neal ever had? Today's young players don't know what it means to be out there in the workforce.
"Again, I understand. A family sees a chance for a kid to make zillions of dollars. Our parents said having a paper route was part of the deal. That's why I see young guys - like Kenny Anderson - with talent but not the work ethic.
"Every tall black kid is compared to Wilt, not Bill Russell. Am I the standard? Yet when they want to talk about standards, the media goes to other doggone places. Along comes Shaquille O'Neal. He plays as different from me as I did from Bird. I resent people not understanding that. I was skinny, weighed 100 pounds less than Shaq when I came in, but I was breaking records, doing incredible things."