Wilt played against better competition than Kareem did.

[coastalmarker99]

"So, I ran a little study...re: strength of competition. Which is paramount when assessing both value, and greatness.



Kareem vs. Wilt (includes all playoff games):

Wilt simply played against much better competition than Kareem did, overall. Consider this:


Kareem played 54.7% of his career games against teams under .500.


Kareem played only 45.3% of his career games against teams over .500.


Wilt played only 41.9% of his games against teams under .500.


Wilt played 58.1% of his games against teams over .500.


Moreover, Wilt played 254 games against teams over .600, career. That's 21% of his total games.


Kareem played 105 games against teams over .600, career. That's only 5.8% of his total games.


No comparison, period. Wilt played against much better competition, overall, in a much stronger league."



Also, it should be noted that Wilt played 72% of his career games (865 of 1205) against Hall of Fame Centers.


While Kareem played only 37% of his career games (659 of 1797) against Hall of Famers.

[coastalmarker99]

The NBA added 8 Expansion Teams from 1970-1976.

1970: Clippers, Cavaliers, Trailblazers

1974: Jazz

1976: Nuggets, Pacers, Nets, Spurs


The overall team winning percentages of these franchises those years:

7 seasons:

Clippers: .40.4

Cavs: .40.2

Blazers: .38.2


3 seasons:

Jazz: .39.0


1 season:

Nuggets: .61.0

Pacers:.43.9

Nets: .26.8

Spurs: .53.8


That's a weighted average of a .43.9 winning percentage. Awful teams.

And yet


First 10 seasons for Kareem

Kareem's teams in PO

9-7 in series

44-34 in games

1 title

2 total Finals




And first 10 seasons for Wilt's teams in POs

10-8 in series

51-47 in games

1 title

3 total finals.

[Psileas]

The combination of the ratio of HOF players in his position Wilt had to face per average and of the level of opposing teams, especially in his own conference, is unmatched by any GOAT candidate. Bill Russell definitely comes overall the closest, but Wilt still takes the cake, because of Bill playing with better teams and because early 70's competition > late 50's.

[iamgine]

Well naturally because there were a lot less teams back then. They play each other more often.

You should see Walt Bellamy's competition. It blows both Wilt and Kareem's.

[Psileas]

There's a reason I wrote "any GOAT candidate", which Bellamy wasn't (and even more so some random, modest starter of a bad team who would have even "tougher" competition).

[Jasper]

OP is an idiot ,, average NBA player in the 60's was like 6'7" , each decade players got taller and stronger.
Wilt never played against Moses Malone in his prime , as well as other significant larger and more athletic bball'ers.
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