I don't get how you can say Lebron was more dominant than Chamberlain

[Walk on Water]

You can say he had more longevity. But individual, peak domination? Chamberlain averaged 50 in a season. He averaged over 22 rebounds per game. Lebron has nothing on him.

[8Ball]

The problem with Wilt is that his playoff stats go down massively compared to his regular season stats.

He's the only top 10 player where there is a massive dropoff in the playoffs.

50 ppg in 1962 reg season and 35 ppg in 1962 playoffs. Massive dropoffs and he played vs very sub par competition.

Take the bottom 50% of the 1962 player base and replace it with the bottom 50% of today's NBA, Wilt would not average anything close to what he did.

[Full Court]

You can say he had more longevity. But individual, peak domination? Chamberlain averaged 50 in a season. He averaged over 22 rebounds per game. Lebron has nothing on him.

You are correct. You can't say Bronie was more dominant. Unless you're a biased idiot.

Case in point: 8ball.

[coastalmarker99]

The problem with Wilt is that his playoff stats go down massively compared to his regular season stats.

He's the only top 10 player where there is a massive dropoff in the playoffs.

50 ppg in 1962 reg season and 35 ppg in 1962 playoffs. Massive dropoffs and he played vs very sub par competition.

Take the bottom 50% of the 1962 player base and replace it with the bottom 50% of today's NBA, Wilt would not average anything close to what he did.

Wilt Chamberlain playoff Statistics (1959-1966)

It is important to note this was during his seven seasons in which he was primarily used as a scorer.

Before he changed his playstyle after 1966 to focus on becoming more of an all-round player.

Points: 33.0

Rebounds: 26.3

Assists 3.0

FG% 51%

Blocks: 11.5*(based on 13 games of available data.


That is pure dominance.

[coastalmarker99]

The problem with Wilt is that his playoff stats go down massively compared to his regular season stats.

He's the only top 10 player where there is a massive dropoff in the playoffs.

50 ppg in 1962 reg season and 35 ppg in 1962 playoffs. Massive dropoffs and he played vs very sub par competition.

Take the bottom 50% of the 1962 player base and replace it with the bottom 50% of today's NBA, Wilt would not average anything close to what he did.

I've seen many people criticize Wilt for his drop in scoring average when it comes to the playoffs but fail to add the proper context that is needed.

In this comment, I will dive a little deeper into Wilt's playoff scoring.


Wilt faced a large amount of double and triple teams due to the refs allowing illegal defence to be played.

This made it difficult to get shots in a half-court setting leading to fewer shots in the playoffs.

It's also important to remember Wilt was going up against some of the greatest defensive teams in NBA history each playoff run.

Wilt Regular Season TS%: '62-'68: 54.8%

Wilt Playoffs TS%: '62-'68: 52.8%

That is a 2-percentage drop off versus all-time level defence each year.

A dip in efficiency is expected, but couple that with a decrease in FGA from lack of playmakers--being denied the ball and that explains his drop in points.

It's hardly a drop off at all--but just for the hell of it let's compare him to Lebron vs top defences sorted:


LeBron: 2008: vs. Celtics: 26.7 ppg on .48.0 TS% (-6.0 rTS) (-8.6 rDRtg, 1st ranked defense)


2014: vs. Pacers: 22.8 ppg on .63.7 TS% (+9.6 rTS) (-7.4 rDRtg, 1st ranked defense)


2011: vs. Celtics: 28.0 ppg on .55.3 TS% (+1.2 rTS) (-7.0 rDRtg, 1st ranked defense)


2011: vs. Bulls: 25.8 ppg on .56.9 %TS (+2.8 rTS) (-7.0 rDRtg, 2nd ranked defense)


2007: vs. Spurs: 22 ppg on .42.8 %TS (-11.3 rTS) (-6.6 rDRtg, 2nd ranked defense)



Wilt: 1964: vs. Celtics 29.2 ppg on .50.9 TS% (+2.4 rTS) (-10.8 rDRtg, 1st ranked defense)


1965: vs. Celtics 30.1 ppg on .57.5 TS% (+9.6 rTS) (-7.4 rDRtg, 1st ranked defense)


1962: vs. Celtics 33.6 ppg on .51.5 TS% (+3.6 rTS) (-8.5 rDRtg, 1st ranked defense)


1966: vs. Celtics: 28.0 ppg on .50.0 %TS (+1.3 rTS) (-6.6 rDRtg, 1st ranked defense)


1960: vs. Celtics: 30.5 ppg on .51.0 %TS (+4.7 rTS) (-6.2 rDRtg, 1st ranked defense)


Toughest competition. Still efficient--just fewer shots.

A big reason he wasn't dropping 40+ points anymore is that he went from playing against awful-to-average defences for most of the reg season to all-time goat level defences for an entire series in the 1st-2nd rounds.

Essentially, it was more of a result of Wilt's teammates and aspects of the era rather than his own lack of abilities.

[TheGoatest]

The problem with Wilt is that his playoff stats go down massively compared to his regular season stats.

He's the only top 10 player where there is a massive dropoff in the playoffs.

50 ppg in 1962 reg season and 35 ppg in 1962 playoffs. Massive dropoffs and he played vs very sub par competition.

Take the bottom 50% of the 1962 player base and replace it with the bottom 50% of today's NBA, Wilt would not average anything close to what he did.

Not only do Wilt's playoff stats drop drastically compared to his regular season stats, but his finals stats drop even further than his already dropped playoff stats. Just look at this comparison between Wilt and his CONTEMPORARIES:

https://images4.imagebam.com/34/c9/5c/ME8U1C3_o.png

Friggin Tom Heinsohn outscored him in the finals nearly 2-1, despite playing fewer minutes. If we're discussing the most dominant regular season player ever, then Wilt certainly deserves to be in the discussion. But regular season + playoffs + finals combined?? If you even dream of comparing Wilt to LeBron, you better wake up and apologize. :oldlol:

[coastalmarker99]

Not only do Wilt's playoff stats drop drastically compared to his regular season stats, but his finals stats drop even further than his already dropped playoff stats. Just look at this comparison between Wilt and his CONTEMPORARIES:

https://images4.imagebam.com/34/c9/5c/ME8U1C3_o.png

Friggin Tom Heinsohn outscored him in the finals nearly 2-1, despite playing fewer minutes. If we're discussing the most dominant regular season player ever, then Wilt certainly deserves to be in the discussion. But regular season + playoffs + finals combined?? If you even dream of comparing Wilt to LeBron, you better wake up and apologize. :oldlol:

Wilt's 23 "must-win" playoff games:

12-11 W-L record

31.1 ppg (Regular season career average was 30.1 ppg)

26.1 rpg (Regular season career average was 22.9 rpg)

3.4 APG (Regular season career average was 4.4 APG)

54.0 FG% (Regular season career average was .54.0 FG%)

3 games of 50+ points

5 games of 40+ points (including a Finals 40+ elimination game)

13 games of 30+ points

6 games of 30+ rebounds

20 games of 20+ rebounds


Also The reason Wilt's finals scoring numbers appear so skewed for his career is -

he only played 1 series of 5 NBA Finals games as a scorer (attempting 24 shots per game in those 5 games) and averaged 29ppg that finals (averaged 33 vs those Celtics that regular season).

For the rest of his NBA Finals career he literally took 11.7 shots per game for all the other series combined.

Because he was older and chose to play a Russell like role on all those teams as they often had good shooters or other ball-dominant superstars much like the Celtics of that time.

[Full Court]

It's funny how every single person trying to rewrite history and disparage Wilt is a Bronie. Funny how that works....

[Baller789]

It's funny how every single person trying to rewrite history and disparage Wilt is a Bronie. Funny how that works....

It's not surprising. They are not really fans of the game so all they do is diss on the history of the game and past greats to prop up their cringy hero.