Why did Russell win the MVP in 1962 but not Wilt in 1972.

[coastalmarker99]

During the 1959-1960 regular season, Wilt shattered the scoring record with a 37.6 ppg mark.


And he shattered Russell's rebounding record with 27.0 RPG.

His FG% was a career-low 46.1, which was the only time he failed to shoot at least 50% in his career, but it was still way ahead of the league average of .41.0.

He also led his team to a 49 and 26 record.




Meanwhile, Russell averaged 18.2 ppg, 24.0 rpg, and shot a career-best .46.7 from the field.

Russell's Celtics, as usual, had the best record in the league, at 59-16.

Who won the MVP? Chamberlain (as well as the ROY.)


Afterwards.

In the 61-62 season, Chamberlain put up what an ESPN panel labelled as the single greatest individual season in NBA history.

As he averaged 50.4 ppg, 25.7 rpg, and shot .50.6 from the field while leading his team to a 49 and 31 record.


Meanwhile, Russell averaged 18.9 ppg, 23.6 rpg, and shot .45.7 from the field (in a league that shot .42.6 while leading his team to a 60 and 20 record.

Now, Russell did have a 4.5 to a 2.4 APG edge over Wilt, but that was it.


Yet somehow Russell still won the MVP.






Furthermore what I really find interesting is Chamberlain's 71-72 season.

Wilt led a Laker team, that had finished with a 48-34 record the year before, to a 69-13 mark in 71-72 along with a 33-game winning streak that still to this day has never been seriously threatened.

He only scored 14.8 ppg, but he led the league in rebounding and shot blocking (as he nearly always did), and led the NBA in FG% by a large margin at .64.9.

He was also first-team all-defence and had the DPOY award existed back then, he would have won it easily.

Meanwhile, Kareem's Bucks, who had won the title in 70-71 with a 66-16 record, dropped slightly to a 63-19 mark.

He did go on to average 34 16 and 4 but those marks were way less than Wilt's 61-62 season.


yet Kareem goes on to win the MVP.

What exactly changed in the voter's criteria?

It is especially strange when you consider that Cowens got the award the next year over Kareem due to team record.

[1987_Lakers]

Wilt had a teammate in Jerry West who was equally as good.

Kareem was clearly best player in the league at that point and his team won 63 games.

I can see why Kareem won the award.

[coastalmarker99]

Wilt had a teammate in Jerry West who was equally as good.

Kareem was clearly best player in the league at that point and his team won 63 games.

I can see why Kareem won the award.


Explain then why Cowens won the award over Kareem in 1973 when he had a teammate in John Havlicek who was just as good as him.


You know it is really bad when even a Celtic homer in Bill Simmons flat-out admits that Kareem got screwed.

Cowens averaged 20.5/16.2/4.1 on 45.2 FG% (-0.4 rFG%) and 48.1 TS% (-1.7 rTS%).

On the other hand, Kareem averaged 30.2/16.1/5.0 on 55.4 FG% (+9.8 rFG%) and 58.0 TS% (+8.2 rTS%).


Plus Abdul-Jabbar led the league in PER (28.5), WS (21.9), and WS/48 (.322) on a 60-plus-win team

[Kblaze8855]

The Players voted back then and it appears the initial shock of Wilts stats wore off compared to the league wide respect Russell had. When he played a more team game in Philly they voted for him 3 years in a row but doing a lesser version of it in LA must not have blown them away.

[coastalmarker99]

The Players voted back then and it appears the initial shock of Wilts stats wore off compared to the league wide respect Russell had. When he played a more team game in Philly they voted for him 3 years in a row but doing a lesser version of it in LA must not have blown them away.


Russell himself stated this about Wilt's 1971-1972 season.

Wilt is playing better than I used to –passing off, coming out to set up screens, picking up guys outside, and sacrificing himself for team play.’’ –Bill Russell, great moments in pro basketball, (by Sam Goldaper)p.24

Bill Russell on Wilt Chamberlain’s performance in the 1972 playoffs:

“Since the third game against Milwaukee, Chamberlain’s been playing the greatest center basketball has known.

(Jan 9, 1973)


Bill Sharman on ‘72 Wilt Chamberlain:

“He adjusts from game to game, high post or low post. His judgement and intelligence has been almost perfect. I know he could be scoring 3-4-5 times more points than he is now if scoring was important to him.”

(Jan 15, 1972)

[1987_Lakers]

Also think it's unfair to just go by Stats when talking about a guy like Russell.

Although you can make a great MVP case for Wilt in '62, his team only won 49 games. (80 games back then, not 82)

While Russell led a defense that was way ahead of the rest of the league in '62 and had the best record in the NBA.

Wilt became a defensive monster as he aged, but his defensive impact never reached Russell level.

[Kblaze8855]

Russell himself stated this about Wilt's 1971-1972 season.

Wilt is playing better than I used to –passing off, coming out to set up screens, picking up guys outside, and sacrificing himself for team play.’’ –Bill Russell, great moments in pro basketball, (by Sam Goldaper)p.24


I am aware. I probably posted that 15 years ago not that you have any reason to know. I have a couple of Wilts books.

But fact remains…it was on the players. The media didn’t get the vote till 1981.

In 72 the players gave 18 different people a first place vote. You aren’t gonna find a logical reason why.

[coastalmarker99]

Also think it's unfair to just go by Stats when talking about a guy like Russell.

Although you can make a great MVP case for Wilt in '62, his team only won 49 games. (80 games back then, not 82)

While Russell led a defense that was way ahead of the rest of the league in '62 and had the best record in the NBA.

Wilt became a defensive monster as he aged, but his defensive impact never reached Russell level.


Russell himself admitted that Wilt did his role even better than he did with the Celtics

Bill Russell on Wilt Chamberlain’s performance in the 1972 playoffs:

“Since the third game against Milwaukee, Chamberlain’s been playing the greatest center basketball has known.

Wilt is playing better than I used to –passing off, coming out to set up screens, picking up guys outside, and sacrificing himself for team play.’’ –Bill Russell, great moments in pro basketball, (by Sam Goldaper)p.24


This is why you can't tell me if you swap Russell and Wilt.

That the Celtics still don't win a boatload of titles throughout the 1960s.

[SouBeachTalents]

I am aware. I probably posted that 15 years ago not that you have any reason to know. I have a couple of Wilts books.

But fact remains…it was on the players. The media didn’t get the vote till 1981.

In 72 the players gave 18 different people a first place vote. You aren’t gonna find a logical reason why.
They gave a first place vote to a guy coming off a 21 win season :lol

[coastalmarker99]

They gave a first place vote to a guy coming off a 21 win season :lol

I am glad they took voting for the MVP away from the players.


1963-64 NBA MVP Writers Voting; Wilt Chamberlain Places First

Wilt - 253 points
Oscar - 225 points
Russell - 186 points
Pettit - 109 points
West - 108 points

(May 1, 1964)

Unlike the NBA MVP, the Sam Davis Award (an NBA MVP handed out by NY press) was awarded from the beginning of the NBA.

They also got the 1962 MVP right, unlike the official award

https://twitter.com/SportInfo247/status/1573789929536163841

Wilt and Rick Barry got royally ****ed out of awards due to other players disliking them.

I don't like the guy personally said one New York player about Wilt I wouldn't vote for him for anything.

Bill Russell king of the court page 113.

[Kblaze8855]

They gave a first place vote to a guy coming off a 21 win season :lol


Look up Mike Bantam 1975. For a first place vote. I made a topic on it once when people were complaining about some mvp pick the media made and how players would do better.

[jlip]

While it probably doesn't mean that much, it is worth noting that in the 1962 season the Celtics had what was then their longest losing streak of the Russell era which was four games. Russell missed those four games with an injury. That had to factor into the voting some.

[1987_Lakers]

The Players voted back then and it appears the initial shock of Wilts stats wore off compared to the league wide respect Russell had. When he played a more team game in Philly they voted for him 3 years in a row but doing a lesser version of it in LA must not have blown them away.

I'm actually surprised how well the players did when voting for MVP. Looks legit in most years.

There are some years that are questionable, like '69 & '73, '76 (Kareem won it with a losing record). But for the most part it's not that bad.

[warriorfan]

russell was more likeable then wilt and it is a narrative driven thing

players were jealous of wilt, didn’t want to give him his due

just that simple