[QUOTE=jlauber]At his peak, Oscar was more like a 30-10-10 guy.[/QUOTE]
Well, I meant more along the lines of 20+.
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[QUOTE=jlauber]At his peak, Oscar was more like a 30-10-10 guy.[/QUOTE]
Well, I meant more along the lines of 20+.
I also get a kick out of those that make claims like, "well, Wilt wouldn't put up those numbers in this era."
Perhaps not, but, they also tend to forget that he was the ONLY player putting up those numbers in HIS era. Before Wilt came into the NBA in the 59-60 season, the NBA record for scoring was 29.2 ppg. The record for rebounding was 23.0 rpg. And the record for FG% was .490. He not only easily surpassed all of those records, he OBLITERATED them. By the time Wilt retired following his 72-73 season, he had the scoring record of 50.4 ppg (and another season at 44.8 ppg); he had the rebounding record of 27.2 rpg (and another at 27.0 rpg; and he has the FG% record of .727 (and another at .683.)
Furthermore, since Wilt retired, the highest scoring seasons have been Jordan's 37.1 ppg in '87, and Kobe's 35.4 ppg in '06. BUT, during Wilt's career, and even slightly after it, the NBA had players like Barry who averaged 35.6 ppg in '67 (and then a 30.2 ppg season ten years later); Baylor with a 34.0 ppg season; and Kareem's 34.8 ppg in '72. And McAdoo had a 34.5 ppg season in the early 70's, and Archibald had a 34.0 season, as well.
Continuing, Kobe took 27 FGAs in 41 mpg in his '06 season, and MJ took 28 FGAs in 40 mpg in his '87 season. Wilt had several seasons in the 30's, with a high of 39.7 in his '62 season, BUT, factoring in his mpg, and his team's overall shots, Chamberlain actually shot the ball less, in terms of his team's shots, than MJ or Kobe did in their high seasons. And, here again, it was ONLY Wilt in HIS era. Barry and Baylor had a couple of seasons just under 30 FGAs, but that was basically it. And Bellamy was the only center, aside from Wilt, to have a 20+ FGA season, with 24 in his '62 season, ( and he only did it once), until Kareem arrived in the early 70's. And even Kareem could only get to around 25 per game.
So, while so many here point out the "PACE" of the game in Wilt's era, it must be pointed out that ONLY Chamberlain could consistently get 30-40 FGAs per game. Why? Because once he got the ball, he was unstoppable...despite being swarmed. It made no difference if he was 15 ft. away, either. He could get his shot, and virtually no one could stop it. As great a defender as Russell was, he not only had help in defending Wilt...he could only contain him to the point of 30+ ppg games, instead of 40+ ppg games. And Wilt had FIVE 50+ point games against Russell, including a 62 point game (on 27-45 shooting), and a TOTAL of 24 40+ point games (including several in the post-season...with a high of 50 in the playoffs against him.) A PRIME Wilt could pour in 45 points against Thurmond, 58 against Reed, and 73 against Bellamy. And all of those players are in the HOF.
Regarding rebounding...yes, there were more rebounds to be had in Wilt's era. But, he absolutely crushed EVERY center he faced in that category. He outrebounded Russell, who is the second greatest rebounder ever, by a staggering FIVE rpg over the course of their 142 H2H games. He outrebounded EVERY center he faced in EVERY post-season in all 29 post-season series in which he played, including Thurmond by over six rpg in the '73 playoffs. He also outrebounded Kareem in their 29 H2H games, and some by huge margins (in one game he outrebounded him by a 25-8 margin.)
Furthermore, Wilt LED the NBA in rebounding in his LAST year, at 18.6 rpg...in a league with Thurmond, Cowens, Unseld, Lucas, and Kareem...all considered great rebounders at the time. Even more remarkably, in his 17 post-season games in that final season, he averaged 22.5 rpg. In fact, he NEVER averaged less than 20 rpg in his 13 post-seasons, and had high post-seasons of over 30!
Consider this...Wilt led the NBA in rebounding in his LAST season...at 18.6 rpg, while Cowens was at 16.2 rpg, Kareem was at 16.1 rpg, and Unseld was at 15.9 rpg. (BTW, Thurmond was second at 17.1 rpg.) Kareem would win his only rebounding title in his 75-76 season, at 16.9, barely edging Cowens, who was at 16.0 rpg.
So, here was Wilt, at well past his prime, and playing on a surgically repaired knee, leading the league in rebounding in his LAST season, and then really elevating his rebounding in the post-season (once again, at 22.5 rpg.)
Interesting, too, that Chamberlain's 18.6 rpg season in his LAST season, which was among the WORST of his career, would hold up as the highest until Rodman's 18.7 rpg in 91-92. BTW, while Wilt rose from 18.6 rpg in the regular season, to 22.5 rpg in his final post-season...Rodman's 18.7 rpg fell to 10.2 rpg in his '92 playoffs.
How about FG%? Wilt won NINE FG% titles in his 14 year career. Only Shaq, with ten, in 18+ seasons, has more. And, think about this: Wilt not only led the NBA in FG% in his LAST season, he set an NBA record of .727 (and .649 in his 71-72 season BTW.) The assumption, of course, being that Chamberlain might very well have led the NBA for another few years, as well.
As remarkable as Wilt's FG% numbers were (the two highest seasons of all-time, and three of the top-5), they were LIGHT YEARS ahead of his peers. Chamberlain was shooting .683 (and averaging 24.1 ppg in the process), in a league that shot .441. He beat out his nearest competitor that season, Bellamy, who shot .521, by a whopping .162 margin...which is an all-time differential...and only challenged by his .157 margin in his 72-73 season. And Wilt's .727 season in 72-73 was an astonishing .271 ahead of the league average. Wilt's .242 and .271 margins over the league average are WAY ahead of anyone else's best seasons, ...as are his .162 and .157 margins over his nearest competitor. Even in his "scoring" seasons, his margins over the league average were impressive. He averaged 50.4 ppg on .506 shooting in a league that shot .426. He averaged 44.8 ppg on .528 shooting, in a league that shot .441. And he averaged 33.5 ppg on .540 shooting, in a league that shot .433.
So, here is the bottom line. BEFORE Wilt...the best scoring season was 29.2 ppg; the best rebounding season was 23.0 rpg; and the best shooting season was .490. AFTER Wilt, the best scoring season has been 37.1 ppg; the best rebounding season has been 18.7 rpg; and the best shooting season has been .670. DURING the Wilt era, Chamberlain had scoring seasons of 50.4 ppg, 44.8 ppg, and even 38.4 ppg. In fact, in his first seven seasons, he averaged 39.4 ppg...combined! During the Wilt era, Chamberlain had rebounding seasons of 27.2 rpg, 27.0 rpg, and even 25.7 rpg. AND, he was even BETTER in his post-seasons...with entire post-seasons of 30, 29, and 27. And finally, DURING the Wilt era, Chamberlain had FG% seasons of .727, and .683...and in his career, he played in league that ranged from .410 to .456 shooting.
Once again...it was ONLY Chamberlain...
[IMG]http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me0an4jRRH1redybyo1_500.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maz7q5xpd01qe1x8qo1_500.jpg[/IMG]
That Detroit lineup... Hall of Famers are bold, and a couple real strong players in red:
[B]Dave Bing [/B]
George Carter
Len Chappell
[B]Dave DeBusschere[/B]
[COLOR="Red"]Terry Dischinger 3 time All-Star
[/COLOR]44
Terry wasn't an All-Star that I know of but he was a Steve Kerr type shooter but with lots of driving ability
Sonny Dove
Jim Fox fine utility Center Forward
[COLOR="Red"]Happy Hairston - won a ring in '72 with Wilt, they are still the only tandem to each get 1000 rebounds each in a season
[/COLOR]10 Paul Long
14 Eddie Miles
20 George Patterson
16 Joe Strawder
23 John Tresvant
[COLOR="Red"]5 Tom Van Arsdale 3x AllStar, he and his brother were real strong NBA players for years
24 Jimmy Walker Jumpin' Jimmy Walker!! One of my favorite players from those days, smooth, athletic, skilled.
[/COLOR]
Nobody knew what a Triple Double was in those days, the name hadn't been invented yet.
Chamberlain said he had 12 blocks in that game, and I believe he quoted Harvey Pollack, the Sixers stats man, as his source.
12 blocks was merely a great game for Wilt so it's easily believable. Especially against the bottom feeding Pistons.
One of the memories that will always stand out for me was to do with Dave DeBusschere. Chamberlain came down with the ball on a rebound, and Dave grabbed that ball with both hands. Well Wilt just lifted that ball [B][I]and Debusschere[/I][/B] and just threw a baseball pass down court. DeBusschere let go and dropped back onto the court. We all wondered if Wilt would have thrown Dave down the court too.
DeBusschere was truly a great player - a key player in the terrific Knicks teams of the Championship 70s. He could rebound like nobody's business, lights out shooter [I]and[/I] he was real sharp:
On defense, DeBusschere would start putting his forearm in a guy's back. In those days you had the legal handcheck, but actually the refs used their judgement on about everything. So Dave would start doing that long about the second quarter, and he would get the refs used to seeing it. If they didn't instantly blow whistle, why he'd proceed to use that forearm for the rest of the game. By fourth quarter it would just about be a forearm shiver and the poor guy that Dave was defending would just be a punching bag.
But no mistake if the refs whistled him he would go to straight basketball and he was a monster. Stamina? WOW
I think everybody's forgetting Rondo's 18/17/20 last season. I think that's the closest one.
[url]http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201203040BOS.html[/url]
JaVale would put up similar numbers in Wilt's days for the same reason Wilt dominated in his era - nobody else was as freakishly athletic as him. Very few guys could match up to Wilt height-wise let alone athleticism.
[QUOTE=swi7ch]JaVale would put up similar numbers in Wilt's days for the same reason Wilt dominated in his era - nobody else was as freakishly athletic as him. Very few guys could match up to Wilt height-wise let alone athleticism.[/QUOTE]
Here's Wilt at the top:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EpVZS26BUs[/url]
now whether that is exactly the top of the backboard? I dunno. Looks like it.
But it's vertical at least as high as Dwight got when he had full sprint and leap.
I've never seen anybody else like Sixer Chamberlain in 40+ years of looking
[QUOTE=La Frescobaldi]Here's Wilt at the top:
[B][url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EpVZS26BUs[/url][/B]
now whether that is exactly the top of the backboard? I dunno. Looks like it.
But it's vertical at least as high as Dwight got when he had full sprint and leap.
I've never seen anybody else like Sixer Chamberlain in 40+ years of looking[/QUOTE]
:bowdown: