How good was Wilt Chamberlain defensively?

[Whoah10115]

Example.

A 36-year-old Wilt blocked 446 shots in 1972-73 (5.44 a game), his 14th and final season in the league.

28-year-old Mark Eaton blocked 456 shots in 1984-85 (5.56 a game), his third season in the league, the most since blocks were an official statistic.

So Wilt at 36 years old in his last season in the league blocked 10 fewer shots than the record for most blocks in a season since they officially started recording them in '73-74. In other words, only one guy (almost 10 years his junior) in the almost 40 years after Wilt's retirement blocked more shots in a season than Wilt did the last year of his career. So if he did that his last year in the league, how many blocks did he have for his career?

Same question can be asked for Russell and Thurmond.

Well, would Thurmond be in their vicinity? From what I've seen, he didn't block nearly as much as Russell or Chamberlain...but you would have a better idea than I could.

[Colbertnation64]

Example.

A 36-year-old Wilt blocked 446 shots in 1972-73 (5.44 a game), his 14th and final season in the league.

28-year-old Mark Eaton blocked 456 shots in 1984-85 (5.56 a game), his third season in the league, the most since blocks were an official statistic.

So Wilt at 36 years old in his last season in the league blocked 10 fewer shots than the record for most blocks in a season since they officially started recording them in '73-74. In other words, only one guy (almost 10 years his junior) in the almost 40 years after Wilt's retirement blocked more shots in a season than Wilt did the last year of his career. So if he did that his last year in the league, how many blocks did he have for his career?

Same question can be asked for Russell and Thurmond.

Where did you find the statistics for Wilt blocks?

[La Frescobaldi]

Kareem spent more than half of his career not giving any effort on defense. He's not a top 15 defensive center, much less player.

that's just wrong.

Kareem is one of the very few guys that could shut down entire NBA teams for minutes.

I can think of only a very few who I have seen do it; Russell, Chamberlain, Kareem, Jack Sikma, Olajuwan, & Duncan and I really am running out of names of guys that have actually done it, multiple possessions where they destroyed the other teams' offense.

Even Moses Malone & Big Chief - great great defensive artists - I never saw them do it.

When you see it, you don't ever forget it. Defensive dominance like that might be the most exciting basketball of all. Very very rare.

Kareem's defense gets its reputation almost purely from Showtime days which is just false information. He had already run hundreds if not thousands of miles on hardwood.

[Psileas]

Example.

A 36-year-old Wilt blocked 446 shots in 1972-73 (5.44 a game), his 14th and final season in the league.

28-year-old Mark Eaton blocked 456 shots in 1984-85 (5.56 a game), his third season in the league, the most since blocks were an official statistic.

So Wilt at 36 years old in his last season in the league blocked 10 fewer shots than the record for most blocks in a season since they officially started recording them in '73-74. In other words, only one guy (almost 10 years his junior) in the almost 40 years after Wilt's retirement blocked more shots in a season than Wilt did the last year of his career. So if he did that his last year in the league, how many blocks did he have for his career?

Same question can be asked for Russell and Thurmond.

L.A Times?
I had read 2 slightly older issues (from the same seasons) with similar averages for Wilt (sth like 5.8 and 5.6 respectively).

[Whoah10115]

that's just wrong.

Kareem is one of the very few guys that could shut down entire NBA teams for minutes.

I can think of only a very few who I have seen do it; Russell, Chamberlain, Kareem, Jack Sikma, Olajuwan, & Duncan and I really am running out of names of guys that have actually done it, multiple possessions where they destroyed the other teams' offense.

Even Moses Malone & Big Chief - great great defensive artists - I never saw them do it.

When you see it, you don't ever forget it. Defensive dominance like that might be the most exciting basketball of all. Very very rare.

Kareem's defense gets its reputation almost purely from Showtime days which is just false information. He had already run hundreds if not thousands of miles on hardwood.

First of all, I wouldn't call Moses a great defender. But that's another discussion.


But I've watched tons of Kareem games from when he first got to the Lakers and he was just lazy on defense. I've always said that he had a lot more impact when he was on the Bucks. He played tough and he played hard. I've seen enough of his Laker games, pre-Magic, and he just didn't move his feet. The guy defended the pick n' roll like he was Shaq.

[ThaRegul8r]

Well, would Thurmond be in their vicinity? From what I've seen, he didn't block nearly as much as Russell or Chamberlain...but you would have a better idea than I could.

The problem with Thurmond [I]vis-

[La Frescobaldi]

[QUOTE=ThaRegul8r]The problem with Thurmond [I]vis-

[La Frescobaldi]

And that kind of skeptical viewpoint is American nature. You see it in the young guys of Ish, who will say 'vid or it didn't happen' or whatever.

A huge difference between my generation and today's though, is this.
WHEN THE FOOTAGE OF BILL RUSSELL GOES VIRAL THERE IS A REASON FOR THAT AND YOU NEED TO QUIT TALKING ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW OR ELSE LEARN TO RESPECT WHAT YOU SEE AND HEAR OF IT.

As far as I know, nobody has ever gotten their hand higher in the air than Wilt Chamberlain. He is, to this day the greatest all-round athlete I have ever seen in sports.

edit forgot to add ~ but my father, who saw Jim Thorpe, said Thorpe was at Wilt's level.

You see?

[La Frescobaldi]

There is footage of Wilt Chamberlain going right to the top of the backboard in a game. But yet young people still say stuff like Javale McGee is more athletic than Wilt Chamberlain.

They are still talking about something that they don't know..... even while they are watching video of him going higher on a vertical leap than Dwight Howard can go in a full sprint and leap. That is immaturity at its purest.

So.... after like 5 posts...... OP, how good was Wilt Chamberlain defensively?

He was, by far, the best I ever saw.

[WillC]

La Frescobaldi, your comments are some of the only posts on ISH worth reading.

[EllEffEll]

By the time Kareem (Lew Alcindor) got to the league, Wilt's knees were fairly rickety compared to his youth. It was a little sad to see him unable to play like he used to when he finally had an offensive adversary like Alcindor to go head to head with. Wilt used what he had, and the battles were epic. Great games, approaching Magic/Bird status for head to head superstar clashes in spite of the age difference.

Nate was great and of course, Bill Russell is the ultimate competitor and winner, but Kareem and Wilt were a better straight up head-to-head matchup because both were such prolific scorers in addition to being a game-changing defensive presence.

As a basketball fan in that era, it was my dream to have Wilt and Kareem be able to battle each other when both were at their peak.

Interesting discussion, and props to LaFrescobaldi (and the usual cast of characters that show up for Wilt related threads) for some well made points.

[Pointguard]

Wilt was incredibly disciplined as a defender. Yet at the same time also very active. Disciplined in that you rarely see him going after fakes (ala David Robinson). He usually waited for the defender to leave his feet. Yet he could still catch a blitzing Oscar Robinson trying to go gung ho toward the hoop. As long as Wilt waited to jump for blocks, his timing still seems impeccable - Russell blocks shots much earlier or right out of the shooters hands whereas Wilt's was more delayed. Wilt was great in that he could go for blocks and still be the best rebounder ever. So he had some science of blocking and retaining position, as did Russell who pursued players much further out.

Like Dikembe, Wilt guarded a 7 foot radius around the rim which could go further out. Wilt sucked more players in than Deke, by being a late jumper. Wilt was also a quick jumper that at times looked like he could bounce back up. This is why Frazier said you could see Wilt wind up, but he still was getting more than five blocks per game. In contrast, Russell seemed more preoccupied with offensive player movements instead of covering an area, but still lurked the basket area.

As a man defender Wilt was strong and could get great defensive position and boxed out like young Garnett/Duncan. He and Nate Thurmond shared secrets on guarding certain players. Wilt learned how to keep Kareem from his sweet spots from Thurmond who had manu a manu down to a science. Also, personally Wilt didn't like it when somebody outplayed him. Pride is one of the best things to have on defense. There is footage of Wilt saying he lost sleep when Elgin dunked on him and was disturbed that Kareem didn't have the pride quality.

Guarding Kareem, now that wasn't easy. Kareem was a very different player than he was a Laker. Kareem was fast, active and used moves and sophisticated foot movement in his earlier years. So he was a handful, and Wilt settled for being outscored, which is a pride he wouldn't have let go three years before, or pre-injury times. So a stronger Deke, with quicker leaping ability kind of gets the description close. Well, for me at least.