Wilt Chamberlain troll questions answered, for the greater good of the internet:

[CavaliersFTW]

A troll asked a bunch of questions dismissively on Wilt Chamberlain in an effort to ridicule both Wilt Chamberlain and the people who try and understand where he fits in the history of the game. Some of the questions, though dismissive by intent, are actually good questions for people new to evaluating where he fits in the history of the game. So, exclusively for the sake of those who browse the site with curiosity, I'll answer the questions.

Do you (I) believe Wilt is the _____ player:

1. strongest

He's got the best case in my opinion. Too much testimony requires being ignored to think otherwise. For the same reasons the other two obvious candidates are Shaquille O'Neal and Artis Gilmore. Good as people may think they look in pictures I do not believe players like Ben Wallace or Karl Malone or David Robinson are legitimate candidates, as they were ultimately not massive enough and did not create the same kind of testimony Wilt, Shaq, and Artis drew from the players around them.

2.longest/longer than Shaq

Manute Bol was longer and it isn't close. Wilt Chamberlain is longer than Shaq though. 1" in the wingspan, and about an inch in height, 2" in standing reach. So not by much, but yes longer than Shaq.

3.heaviest/Shaqs equal

Are we strictly speaking weight? No not Shaq's equal in weight. Wilt was
260-320. Mostly 290-310. Shaq was 300-370. Mostly 315-350. The thing that is usually pointed out here, is Shaq got visibly fat so this weight is not some sort of obvious indication of who's stronger.

4.longest wingspan and standing reach

Again. No. Even in Wilt's own era, Nate Thurmond allegedly had the same wingspan, plus even higher standing reach. Looking at draft data, Wilt is among the highest, like 99.9x percentile and would no doubt blow draft scouts away. But again, Manute Bol takes the cake here, and it literally isn't close.

5.fastest

Among the fastest centers or could be one of the fastest centers ever, yes. Significantly faster than Bill Russell or Elvin Hayes for example, according to Track and Field times of those two. Actually faster than many guards and forwards who's Track and Field times are also known. According to 40 yard dash times, as fast as LeBron James.

6.best endurance

Unquestionably. His minutes records prove it. And the testimony from players and coaches backs it up, he never appeared to get tired.

7.best hops

For a 7 footer, he'd have a case. Not all time. The leagues best leaping little guys jump higher.

8.best powerdunker

Pre-breakaway rim era he's the most powerful guy dunking. Though a few guys attacked the rim with less care as to whether or not it stayed in one piece. Gus Johnson and Darryl Dawkins for example. Breakaway rims changed the dynamics of what could be done while dunking. I won't judge past that.

9.best post moves

If by best you mean most effective at using his own physical tools in the post to score or assist, gotta be in the discussion, always. He's both the most prolific, and most accurate scorer in the history of the NBA and the only center in NBA history to lead the league in assists. All of his isolation baskets came exclusively on post-ups, as did most of his passes.

10.bank shot like TD

It's on film.

11.fadeaway like Dirk

It's on film.

12.best scorer, rebounder, shot blocker of all time

Again, subjective. Best scorer... well he's most prolific and most accurate has all the records. In my opinion yes. Rebounder, most rebounds ever, almost never let an opponent out rebound him, has all the records, so in my opinion yes. Shot blocker we don't have sufficient data. Harvey Pollack states Wilt blocked more shots than Russell. If by volume, you could say yes. Most people suggest Russell was a better defensive player regardless if Wilt blocked more shots though.

13.best assisting center

When he was asked to do it, yep. Is leading the league in total assists or finishing top 3, even among guards, just a fluke? No other center even came close to this.

14.never outplayed

No one ever said this. Any player can get outplayed. Even MJ, Lebron, Kobe, etc. Anyone, no matter how good, can get outplayed. The best players get outplayed the least. Wilt didn't get outplayed often.

15.never chocked/never lost a series he should have won

I believe choked is bullshit term in the world of sports misused by journalists and fans. I believe teams both win and lose series, not individual players.

16.winning mentality on par with MJ

Competitiveness and desire to win at everything he tried, including basketball, yes. This is what people say about him. This is what his actions indicate. He's begrudgingly stated contradictory things to the media, but his actions and the words of those that knew him are more powerful than his words.

17.the games (38 or so) Kareem outscored him doesn't count because Wilt had had a knee operation

No. They count. But testimony is important because Wilt's role through most of those match ups was not the same as Kareem's (gunning high volume shots for his team). As such, looking up head to head coverage is an important tool to see who actually was determined to outplay who during specific games and series. For example, stats don't indicate Wilt outplayed Kareem in 1972 playoffs... but the coverage and opinions of players/fans who saw the series does. The same is true in my opinion of the Russell and Wilt match ups. Russell outplayed Wilt in many match ups that he scored less points. Points don't tell the story when roles are different.

18.slept with 20000 women

Who even cares about this?

19.killed a mountain lion with bare hands

To be clear, the story as told to his friend Cal Ramsey was that a mountain jumped on his back and he threw the mountain lion off him. No mention of killing anything. But again... aren't we talking basketball, who even cares about stories like this?

20.world class volleyballer, weight lifter and track athlete

A few important corrections: Professional volleyballer, world class strength, and world class potential in Track and Field. (Big eight High-jump and triple jump competitor. His High Jump PR was good enough for 5th place in the 1956 Olympics, and he showed much room for improvement). Also exceptional natural ability that went untapped/untrained in a variety of other running and field events.

21. Ran 40 yards at 4.6 weighing ~345 pounds wearing suit and tie, and barefoot

Great example of why these questions were asked by a troll. It's been posted numerous times, the article and photograph of Wilt with Hank Stram. Stram timed Chamberlain's 40 at 4.6. Specifically cited his weight at 290. Wearing dress pants. Bare foot. The suit and tie shit, the 345lbs, that comes only from a petulant person aiming to ridicule.

I don't see how any of these answers could be considered outrageous. But allow me to predict a lot of fake skepticism and outrage by about 4 or 5 posters. Do not be fooled by these 4 or 5 posters, they will fill up the posts in this thread but they represent a minority. I believe this picture encapsulates their behavior:

[Ramza]

Tldr

[josh99]

Please stop. You and Lazerus are becoming the 60's version of Euroleague.

I have nothing against Wilt, in fact he's one of my favourite players and IMO either 1 or 2 all time. But all you are doing is letting trolls get into your head and making everyone else hate Wilt.

[CavaliersFTW]

Please stop. You and Lazerus are becoming the 60's version of Euroleague.

I have nothing against Wilt, in fact he's one of my favourite players and IMO either 1 or 2 all time. But all you are doing is letting trolls get into your head and making everyone else hate Wilt.

I answered questions. Nothing more, nothing less. You hating or liking a player is entirely your own thing.

[josh99]

I answered questions. Nothing more, nothing less. You hating or liking a player is entirely your own thing.

You are constantly posting with your Wilt agenda and the only people you are answering are the trolls who are just looking for a reaction.

[coin24]

Too long, just like the list of guys wilt fu*ked..

[CavaliersFTW]

You are constantly posting with your Wilt agenda and the only people you are answering are the trolls who are just looking for a reaction.

This is a loosely moderated basketball discussion board, discussing a player like Wilt Chamberlain is part of discussing basketball. Do you ever call out the people creating bait threads? I've never seen you do it. Posters like myself do try to share what we know on the given topic. If it is over saturated for your tastes, either don't click the threads or take it up with the people who are "just looking for a reaction." To blame the people trying to share information as the source of the problem is to not understand the actual source of the problem. This is insidehoops though, don't get your expectations too high. I doubt there will ever be actual moderated discussion about any topic of basketball here it is all 3 parts baiting and trolling to 1 part discussion.

[josh99]

This is a loosely moderated basketball discussion board, discussing a player like Wilt Chamberlain is part of discussing basketball. Do you ever call out the people creating bait threads? I've never seen you do it. Posters like myself do try to share what we know on the given topic. If it is over saturated for your tastes, either don't click the threads or take it up with the people who are "just looking for a reaction." To blame the people trying to share information as the source of the problem is to not understand the actual source of the problem. This is insidehoops though, don't get your expectations too high. I doubt there will ever be actual moderated discussion about any topic of basketball here it is all 3 parts baiting and trolling to 1 part discussion.

1. There's no point calling out bait threads, that is exactly what a troll wants. It's best just to ignore it and it will drop of the front page.

2. You aren't a troll, you have good info (especially the videos), but you spend too much time trying to educate trolls instead of posting valuable content. These days most of your posts are just saying the same things over and over again because you are responding to trolls who don't listen anyways, so it's hard to pick out your quality posts from your troll responses.

[KendrickPerkins]

1. There's no point calling out bait threads, that is exactly what a troll wants. It's best just to ignore it and it will drop of the front page.

2. You aren't a troll, you have good info (especially the videos), but you spend too much time trying to educate trolls instead of posting valuable content. These days most of your posts are just saying the same things over and over again because you are responding to trolls who don't listen anyways, so it's hard to pick out your quality posts from your troll responses.

Exactly.

These threads are tired. Come up with something new. Post about someone else.

Wilt is dead. Get over it.

[Fudge]

Exactly.

These threads are tired. Come up with something new. Post about someone else.

Wilt is dead. Get over it.

[Millslapped]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSpY...ature=youtu.be

[CavaliersFTW]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSpY...ature=youtu.be

Nice, originally posted here:
http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...352546&page=49

You going to make a vid?

[DonDadda59]

There's a difference between trolling and an honest debate. Wilt stans get real emotional when rational people question some of the obvious tall tales told about the Big Dipper.

Lazeruss is on record that Wilt Chamberlain is the fastest player in NBA History. But let anyone challenge that... must be a troll.

[Cocaine80s]

Why didnt you just pm the answers to the questions

[CavaliersFTW]

Why didnt you just pm the answers to the questions

I wanted my answers to these questions to be seen. I thought some of them were reasonable questions despite the ulterior motive.