50's and 60's Stats are Inflated Especially For Big men

[NewYorkNoPicks]

How could anyone rank George Mikan over a guy like David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, etc?

Why is Wilt so highly exalted?

Segregation still existed in the 1950s!

Guys like Mikan and Wilt (for the early part of his career) played against 6"7 white centers!!!!

You can put me in a game vs 20 kindergarteners and yeah I could score 100 points by solely being the tallest and most physically imposing person there by far.

The 1970s up to now mark the REAL NBA era. These days if youre talented you will most likely be discovered. Think of all the possible talent that could have fallen through the cracks in the 50s and 60s with prejudice, lesser opportunities for minorities, and a lack of a truly global scouting system.

George Mikan is irrelevant and his numbers are so inflated based on his level of competition.

No one doubts Wilt is one of the greatest ever, but some of his greatest seasons came in years where frankly there just wasnt much competition at the center position.

[KG215]

Mikan has nothing to do with the "inflated stats" era of the 60s. His career came before the shot clock.

[NewYorkNoPicks]

Milan has nothing to do with the "inflated stats" era of the 60s. His career came before the shot clock.

Still played against NOBODY NOTEWORTHY and in a predominantly white league. How can this guy EVER be rated higher than some of the greatest centers of all time? ridiculous!

Guys like Ewing, Robinson played aginst the likes of Shaq, Hakeem, Moses Malone etc!

[Optimus Prime]

Without Mikan there is no Ewing. He was the first big man to show that they could successfully play basketball at a high level, as hard as that is to believe.

The better question is why do people care so much about these silly ISH polls?

[KG215]

Still played against NOBODY NOTEWORTHY and in a predominantly white league. How can this guy EVER be rated higher than some of the greatest centers of all time? ridiculous!

Guys like Ewing, Robinson played aginst the likes of Shaq, Hakeem, Moses Malone etc!

I'm not going into this any further. You've got an agenda (an incredibly ignorant one). I doubt this thread even stays up too long.

Grow-up and learn to just appreciate what the greats from the 50s and 60s accomplished instead of discrediting them for what you THINK they wouldn't be able to do in later eras.

[millwad]

Milan has nothing to do with the "inflated stats" era of the 60s. His career came before the shot clock.

Completely true.

[Owl]

How could anyone rank George Mikan over a guy like David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, etc?

Why is Wilt so highly exalted?

Segregation still existed in the 1950s!

Guys like Mikan and Wilt (for the early part of his career) played against 6"7 white centers!!!!

You can put me in a game vs 20 kindergarteners and yeah I could score 100 points by solely being the tallest and most physically imposing person there by far.

The 1970s up to now mark the REAL NBA era. These days if youre talented you will most likely be discovered. Think of all the possible talent that could have fallen through the cracks in the 50s and 60s with prejudice, lesser opportunities for minorities, and a lack of a truly global scouting system.

George Mikan is irrelevant and his numbers are so inflated based on his level of competition.

No one doubts Wilt is one of the greatest ever, but some of his greatest seasons came in years where frankly there just wasnt much competition at the center position.

Because he was better than his peers. Because there's a chance that without Mikan the NBA doesn't exist today, that basketball is less popular than it is today.

You can argue that the players who peaked in the 50s should be listed seperately because of the vast differences in the game (shot clock, quotas, narrow lane). But to say he's irrelevent displays an ignorance and lack of respect for history that is baffling.

It's like saying Plato, Socrates and Aristotle were rubbish, they had silly ideas and contributed nothing to civilization. Look they believed many things our children know to be nonsense and as such should be mocked. Weak era for knowledge.

[KG215]

Because he was better than his peers. Because there's a chance that without Mikan the NBA doesn't exist today, that basketball is less popular than it is today.

You can argue that the players who peaked in the 50s should be listed seperately because of the vast differences in the game (shot clock, quotas, narrow lane). But to say he's irrelevent displays an ignorance and lack of respect for history that is baffling.

It's like saying Plato, Socrates and Aristotle were rubbish, they had silly ideas and contributed nothing to civilization. Look they believed many things our children know to be nonsense and as such should be mocked. Weak era for knowledge.

This is probably going to go WAY above the OP's head.

[Raz]

Mikan did a lot more in his era than Robinson did in his. That's all you need to know.

[BoutPractice]

The 60s, aka the actual beginning of the modern era of basketball, weren't a "white" decade. Just look at the dynasty Celtics' starting five.

As for Wilt, he played against two of the top centers of all time, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, as well as Nate Thurmond, Willis Reed etc. He was dominant even against them.

The 50s are a bit different due things like segregation, the shot clock or the lane's width. So many things have changed since then that comparisons are made much more difficult. Mikan is given the benefit of the doubt because he was clearly head and shoulders above everyone else in the league.

[creepingdeath]

As soon as jlauber reads this...

[millwad]

Although I don't agree with OP it's a fact that the 60's was the era for inflated stats when it comes to big men.

In another thread Jlauber was spamming about the amount of rebounds and blocked shots Wilt grabbed and blocked in the '67 finals vs the Warriors, and the following is not about Wilt's inflated stats but centers in general in the 60's but I use Wilt's crazy rebound per game average in that finals as an example.

As a comparison, the 76ers in the finals of '67 averaged 106 FGA per game, Miami Heat who won the finals this year averaged 77 FGA per game. They played at a MUCH higher pace back then and lower FG% which led to way more available rebounds. And the rebounds wasn't the only thing, more FGA's leads to more points and more FGA's leads to more blocked shots.

[PHILA]

The 1970s up to now mark the REAL NBA era.

What exactly changed during the 5-6 months between the 1969 and 1970 seasons to magically improve the NBA in your mind? Is it Russell's retirement or KAJ's debut?

No one doubts Wilt is one of the greatest ever, but some of his greatest seasons came in years where frankly there just wasnt much competition at the center position.

1. '66-'67
2. '65-'66
3. '67-'68
4. '63-64
5. '71-'72


During 4 of Wilt's 5 best years his best competition at center was Russell, KAJ, Thurmond, Bellamy, Reed, Lanier, Embry, Kerr, Hayes, Cowens, Unseld, & Beaty. All of whom would easily rank among the top 5 centers of 2012.

[shaq2000]

Very inflated. Wilt obviously had some talent, but it's incredibly overstated because of the misleading stats of that era.

[L.Kizzle]

Cause Mikan actually led his team to the titles unlike Robinson.