What if Wilt played for the Celtics?

[Eat Like A Bosh]

Originally Posted by kentatm

then Bill Simmons would write chapters on his greatness instead of trying to knock him down

This.

[jlauber]

Originally Posted by Dragonyeuw

There's also the possibility that Red 'may' have gotten Wilt to adopt more of a team approach as opposed to Wilt putting up 50 points and 25 rebounds, maybe. It's all just speculation at the end.

This.

Most uneducated fans (and that includes Bill Simmons BTW) look at Wilt's early season numbers, and they assume that he was a selfish, stats-happy player. The FACT was, Chamberlain did whatever his COACHES asked him to do. Chamberlain's COACH in that '62 season took one look at the cast of clowns that littered that team, and decided that the ONLY chance that that TEAM had of winning, was for Wilt to SHOOT. And the reality was...he was RIGHT.

Then, take a look at Wilt's play when he was FINALLY surrounded with talented supporting casts in the last half of his career. He went from a 40 ppg seasin scorer of the course of his first seven seasons, COMBINED, to a 20 ppg season scorer over the course of his last seven seasons.And he most assuredly could have scored MUCH more in those last seven years. For instance, from his 66-67 season, thru his 68-69 season, he averaged about 15 FGAs per season. Yet, he had SEVERAL 50+ point games, and even THREE 60+ point games. Furthermore, his new COACH in the 69-70 season, asked Wilt to shoot more, and he was averaging 32.2 ppg in his first nine games. Unfortunately, Chamberlain shredded his knee in that ninth game, and was never quite the same after that. In any case, no other high-powered scoring superstar sacrificed his scoring and shooting more than Chamberlain did.

The other point that was brought up in this post was also a very good one. How would Wilt have played with Red? Here again, the reality was that Chamberlain was shackled with incompetent coachs for much of his career. And given the fact that he basically did what those goofballs asked of him, I see no reason why he would not have listened to Auerbach.

BTW, for those uneducated fans here (again, that includes Simmons), who mistakeningly believe that Wilt was not an "Auerbach-type" of player, how about this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilt_Chamberlain

During summer vacations Chamberlain worked as a bellhop in Kutsher's Hotel. Red Auerbach, the coach of the Boston Celtics, spotted the talented teenager there and had him play 1-on-1 against Kansas University standout and national champion, B. H. Born, elected the Most Valuable Player of the 1953 NCAA Finals. Chamberlain won 25–10; Born was so dejected that he gave up a promising NBA career and became a tractor engineer ("If there were high school kids that good, I figured I wasn't going to make it to the pros"),[18] and Auerbach wanted Chamberlain to go to a New England university, so he could draft him as a territorial pick for the Celtics, but Chamberlain did not respond.[18]

[jlauber]

Originally Posted by kentatm

then Bill Simmons would write chapters on his greatness instead of trying to knock him down

GREAT post.

The fact was, Simmons probably never even researched the Russell-Wilt rivalry. And he most certainly did not actually see them play, since he was born in 1969. His chapter on that rivalry was obviously agenda-driven, and filled with a TON of falsehoods. Which is a shame, since Russell was indeed a great player, and does deserve GOAT status. But to blatantly disparage Chamberlain in that chapter was just disgraceful.