Wilt Chamberlain's Historic Anniversary

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

50 years ago tonight in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Wilt Chamberlain did the unthinkable. 100 points.

Despite of what everyone says (most of whom started watching basketball 10 years ago) , Wilt Chamberlain is by far, the greatest player in the history of the NBA.

This night will forever live on in the record books of the sport.

 

[houheffna]

50 years ago tonight in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Wilt Chamberlain did the unthinkable. 100 points.

Despite of what everyone says (most of whom started watching basketball 10 years ago) , Wilt Chamberlain is by far, the greatest player in the history of the NBA.

This night will forever live on in the record books of the sport.

If you are going to post on this forum, Frank, Steve, Betty Sue or whoever....please be sober...acid is a hell of a drug...

Thank You.

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

lol...it helps when you're way bigger and stronger than everyone else

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

lol...it helps when you're way bigger and stronger than everyone else

He would have pretty much had that same advantage in any era.

 

[houheffna]

He would have pretty much had that same advantage in any era.

NO...he wouldn't have...

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

NO...he wouldn't have...

I'm not saying he would have had a 50 and 25 season. But he still would have been arguably the best center in the NBA. The guy had a 9'6'' reach and was pure muscle. How many centers do you know could average 48.5 minutes per game? His conditioning was incredible.

And it's not like he was going up against undersized nobodies. The average height of the NBA center back in the 1960's was 6'10.''

 

[houheffna]

I'm not saying he would have had a 50 and 25 season. But he still would have been arguably the best center in the NBA. The guy had a 9'6'' reach and was pure muscle. How many centers do you know could average 48.5 minutes per game? His conditioning was incredible.

And it's not like he was going up against undersized nobodies. The average height of the NBA center back in the 1960's was 6'10.''

Well that is a big ass difference. Being arguably the best in the league and being as dominant as he was then is totally different. There were no Shaqs, no Hakeems, no Robinsons, Ewings...none of that. I don't see him being any more successful than those guys...

 

[pinkizdead]

I'm not sure the nba had athletic centers while wilt played. i'm not a huge fan of the nba in 1840s, but i'm pretty sure the nba lacked athleticism in the 80s and 90s. If the league was bad in the 80's, it was probably worse way back in the day. I'm pretty sure the guy had to go toe to toe with lincoln.

 

[Bullsman24]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8_ENa7sVp...NgDhkAa70/s1600/Wilt+Chamberlain++1968++7.jpg

compared to

http://www.mysports-today.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/shaquille-oneal-1.jpg

shaq's bicep is the size of wilt's head.

 

[Crystallas]

Take the bait! Take it!

And why does Frank have a Mr. Belvedere avy? Are you babysitting Wesley again?

 

[Shawon0Meter]

It's so hard for me to wrap my head around there being a better player than Michael Jordan.

 

[Bullsman24]

wilt could have been a more "dominant" player but jordan was the "best" player if taht makes sense. wilt did a lot because his competition wasn't as good. jordan, during the era of great big men, became one of the first lead scoring guards to lead his team to a title. before it was thought that you must have an all star big. it was never done before and has never been done since.

 

[Crystallas]

Give me a 7'1" Jordan and a 6'6" Wilt

 

[Bullsman24]

lol i know right? how dominant would that player have been? and how mediocre would that second player have been.

 

[Bullsman24]

of course, you can't use physical gifts as the WHOLE counterargument...jordan did have a 40 inch vertical at 6'6"...

 

[Bullsman24]

btw, here's the guy who was guarding him

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the...01/08/darrall_imhoff_1958_1226_file_photo.jpg

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Here is the radio broadcast of the 4th quarter of the 100 pt game in Hershey, PA:

Wilt chamberlain 100 point game tribute. Entire 4th quarter...

He had 75 points with only 8:56 remaining. You can hear the playcallers talking about how the other team were intentionally fouling Chamberlain's teammates.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Anyone who thinks Wilt Chamberlain was weak better think again. Ask Jerry Sloan if this guy was weak... he claimed Chamberlain broke part of his foot just by the ball crashing to the ground from a dunk.

This is a guy who once benched 500 pounds. By some accounts, he was said to have a 48'' vertical leap. I have a hard time buying that it was that much... but even if it was something like 35''... on top of a reach that was at least 9'6''... that is absolutely terrifying. This is a guy who was a track athlete and high-jumper in high school. He was extremely athletic and conditioned. He played a ton of minutes in an era where the pace was ridiculously faster than it was now. Averaged 48.5 per game in a season once. This is a guy who also NEVER fouled out of a game. A guy who led the league in assists one season.

We can talk a lot about how he only had as many points and rebounds as he did because he was able to play so many minutes and the pace was so fast. But that, in itself, is one HELL of an accomplisment. The lane wasn't as wide as it was today. But there was still an offensive 3-second violation back then when Wilt played.

I would be curious to see a guy like Shaq from about the year 1997 and on play in the pace in which Chamberlain and Russell played. I'm not saying he wouldn't have been one hell of a player... but it would be interesting to see if he could have played that many minutes compared to his career in the late 90s/early 2000s.

Bill Russell was also an amazing athlete. He would have been apart of the 1956 U.S. high-jumping team if he wasn't playing on the basketball team instead.

These guys (Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell) are quite possibly and arguably the greatest NBA players of all-time.

 

[Crystallas]

He was the best athlete in the world at the time, and he chose Basketball. I'll agree, but that in itself was absurdly rare in the 60s, the best athletes of the time weren't evenly divided into a handful of sports. The pay wasn't anywhere near as desirable in basketball, or even to become a pro athlete in general. If you were able to use your athleticism, you took a scholarship and made a boatload of money in something other than sports. Therefore the pool of players was SIGNIFICANTLY less skilled to scale.

Due to the fame of such a show, in players like Wilt. The incentive to become a pro-player drastically improved. More talent came in, more players were competitive. Everything was then challenged, with the ABA hitting new heights, and better players entering pro-ball every season.

If the incentive existed back in the 50s, Bevo Francis would be that guy, who everyone loves to talk about and his crazy stat games. But he made more money with his degree than the Warriors would have paid him.
Comparing 50-60s players to modern NBA players is a comparison without a winner. It's far too apples and oranges.

 

[houheffna]

Jordan would have scored 100pts more than once in that time. And Shaq? They would have thrown his big ass out of the country. Lebron would have averaged a triple double for his career in the 50's and 60's. The game has evolved and the players have evolved. I think Wilt is top 10 all time, maybe top 5. But imagine Magic Johnson in his era! Good Lawd! Wouldn't be fair......