Wilt Chamberlain should be a Letsrun favorite

ave 50 pts, 26 rb per game in 61-61 or thereabouts

Wilt was a regular spectator at US Track Nationals. He was a big fan. In the 1980's I recall the biggest celebrity track fans as Wilt Chamberlin, Bill Cosby, and George Steinbrenner.

I'm a big fan of Wilt, and agree with most of what has been said here. But I'm a little surprised it's been so overwhelmingly positive. So to add some balance (keep in mind, I agree with the positive stuff) ...

- Bill Russell beat him repeatedly. Admittedly, Russell had a better supporting cast, but he is generally have considered to have outplayed Chamberlain in most of their head-to-head match ups.

- Wilt was famously concerned about his own stats, even to the detriment of his team's accomplishments. He basically stopped playing defense once he got 4 fouls, because he wanted to preserve his (silly) record of never fouling out of a game.

- Perhaps because of the above, guys generally did not like playing with Wilt; he wasn't exactly beloved by his teammates. Though neither was Jordan, so maybe it's just something that is inherent to being so gifted.

- I can shoot free throws better than Wilt did. That's probably the only physical thing I can do better than him, but still. Hack-a-Wilt would have totally taken him out of the game at the end.

Before everybody kills me for hating, let me say it again: I'm a fan of Wilt. He was an absolutely incredible athlete that deserves more attention than he gets (not his fault that there isn't footage of many of his best games). I agree with the positive stuff that people said. But like anyone, he had his weaknesses to go along with his strengths. We should remember both.

True. Although one thing that is not talked about much is that Wilt really did have some horrible coaches on top having a lot of different ones who asked him to do different things. He also had some very selfish teammates.

My favorite Wilt story is that he apparently ate an entire pie in the locker room during the half time a game in front of his coach and teammates. I forget the story of why exactly he did it except that he was pissed off at the coach and he legitimately had good reason to be.

In contrast Russel played under Red Auerbach his entire career.

And like I said in my previous post, Wilt should be criticized for not being the best basketball player he could be. But its a two way street. I'm sick of people viewing dismissing him as some kind of physical freak of nature. He was stronger than everyone else mainly because he worked at it and everybody else in basketball were lazy and didn't want to put in that work. I think people on this board appreciate that.

What drugs are you on? Russell outplayed Wilt? I don't think so.

head-to-head numbers:

Wilt and Russell played against each other 142 times in 10 years. Russell's team won 88, Wilt's teams won 74. (14 game difference)

In those games Wilt averaged 28.7 ppg and 28.7 rpg, Russell averaged 14.5ppg and 23.7rpg

Wilt's high game vs. Russell was 62, and he had six other 50+ point games against Russell . Russell's high game against Wilt was 37, and he had only two other 30+ point games against Wilt.

Wilt's record 55 rebound game was against Russell, and he had six other 40+ rebound games vs. Russell.

Russell only had one 40+ rebound night against Wilt.

Wilt's teams lost all 4 seventh games against Russell's Celtics... (Russell's Celtics were 10-0 in game 7s during his career).

The total margin of defeat in those four 7th games was nine points

(begin the teammate argument because head-to-head is a no-contest)

Russell was limited offensively, Wilt limitless.

Playing the same role on the boards (i.e. primary rebounder except Wilt was also primary offense and Russell wasn't which means he should have been available for more o-boards to no avail) Chamberlain more or leass swept him on rebounding titles (like 9 of the 11 seasons they were both active Wilt lead the league in rebounding).

Let's go to passing. Who was the only center in the history of the association to lead the league in assists?(and he almost did it twice) - not Bill Russell

Russel's intangibles were great no doubt but he had lots of hall of fame bound team-mates on a dynasty team run by the best coach/gm of his era running a system he fit into perfectly.

Surround Wilt with those same players, those Philly teams would have won every NBA Championship he played in.

NBA stat man, thanks for setting that previous poster straight. I do get tired of people painting Russell as somehow superior to Chamberlain. (The "Great Defender"? Against Wilt? Don't make me laugh.)

Even Bill Russell himself--a man with a (deservedly) very high opinion of his own abilities--has made public statements about Wilt's performance. He has acknowledged the many times that he simply could do nothing to stop Chamberlain. Compared to Russell, Chamberlain was a signficantly superior player; compared to almost all of the rest of the NBA, Wilt was *vastly* superior.

BTW, in all of the preceding discussion, I don't recall having seen one of Wilt's finest "records": never having fouled out of an NBA game. In some of the YouTube clips that are linked to (above), you can see how brutally he was hacked by people trying to defend against him--very often with no foul called--yet he never lost his cool, never retaliated enough to foul out.

How can Wilt be a letsrun favorite?

He was black, which eliminates him as a possible favorite on this website.

Although he is dead and that works in his favor

But he lied about how much sex he had just like Let's Run posters

Realep2` wrote:

But he lied about how much sex he had just like Let's Run posters

Yes, but most of them are lying when they say once. Wilt was lying when he said he only had it once a night.

SomeBalancePlease wrote:

- I can shoot free throws better than Wilt did. That's probably the only physical thing I can do better than him, but still.

While overall his free throw percentage was anything but stellar, keep in mind, in his 100 point game, he did shoot 28 of 32 from the line.

Saw Wilt at the Mt. Sac relays one year. He sat a few rows below me and he was checking out every broad that walked past him.

Thats what she said

Moe's Tavern wrote:

Wilt was the man. I remember being shocked how big he was when I met him.

Yes he was a great all around athlete but certainly the broad jump was his best event.

Jumpin broads wrote:

Yes he was a great all around athlete but certainly the broad jump was his best event.

Ha! Broad jump!! Niiiice!

I never met Wilt but I have a story about him. My best friend's dad was a professional baseball pitcher in the 1960's. He believed Wilt was the greatest athlete in history and told he thought he could have played any professional sport. Wilt came to one of their practices one day. He was invited to take a few swings and took batting practice and hit consistent home runs. The batting practice pitcher was pissed and thought he would throw him some real heat. He hit a few of those out too. He also told me Wilt was standing on home plate and threw a baseball over the fence in either right or left field ( don't remember which ). Anyway, he raved about what an athlete he was and claimed he could have played any professional sport including baseball or football if he had choosen those sports. I have no way of verifying this but I have no reason to believe he was lying.

Jumpin broads wrote:

Yes he was a great all around athlete but certainly the broad jump was his best event.

LOL (literally). Well played.

sub3over40 wrote:

Anyway, he raved about what an athlete he was and claimed he could have played any professional sport including baseball or football if he had choosen those sports. I have no way of verifying this but I have no reason to believe he was lying.

I'd love to see him try to play in the NFL.

I am not an expert on football but he might have been unstoppable as a wide receiver. All the QB would have to do is throw high.

I met Wilt in 1998 at the Carlsbad 5000 as he was an investor with Elite Racing (and one of the original investors in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon) and I was doing work with Tim Murphy on launching the RRM (I Exec Produced the first 2 concerts). What a nice man Wilt was. After the race, I met up with Wilt and Frank Shorter (and others) at a local pub and had the chance to hear him talk about running. Really knowledgeable. All I can say is that as great of a basketball player he was, I was impressed more by his humility. I hope people understand how much he supported the running community.