Why Wilt is the GOAT
Steve Miller says:
I will make this short and allow others more knowledge to add to this. Wilt was 7′ 1 1/16″ of raw muscle, power, incredible leaping ability, and speed. He was a track star at Kansas and generally the fastest person on the court. Can you imagine modern-day centers being the fastest on the court?
He was a top high jumper in college with a 44+ inch vertical leap. There are pictures of him leaping to block a shot in which his extended hand is nearly level with the TOP OF THE BACKBOARD. While not a statistic at the time, there are tapes of some of Wilt’s later games during which it was calculated that he blocked 25+ shots! A news article during this year’s playoffs mentioned that James had blocked four shots in ONE QUARTER. There are encounters between Wilt and Abdul-Jabbar in which Wilt blocks FOUR OF HIS SHOTS in one-possession! Kareem was a pretty good basketball player himself 🙂
As a scorer from the field, Wilt simply could not be stopped. Hence, during the first four or five years in the league, his cumulative ppg scoring average was 40+/game. As a rookie, he averaged 37.4 ppg and 20+ rebounds per game (I do not have the statistics close at hand so I am approximating, but they are in the ballpark….or court as the case may be 🙂
There were several rule changes made to accommodate Wilt’s athleticism. He could easily dunk from the free-throw line. He was a notoriously poor free-throw shooter…that was his Achilles heel as a basketball player. Other than that he was more athletic, stronger (see Gus Johnson’s dunk attempt), faster and dominating than anyone ever on a basketball court.
As I said before, the current turn to the number of championships as a litmus test for GOAT makes things dependent upon so many other factors beyond the control of the player. In any case, if this is the true test, Bill Russell will ALWAYS be the GOAT.
I have seen the basketball starts from George Mikan to Kevin Durant and beyond…..Wilt is the GOAT, in my opinion.
Anthony Burke says:
Individually, Wilt was virtually unstoppable. He might have done some championships if he had had a good supporting cast… kind of like Michael Jordan never got over the hump until Scottie Pippen and additional elite-level player joined the Bulls.
But Wilt… 100 points in a single game. record. I believe Kobe Bryant’s 81 points is the 2nd highest individual game tally.
Wilt AVERAGED 50.4 points per game for an entire season. He is the only NBA player to average 40 and 50 ppl for a season. That was prior to the advent of the 3-point line, which wouldn’t have affected Chamberlain”s point totals, but is relevant to any discussion of who could possible surpass his single game and season scoring average records.
He AVERAGED 22.9 rebounds per game… for his career.
Wilt holds 72 NBA records, 68 of which are individual records – many of which are considered to be unbreakable.
Diego Contreras says:
He was stronger than every other NBA Player of his time, also he is stronger than just about all current NBA players today. He could bench press up to 500 Pounds, and this is the craziest part, When wilt was 59 yrs old he could still Bench press up to 465 pounds! With his bare hands, He has also been known to have lifted 1 or 2 NBA players from the ground at a time that weighed over 200 pounds or almost with his hands. And another thing is he was pretty muscular and It is really Hard to be Muscular on a 7 ft 1 frame, so technically it’s safe to say Wilt was a Real Giant.
Bill Jones says:
As someone who has seen Wilt play many times in person, I would say that his overall skill set surpasses that of any other player to date. He would be just as effective if he was playing today because nobody would be able to stop him. When you talk about defense and rebounding, the only two names which come to mind are Russell and Chamberlain. Nobody else ever had the combination of athleticism, height, and timing which great defense requires. When you talk about offense, Wilt was pretty much unstoppable, as shown by the numbers, plus he was also a great passer (he led the league in assists one season, only center to ever do that). He might have given up two or three points a game based on poor foul shooting, but that would not be enough to knock him out of the number one position. Wilt did not have great teams around him for the most part, and that is why he did not win more championships.
Jill Kantrick says:
I’ve read these arguments before. My father saw Wilt play, and he can vouch first hand for Wilt’s ability, talent, and greatness.
My father would point out that when Wilt played, it was a nine and ten team NBA as opposed to the watered-down 30 teams that play today. Teams in Wilt’s time routinely played each other four or five times a season as opposed to The Annual Events games with teams from different conferences have become.
The NBA teams in Wilt’s time, such as the star-laden Celtics and Lakers were virtual all-star teams compared to today’s rosters.
It is my father’s contention that Wilt and any team he played on would have MJ or Kevin Durant for breakfast.
The same goes for Bill Russell’s Celtic teams. The last guy on that bench might be a starter today.
Russell won titles in high school, college, the Olympics, and the NBA. Wilt didn’t have the same resume.
Russell and the Celtics were the reason Wilt didn’t win more than two titles.
Michael Jordan didn’t start winning titles until Magic Johnson and Larry Bird retired.
Bruce Barr says:
Wilt was physically set apart from everyone else in league history. He had abilities and physical prowess that were his alone. He was freakishly strong with unparalleled endurance.. great speed and vertical and was very skilled. I believe he was a once in a millennium athlete. Late in his career with a lot of upper body mass-good for rim protection less so for vertical-and a bad knee he blocked more of Kareem’s shots than the rest of the league combined for 20 years. His mild demeanor on the court was a blessing for others-had he been an aggressive individual he would have severely hurt many players. The Dipper was one of a kind.
Phillip Schuman says:
It’s probably more interesting to discuss since his case for being GOAT is as apparently strong as it is, then why is he generally not found in the top 3 of most GOAT lists, and usually not even in the top 5, either. (Obviously, I have not seen all possible GOAT lists and I’m going by memory, but that is my strong impression— he’s somewhere from #6 to #10, typically, and some even have him outside the top 10.)
Which is strange, considering what Larry Bird said (I’m guessing roughly mid-career), that if you want to know who was greatest (or words meaning the same thing), just look at the record book. He didn’t say his name, but since at the time Wilt had over 70 all-time records (some since tied or surpassed, so now his records total ‘only’! over 60!), he meant Wilt.
When Kobe was asked for his list of greatest, he said and repeated several times for emphasis, ‘Wilt, me, Mike.’ He was very clear about the order, saying ‘in that order.’ Since his rookie year was Jordan’s last year, when he said this well into his own career, Jordan’s career was complete and over. (And so was Kareem’s.) He was immodest to rank himself above Jordan (and Kareem, which almost no one agrees he is vs. either one), but notice, not so immodest to deny Wilt was #1 and claim that spot himself.
I think the answer applies equally to Oscar Robertson, Wilt, and Bill Russell.
They formed a kind of demolition derby on how their careers are assessed because they all played in the same era. Russell’s Celtics kept both out of the Finals a lot, which restricted their ring count. So as great as Wilt was, it looked like Russell was better (although teams win or lose, not just one player). But then Wilt kept making first-team NBA, relegating Russell to the second team, so it hurt Russell in comparison. So Wilt wasn’t as good as Russell, AND Russell wasn’t as good as Wilt? (Both cannot be true, of course, but people pick and choose arguments inconsistently as it suits the case they want to make.)
In a 9 year stretch, it was all Russell and then Wilt as the MVP (except the Big O got one in the middle, which is amazing, but hey, ‘only’ 1. But realistically, ANYONE getting an MVP with those two both playing had to be superb. And the Big O was consistently superb, but those other two were too outstanding.)
So these three are under-rated, because they played with two others who were all-time greats, and of course, few in the current generation ever saw much of their play.
The people who do not under-rate any of them are the other players at the time, and many of their era’s all-stars and Hall of Famers continue to put them very high. As do the senior citizens of our time who did see them, back when. Do you know who else does? The more recent players who study the game and know its history. The two I named above, Bird and Kobe, for example.
This is what people think of Wilt Chamberlain. Hope you enjoyed this blog post today.
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