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There you have it,
one of the best of all time, certainly the greatest passing forward to play the game, Larry Bird, has said it:
Wilt is the best of all time!!!
enough said...
case closed.
This is from the nba history website:
Wilt Chamberlain averaged almost 26 rebounds a game in 1961-62.
Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images
Season of Giants: In '61-62, Wilt's numbers were otherwordly
By Fran Blinebury, NBA.com
Posted Dec 26 2011 11:07AM
Somebody once said there are lies, damned lies and statistics. Then there was Wilt Chamberlain.
His statistics made the record books look like one big lie. Or at least the kind of weird fiction that usually leaps off the pages of a Stephen King novel:
• Scoring 100 points in a single game.
• Averaging 50.4 points for an entire season.
• Averaging 22.9 rebounds for his entire career.
When the topic of all-time greatest player was once raised, none other than the legendary Larry Bird didn't hesitate.
"Open up the record book and it will be obvious who the greatest is," he said.
When he retired in 1973 after 14 NBA seasons, Chamberlain owned 128 league records. Today, nearly four decades later, he still holds 71.
"All this time afterward and I'm still coming up with different lists about Wilt," said Harvey Pollack, the Hall of Fame Philadelphia statistician, who began with the NBA in 1946 and is the only original employee of the league still working. "Wilt kept me on my toes and scrambling -- more than any other player ever -- to come up with different numbers in different categories to describe him."
The numbers are really the only way to try.
After all, there have been so many big men before and after Wilt, but none who changed basketball, bent understanding and dog-eared the record book beyond all recognition. How can we comprehend?
• Consider that after Wilt's 50.4 mark for the 1961-62 season, the second-highest scoring average in NBA history by a player not named Chamberlain was Michael Jordan's 37.1 in 1986-87. That makes Wilt's number 26.4 percent higher than Jordan.
• The highest batting average for a season in Major League Baseball over the past 70 years was George Brett's .390 in 1980. To match Brett by 26.4 percent, a batter would have to hit .493.
• The all-time single season rushing record in the NFL is 2,105 yards by Eric erson in 1984. To exceed erson by 26.4 percent a runner would have to gain 2,661 yards.
On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain set an NBA record with 100 points against the New York Knicks.
Associated Press
• The NHL single-season record for goals is 92 by Wayne Gretzky in 1981-82. To exceed Gretzky by Chamberlain's pace, a skater would have to pump in 116 goals.
The truth is, in American sports, only Babe Ruth transcended and transformed his sport like Chamberlain.
Wilt had already led the league in scoring in his first two NBA seasons, with averages of 37.6 and 38.4, when Frank McGuire took over as head coach of the Philadelphia Warriors and told Chamberlain he wanted him to score even more.
"I told coach McGuire I didn't think we could beat Boston," Wilt said in his 1973 autobiography. "I thought they just had too many good players. But I said I'd try my damnedest to do things his way.
"'OK,'" he said. "I've been through all the scouting reports and you're right. We aren't as good as Boston -- not with you scoring 37, 38 points a game like you did your first two years. We can't get enough scoring out of the rest of our guys to equal them. But if you can score 50, I think the rest of the guys can make up the difference to get us even with Boston.'
"Fifty?" I yelped. "Impossible."
There you have it,
one of the best of all time, certainly the greatest passing forward to play the game, Larry Bird, has said it:
Wilt is the best of all time!!!
enough said...
case closed.
I remember when he came to California as the century turned and tried to sneak one in.
Uh, uh.
Larry, though a green puke, knows his stuff.
Wilt would chew up MJ one on one and toss him aside like a rag doll.
Uhm, one small fault with the article. Bobby Orr may not have all the records Wilt does, but he absolutely changed the way that hockey is played.
I like Larry, but that's really re ed
Larry himself, Magic and MJ were all better than Wilt
Wilt was very athletic by today's standards, but played in an era where athleticism was on par with your local gym ballers. Inflated numbers due to nobody being able to really defend him, besides maybe Russel.
Orr... 2nd best player I ever saw. Skated backwards better than most did going forward. Unreal wrists and hands! Phenominal player.
Kareem played against Wilt and didn't dominate until Wilt got old. Kareem played against Hakeem, as very old player and it was close. Hakeem in his prime was little better than young Shaq.
Different eras, but Wilt must have been great anyway. He would probably be the best NBA player right now, even without modern training.
Kareem came in after Wilt was out of his prime and was a hot-headed rookie. Hakeem was a finesse player without much experience at the time. Shaq was just a muscle head that was simply physically superior to everybody else and could only be taken down a notch with a patient finesse center.
Wilt would average 40+ ppg simply because nobody could handle his athleticism. He wouldn't crack 20/13 today, probably.
There is technically no single greatest only fan favorites...(Let me just rant for a second - I'm disappointed to see so many blacks fawning over MJ's shoes the way that they do it's embarrassing to the race)
Overall Wilt is the greatest stat wise, Kareem the greatest scorer, Russell the greatest ring bearer, Magic the greatest leader, MJ the greatest revolutionary in sports..
and Kobe is the modern day torch bearer for all of these men..
Actually, Doug Harvey was the 1st puck moving defenceman
Bobby Orr just took it up to another level
lol greatest of all time, not with only 2 rings.
Wilt could take one step from the foul line and dunk the basketball. If that is not athletic enough for you by today and tomorrow's standards then you need to stop watching basketball and just go watch marvel comic movies.
Why dontya re-read what I said and appologize, dumbo.
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