Wilt Today

[Chicago76]

Originally posted by <b>spriggan9</b>!
wilt chamberlain ran a 4.4 40?

i'd love to see proof.

Here's an excerpt from a longer recounting of a tryout he had under the eye of Hank Stram.

http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/wilt/article10.html

To quote the article:

And, according to the old football coach Hank Stram, Wilt could've been an NFL star.

"One year when Wilt was holding out on the 76ers," Stram said, "we invited him to an early training camp in the Catskills." This was when Stram's Kansas City Chiefs were an NFL dynasty in the making. "First thing we did was run him 40 yards."

Wilt ran in slacks and bare feet. He outsprinted the Chiefs' best running back, Curtis McClinton.

"Then we threw some passes, and Wilt went over the goal posts to get 'em," Stram said. "By now, I'm getting excited."

Only one problem.

"When we were done, Wilt said it'd been fun, but he really wanted to be our quarterback," Stram said.

***********************************************

While the excerpt I found doesn't declare his 40 to be 4.4, he outsprinted a friggin' pro running back.

So at worst, we're talking 4.5-4.6. 4.4, I've seen quoted in more extensive versions of the tryout. The least you could say is that it doesn't seem so unlikely.

Anything Wilt claims by himself, I take with a good degree of skepticism. People in sport who have their reputations and have no reason to lie, I tend to believe.

[vadimivich]

The official Big Eight 1958 Track and Field championships lists Wilt Chamberlain of University of Kansas winning the high jump with a height of 6' 6-3/4"

The winning height at the 1956 Olympics was 6' 11-1/4" ... the Bronze medal was only 6' 9-3/4"

It's literally no joke to say that Wilt was a 7' 1" olympic caliber high jumper. Repeat that again and let it sink in.

Wilt caused many of his own doubts in people's minds by needlessly blowing things out of proportion. The fact that he was an athletic freak beyond all athletic freaks didn't need embelishment. He would dominate todays game, simply because 7' 1" men with Vince Carter level hops and his shot/skills can't be stopped today anymore than they could have been stopped back then. Read the people in the NBA Draft forum salivating over anyone who can tie their shoes at 7', let alone with the athleticism Wilt had. He was a freak of nature, a once in a 100 years type of player. That hasn't changed.

[bender]

Originally posted by <b>Matt85163</b>!
Wilt could always fly, he was a gourmet chef, his saliva was a stain repellant/cleaning utility, could turn anything into gold with his touch, had bowel movements that smelled like bakery fresh cinnamon buns, and he used his dick, a piece of string, and chewing gum to catch fish to feed the entire continent of Africa.

[walkon4]

Originally posted by <b>Matt85163</b>!
Wilt could always fly, he was a gourmet chef, his saliva was a stain repellant/cleaning utility, could turn anything into gold with his touch, had bowel movements that smelled like bakery fresh cinnamon buns, and he used his dick, a piece of string, and chewing gum to catch fish to feed the entire continent of Africa.

Shutup.

["Matt!"]

Originally posted by <b>TheTruth34</b>!


Shutup.

I'm sorry, did I disrespect your god? All of these embellishments, hearsays, and predictions are far more embarassing to Wilt's legacy than me making a joke.

"Wilt would score 35, grab 30, and get 5 assists."

Please man. Pop a collapsing zone on Wilt with a good big man, he ain't going nowhere.

[vadimivich]

Shaquille O'Neal doesn't have the explosive leaping ability Wilt had, and he still gets 25 and 13 with all of the collapsing defenses man can design. The fact remains that big men with skill are still unstoppable in the NBA, no matter what era.

Wilt would get 30 a night in the current NBA. Why is that so hard to accept? He was a 7' 1" man with Olympic class leaping ability and a decent touch. And it's not like people can't average 30 a night in the current NBA, hell - guards (A.I, Tmac) get nearly that and Kobe sure as hell could if he got cut loose. Jordan averaged 30 a night for his career, and that wasn't that long ago, again as a guard.

Would he get 25 boards a night? Nah, the game has changed. Is 30 and 15 out of the question? Actually, that sounds a lot like what he would get. I'm not sure about blocks, the game has changed a lot there. But 30/15/3 sounds very reasonable for the most athletic person to play the center position.

[PauloCatarino]

Let´s see…

How would the greatest scorer and rebounder the game has ever seen, who also happens to be one of the best big men ever in defense and passing do in today´s game?

Imagine Kevin Garnett´s agility;
Shaq´s strength;
Olajuwon´s footwork;
Dennis Rodman´s appetite for the glass;
David Robinson´s (young) speed;
Pat Ewing´s jumpshot;
Dikembe Mutombo´s presence in the lane (blocking and altering shots);
Shawn Kemp´s hops.
Mix it all up and still I believe the result still wouldn´t define the player Wilton Chamberlain was.

Stats in today´s game? That would depend.
If he played on a team with a good passer (Lebron James, Andre Miller), I believe he could average something like 35pts on +.600%, 17rbs, 5blks and 6asts

Over exaggerating?
Well, I tried but couldn´t find a site (a little biased against Michael Jordan) who compared Chamberlain with other great players. The link for that site was once in a BBB.Net´s thread, for that matter. In that site there were numerous quotes of other great NBA players, who were unanimous in proclaiming Wilt to be the strongest man who ever played ball (it´s told that he once dunked so ferociously that a player got his foot broken by the ball).

[Spriggan]

did it ever occur to any of you that today's players are far more athletic than in wilt's time?

7'1 with olympic leaping ability? even if thats true, it was olympic leaping ability from BACK THEN. i'm pretty sure people jump much higher these days. the proof is right in front of your eyes. players who are 6 feet tall can dunk. could they back in wilt's days? i strongly doubt it.

the times they are a-changin'. 7-footers were a diamond in the rough back then, period. not only that, but if you're a 7 footer with athletic ability in the 60's, how can you NOT dominate? that's two rarities.

and did someone really say wilt chamberlain had vince carter's jumping ability?

kevin garnett's agility? so ridiculous.

wilt was an amazing athlete FOR HIS TIME. he'd still be a great player today, but you people saying he'd avg numbers like 30 and 20 with 5 blocks need a reality check.

i'm sure some people still believe wilt > MJ, too.

[whiterhino]

Originally posted by <b>kcchiefs-fan</b>!


I'm pretty sure whiterino, an educated Celtics fan, has a pretty firm grasp on what went down in the Russell-Wilt matchups. Check the stat sheets. Chamberlain obliterated Russell every time they met up.........but the Celtics still managed to win most of the time

Thank you KC.
Wilt dominated Russell game after game after game, Russell himself will tell you that, they were rivals and hated each other for a long time but eventually they became friends, Wilt came to Boston for Bill's number retirement. Wilt's BEST games were against Russell because he brought out Wilt's desire. He HATED the Celtics and wanted to win so badly against them. Russell's team won more games because he played with other HOF guys, Wilt had NO ONE on his team until he finally went to LA.
I was born in Mass and I live in Mass but I grew up in Southern California and I used to watch Wilt play volleyball at Venice Beach when I was a kid. He was a MONSTER! NO ONE in todays game compares to him, not even Shaq and that's not to take anything away from Shaq.
By the way, there was a documentary on Wilt on TV only a couple of weeks ago and the 4.4 story is true because one of the guys that witnessed it was on the show and the 500 bench story is also true and they interviewed a couple of different guys who witnessed that and are STILL in awe! No, I don't think the 20,000 women story is true

[kflo]

Originally posted by <b>spriggan9</b>!
did it ever occur to any of you that today's players are far more athletic than in wilt's time?

7'1 with olympic leaping ability? even if thats true, it was olympic leaping ability from BACK THEN. i'm pretty sure people jump much higher these days. the proof is right in front of your eyes. players who are 6 feet tall can dunk. could they back in wilt's days? i strongly doubt it.

the times they are a-changin'. 7-footers were a diamond in the rough back then, period. not only that, but if you're a 7 footer with athletic ability in the 60's, how can you NOT dominate? that's two rarities.

and did someone really say wilt chamberlain had vince carter's jumping ability?

kevin garnett's agility? so ridiculous.

wilt was an amazing athlete FOR HIS TIME. he'd still be a great player today, but you people saying he'd avg numbers like 30 and 20 with 5 blocks need a reality check.

i'm sure some people still believe wilt > MJ, too.

the world record in the high jump has increased approximately 6 inches in 40 years, from 7.5 feet to 8 feet. note also, that the current world record was banned for steroid use sometime after his world record jumps (he increased the record 3 times).

bob beamon's 1968 record in the long jump stood for a long time, until it was broken by a matter of inches about 10 years ago.

bob hayes, the 1960 olympic sprint champ, is probably still the fastest human ever.

according to the association for basketball research, the average nba height increased from 6'6 in 1964 to 6'7 in 2001.

again, he wasn't a freak for his time, he was a freak. today, there'd be no one like him still, and he'd still be a freak. his numbers would be lower, but he'd still be pretty dominant.

[kflo]

Originally posted by <b>whiterhino</b>!


Thank you KC.
Wilt dominated Russell game after game after game, Russell himself will tell you that, they were rivals and hated each other for a long time but eventually they became friends, Wilt came to Boston for Bill's number retirement. Wilt's BEST games were against Russell because he brought out Wilt's desire. He HATED the Celtics and wanted to win so badly against them. Russell's team won more games because he played with other HOF guys, Wilt had NO ONE on his team until he finally went to LA.
I was born in Mass and I live in Mass but I grew up in Southern California and I used to watch Wilt play volleyball at Venice Beach when I was a kid. He was a MONSTER! NO ONE in todays game compares to him, not even Shaq and that's not to take anything away from Shaq.
By the way, there was a documentary on Wilt on TV only a couple of weeks ago and the 4.4 story is true because one of the guys that witnessed it was on the show and the 500 bench story is also true and they interviewed a couple of different guys who witnessed that and are STILL in awe! No, I don't think the 20,000 women story is true

wilt was awesome, but he didn't dominate russell every time. russell had a different objective - he wasn't going to match wilt point for point, nor did he have to. he needed to control wilt (note that wilt scored significantly less against russell than his season averages), he needed to dominate defensively, and he needed to bring the best out of his teammates.

wilt didn't have NO ONE on his team in philly - his teams were arguably more stacked than russells - hofers greer & cunningham, with chet walker, wali jones, lucious jackson. from 66-68. in '69 he had west and baylor. the results those 4 years? 3 championships for russell, 1 for wilt.

personally, i think wilt was such an overwhelming presence that he overshadowed his own teammates, and they contributed less in his presence than they were capable of. russell had an opposite effect. and of course, wilt's ability to close out games was similar to shaq's, in that neither could hit ft's.

[alpngso]

30 pts, 13 rebs, 4 blks is what Wilt can do in the league today IMO

[bender]

Originally posted by <b>PauloCatarino</b>!
Let´s see…

How would the greatest scorer and rebounder the game has ever seen, who also happens to be one of the best big men ever in defense and passing do in today´s game?

Imagine Kevin Garnett´s agility;
Shaq´s strength;
Olajuwon´s footwork;
Dennis Rodman´s appetite for the glass;
David Robinson´s (young) speed;
Pat Ewing´s jumpshot;
Dikembe Mutombo´s presence in the lane (blocking and altering shots);
Shawn Kemp´s hops.
Mix it all up and still I believe the result still wouldn´t define the player Wilton Chamberlain was.

Well, what about a player with
Iverson's speed
Marbury's handling
Peja's shooting touch
Artest's as well as Big Ben's defense
Carter's vertical
Magic's vision
Zidane's footwork
Einstein's brain
Hulk's strength
Spiderman's agility
and Harry Potter's witchcraft
Mix it all up and you have the perfect player, namely Wilt Chamberlain.

Originally posted by <b>PauloCatarino</b>!
Stats in today´s game? That would depend.
If he played on a team with a good passer (Lebron James, Andre Miller), I believe he could average something like 35pts on +.600%, 17rbs, 5blks and 6asts

17 rebounds? Maybe, if he was the only good rebounder on his team (like KG and the Wolves)
5 blocks? A bit high, although he was arguably a Olajuwon-type of shot-blocker. Probably 4 bpg.
35 points and 6 assists? No. Either 30+ points or 5+ assists, but not both. I think he'd have something like 30 ppg and 3 apg.

Originally posted by <b>PauloCatarino</b>!
Over exaggerating?
Well, I tried but couldn´t find a site (a little biased against Michael Jordan) who compared Chamberlain with other great players. The link for that site was once in a BBB.Net´s thread, for that matter. In that site there were numerous quotes of other great NBA players, who were unanimous in proclaiming Wilt to be the strongest man who ever played ball (it´s told that he once dunked so ferociously that a player got his foot broken by the ball).

Some quotes:

Joe Maloof: "To me, the three best players in the history are Shaq, number one. Wilt Chamberlain, number two. And Jordan, number three. ..."

Kevin Loughery: "I put Shaquille ahead of Wilt. Chamberlain didn't have enough titles. ..."

Rod Thorn: "I used to compare Shaq to Wilt, but O'Neal is quicker and bigger than Wilt."

Source: "Who's better, who's best?" by Elliott Kalb

Especially the last quote says something you Wilt-Fans don't understand. Actually it's Shaquille O'Neal, who's a unique athlete, not Wilt. Shaq is a lot quicker. Even last year, when he carried about 360 pounds, he ran the court faster than most guards. Shaq is more explosive. His explosiveness comes second to only Charles Barkley.
Wilt was better on defense, yes, but he's not a better athlete than Shaquille O'Neal.

[PauloCatarino]

Originally posted by <b>bender</b>!

Well, what about a player with
Iverson's speed
Marbury's handling
Peja's shooting touch
Artest's as well as Big Ben's defense
Carter's vertical
Magic's vision
Zidane's footwork
Einstein's brain
Hulk's strength
Spiderman's agility
and Harry Potter's witchcraft
Mix it all up and you have the perfect player, namely Wilt Chamberlain.

Found the damned site!


Here are some quotes from his peers.

Study up.

Example: "When I coached the San Francisco Warriors, I thought Al Attles was the fastest guy on our team--by far. We used to gamble a lot--which player could jump the highest and run the fastest. So I set up a series of races, baseline to baseline. In the finals, it was Wilt and Al Attles and Wilt just blew past him. I'm convinced that Wilt Chamberlain is one of the greatest all-around athletes the world has ever seen."

--Alex Hannum, Tall Tales (by Terry Pluto) p. 327

[Minstrel]

Originally posted by <b>PauloCatarino</b>!

(it´s told that he once dunked so ferociously that a player got his foot broken by the ball).

It's told that Paul Bunyon brushed his teeth with redwood trees.

Applying common sense once in a while can't hurt.