for the people who discredit Wilt's achievements

[SplinterMatic319]

Yes, I know pace plays a big part of the stats but you have to be blind to not see that Wilt would still be a dominant center in any era of basketball. Think about it the guy 7 foot 1 considered by most to be the strongest of his era bar none and was ridicolously athletic (wilt was a high jumper in HS and college and also ran track).........if you watched taped you could see that he already had a fadeaway jumpshot and he has a ridiculous wingspan he OWN guys like howard


oh and if you still want to hate............he led the league in assists in a season........hows that for a center

discuss

 

[yeeupp]

Who was he playing against?

 

[SplinterMatic319]

Originally Posted by YEEUPP

Who was he playing against?

my point was that he would still be dominant in any era............no he wouldnt average 50 and 25 today but more likely 26,13,4, 4 blks

 

[play2much2004]

thought this was about the women

but I haven't really seen him play so...

 

[chozin87]

Originally Posted by YEEUPP

Who was he playing against?

The best competition the NBA had to offer.  
Who was he supposed to play against?

 

[yeeupp]

I just wanna pause for a second and showcase what amazing defense truly is...       He would be good, but not near what his stats were playing with players from 80's and later

 

[persiafly]

He was Brook Lopez 40 years ago. Only impressive in that time, today he'd be another 7 footer.

 

[SneakerProSr.]

IMO he would just be how Dwight Howard is now.

 

[dmbrhs]

Read Bill Simmons' book. He murdered Wilt and there's no way to argue otherwise.

 

[persiafly]

Originally Posted by SneakerPro

IMO he would just be how Dwight Howard is now.

There is no way in hell Wilt was as athletic as Dwight Howard. Did you see the dunk contests he was in? 

 

[nycknicks105]

Originally Posted by dmbrhs

Read Bill Simmons' book. He murdered Wilt and there's no way to argue otherwise.

wasn't this the same guy who thought Wilt was also Gay?

 

[banks2pierce]

Originally Posted by dmbrhs

Read Bill Simmons' book. He murdered Wilt and there's no way to argue otherwise.

Yea, he murdered him in an argument of Russ vs. Wilt, but he would still be the most dominant center in the league in this day, imo. Don't think he'd be a perennial title winner because of his mental makeup, though.

 

[big sippin spendin cheese]

yall are crazy

theres a reason why wilt has become such a legend,its because he was that good

how many other 7' 1"  250 lbs+ guys have you seen run track and high jump for a major university?


theres a quote by some old nba player that i'll try to find , but he says: that wilt used to outrun everybody at practice and would run non-stop

he said runnin with wilt was like tryin to catch a deer.


how many guys that big were that athletic,i cant think of any

 

[SplinterMatic319]

Originally Posted by YEEUPP

I just wanna pause for a second and showcase what amazing defense truly is...       He would be good, but not near what his stats were playing with players from 80's and later

umm your showing a pic from a college game bud..........

 

[SplinterMatic319]

Originally Posted by BIG SIPPIN SPENDIN CHEESE

yall are crazy

theres a reason why wilt has become such a legend,its because he was that good

how many other 7' 1"  250 lbs+ guys have you seen run track and high jump for a major university?


theres a quote by some old nba player that i'll try to find , but he says: that wilt used to outrun everybody at practice and would run non-stop

he said runnin with wilt was like tryin to catch a deer.


how many guys that big were that athletic,i cant think of any

adding to this there was also a quote by a broadcaster that said in one game where his teammate fell on the floor after a hard foul wilt picked him of the floor like he was a feather......the man he picked up was 6'8 220 lbs

 

[swyftdahoe]

Originally Posted by PersiaFly

He was Brook Lopez 40 years ago. Only impressive in that time, today he'd be another 7 footer.

 

[doctorshoes]

He would have been a superstar, but he would not be averaging 50/25. I don't even know why people rate him so high but refuse to say Lebron is the best player in the NBA because he has no rings. Wilt only won one ring didn't he? And he needed a few other hall of famers to finally win it, he could not win while throwing up his insane numbers, but of course no one cares about his championships when saying he's a top 5 player.

 

[dmxfury]

Maybe the best to play, ridiculous that people use his size against him yet physically dominant players today don't get knocked for it. A true legend

 

[Retroballer]

Originally Posted by YEEUPP

I just wanna pause for a second and showcase what amazing defense truly is...       He would be good, but not near what his stats were playing with players from 80's and later

I just wanna pause for a second and showcase what amazing defense truly is...

 

[s0lefunk]

Originally Posted by dmxfury

Maybe the best to play, ridiculous that people use his size against him yet physically dominant players today don't get knocked for it. A true legend

It's because the physically dominant players we praise today are being praised by being better than competition that is on their level.  We are in an era where being physically gifted and actually being good is the norm.

No knock on Wilt but lets keep it in perspective.  The average center was like freakin 6'6 back then.  Call him a victim of his era or whatever but the bottom line is he was dominant in an era where no one could physically compete with him.

Wilt is the most dominant player to ever walk the court.  He is legend.  Yes and agreed BUT  you gotta consider how he got there.  You can say he could compete in today's league but you cannot seriously believe he would have the same performance..

 

[RyGuy45]

at anyone thinking Wilt would be "just another center" in the NBA today. Another reason to love NT.

As if we dont have the last 10 years or so to use as proof of how bad majority of big men are in the NBA now.

Wilt would be an all-star center and Hall of Famer in any era, regardless if his freak stat lines went down.

 

[dmxfury]

You can only compare one to the era they played in. It is unfair and absurd to downplay ones accomplishments because of what players become physically in the future. Are we going to discredit Mike in 20 years since all guards may be LeBron's size and speed and he wouldn't be able to compete in 2030? I don't think we should...

 

[persiafly]

Originally Posted by dmxfury

You can only compare one to the era they played in. It is unfair and absurd to downplay ones accomplishments because of what players become physically in the future. Are we going to discredit Mike in 20 years since all guards may be LeBron's size and speed and he wouldn't be able to compete in 2030? I don't think we should...

Speaking for myself at least, I never said we should downplay what he did. But when people claim that Wilt would be dominant today, I think it's fair to counter that point. To that end, I think it's ridiculous to claim that a player who played 40 years ago would be on the level of athletes of the same size who play today. How much has been shaved off the 100m dash record in 40 years? How much has dunking evolved since then? Why would anyone believe that Wilt, today, would be anything more than Brook Lopez? What evidence do we have of this? And how can anyone convince me that Brook Lopez wouldn't have done what Wilt did against Wilt's competition? 

 

[RyGuy45]

^ Why can't we then give Wilt today's nutrition, training, etc in these arguments? (I ask this hypothetically).

Hell letting him play in Air Maxes instead of Chuck Taylors probably puts it over the top alone LOL.

People also want to completely discredit the state of the NBA back then (I agree it was different) however we often fail to realize teams were playing the same teams all the time. Would we agree Russell was probably one of if not the best defensive big men of all time? Well Wilt and Russ faced each other an average of FOURTEEN times per season for their careers.

BTW Wilt's averages just in the games he faced off (and was guarded by) Russell for his career?

28.7 PPG, 28.7 RPG

This is not to harp that Wilt is some god-like creature who would bang out 30 rebounds a game today. And we know Russell got the best of him team-wise. But rather the man obviously would be able to play at a high level in any era. Especially the last decade of 2 out of every 3 games you are playing against a big man who can't barely walk and chew gum at the same time.

 

[dmxfury]

Fair enough I like that point. I guess my only rebuttle would be Wilt would be recieving the same training, advice, products, diets, etc that help
make today's player what he is, so he would be relatively even stronger, etc. But Wilt being the guy he was
and transported to today's game I agree with your point