Wilt Chamberlain is one of the most fascinating and intriguing players in NBA history.
He put up statistics that no one else has ever come close to matching and dominated the league in a way that no one else ever will, yet he often fails to receive the respect that he greatly deserves.
In conversations about the greatest of all time, however, he is often relegated to a lower spot on the list, as his detractors claim that he dominated poor opposition, put up statistics at the expense of his team, was a bad teammate on and off the court and a loser who could never carry his team to victory. Plus, he wouldn’t be as great if he played in today’s NBA.
In this article, I will focus largely on the last claim, although along the way, I will discount some of the others I mentioned as well.
Before I begin, let me make my mission statement crystal clear: I intend to show that Wilt Chamberlain possessed the ability to play at an All-Time level in any NBA era.
First, let’s take a look at Wilt’s career and see just how dominant he was.
Wilt's Career:
When Wilt entered the league in 1959, he immediately dominated.
In his first season, he averaged 37.6 points and an absurd 27 rebounds per game, leading the league in both categories. Wilt’s most impressive performances in his rookie season included a 41-40 game (in just the third game of his career), a 44-45 game, a 43-rebound game, a 44-42 game against Bill Russell and a 58-42 game, as well as numerous other high-scoring games.
(For comparison, only two people besides Wilt and Russell ever grabbed 40 or more rebounds in a game and only Wilt ever notched a 40-40.)
For the next six years, Wilt controlled his opponents in similar fashion–his averages for the first half of his career are 39.5 points per game and 24.9 rebounds per game, including a 50.4 ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
