The Greatest Laker

[Theologator]

Magic had a far better supporting cast than Kobe, esp after Shaq left.

No doubt. That Showtime lineup was unreal. Weren’t Kareem & Worthy top 50 ever when the list was compiled 20 years ago?

Kobe could take over a game as good as anyone ever has and did so consistently. But Magic made everyone around him better. And Kobe never started at center. Magic did in the finals and won the battle and a championship as a rookie.

 

[deuce]

Jerry West!

 

[rogdochar]

Wilt Chamberlain is a blowhard braggert; P.T. Barnum would have seen Wilt as a genius solo promoter.
But Wilt's first love was track & field. On the Kansas varsity track team, 6'11" Wilt ran a sub 11 second 100 yard dash = that would be a 10.9, 100. He broad jumped over 22 feet. 3 years straight he was the Big-8 high jump champ, that involves his using his 7' body to sail horizontally over that bar = a different translation of his athleticism. Wilt threw the shot over 50 feet. He competed in the triple-jump.

When Wilt hit the NBA, his coach (& team owner) abused Wilt' by never taking him out of the game. And in those games all opposing
big men had to bashbody with Wilt the entire 48 minutes. Wilt had amazing speed and supreme stamina.Those first 10 years Wilt hit on 10 foot jumpers, some straight in the bucket, but when angled outward 10-feet from the basket Willt kissed the ball off the backboard knowingly. In those early years Wilt averaged close to 45 per game + 22 rebounds per game. + double digit blocked shots double digit assists. Wilt was rarely given a rest. Few if any of today's players play the whole game without coming out. This also means Wilt did not foul out.

Wilt had 10 years of wear & tear when the young phenom Jabbar faced off with Wilt. If you watch films of those match-ups you'll see Wilt block many of Jabbar's FG attempts and Jabbar rarely stopping Wilt from scoring. Watch running down the court on fast breaks. Wilt beats the younger Jabbar down the court everytime. Wilt could dribble well, even lead a fast break doing so. The argument that some player can't be really good if his team never won a championship is specious, since there are many HOF-players that never won championships. It's the greatness of the other guys around that win those, not just one specific player.

I know Jabbar was a great HOF player. As to career stats: Jabbar averaged 24.6 ppg to Wilt's 30.1 ppg ...19.2 rpg to 22.9 rpg ......
J 3.6 assist/g to W 4.4 apg ... J 36.5 minutes/g ....W 45.8 min/g. Just saying those two are comparable. Bill Russell was my favorite. Jordan, Dr.J were fun to watch.

 

[Marine1]

Wilt Chamberlain is a blowhard braggert; P.T. Barnum would have seen Wilt as a genius solo promoter.
But Wilt's first love was track & field. On the Kansas varsity track team, 6'11" Wilt ran a sub 11 second 100 yard dash = that would be a 10.9, 100. He broad jumped over 22 feet. 3 years straight he was the Big-8 high jump champ, that involves his using his 7' body to sail horizontally over that bar = a different translation of his athleticism. Wilt threw the shot over 50 feet. He competed in the triple-jump.

When Wilt hit the NBA, his coach (& team owner) abused Wilt' by never taking him out of the game. And in those games all opposing
big men had to bashbody with Wilt the entire 48 minutes. Wilt had amazing speed and supreme stamina.Those first 10 years Wilt hit on 10 foot jumpers, some straight in the bucket, but when angled outward 10-feet from the basket Willt kissed the ball off the backboard knowingly. In those early years Wilt averaged close to 45 per game + 22 rebounds per game. + double digit blocked shots double digit assists. Wilt was rarely given a rest. Few if any of today's players play the whole game without coming out. This also means Wilt did not foul out.

Wilt had 10 years of wear & tear when the young phenom Jabbar faced off with Wilt. If you watch films of those match-ups you'll see Wilt block many of Jabbar's FG attempts and Jabbar rarely stopping Wilt from scoring. Watch running down the court on fast breaks. Wilt beats the younger Jabbar down the court everytime. Wilt could dribble well, even lead a fast break doing so. The argument that some player can't be really good if his team never won a championship is specious, since there are many HOF-players that never won championships. It's the greatness of the other guys around that win those, not just one specific player.

I know Jabbar was a great HOF player. As to career stats: Jabbar averaged 24.6 ppg to Wilt's 30.1 ppg ...19.2 rpg to 22.9 rpg ......
J 3.6 assist/g to W 4.4 apg ... J 36.5 minutes/g ....W 45.8 min/g. Just saying those two are comparable. Bill Russell was my favorite. Jordan, Dr.J were fun to watch.

Great post. My only disagreement is on personality. While like many celebrities and star athletes Wilt was supremely self-confident but in my experience....somewhat limited as it was....privately he was very low key and very engaging.

 

[rogdochar]

Great post. My only disagreement is on personality. While like many celebrities and star athletes Wilt was supremely self-confident but in my experience....somewhat limited as it was....privately he was very low key and very engaging.

I think I did leave that out, yet my sentence saying P.T.Barnum (a genius & generous soul) would embrace Wilt was meant to imply what you said = he was a fine friend in non-spotlight situations. His spotlight behavior was for his personal humor & made many an NBA comrade crack up. In an interview just chatting about the recent NBA, Wilt said he thought Michael Jordan was the greatest and that every NBA player should give 10% of their salary to Jordan - that's how much he thought Jordan had done for the game. Nice bounce pass, Marine1.:cool:

 

[Theologator]

I know Jabbar was a great HOF player. As to career stats: Jabbar averaged 24.6 ppg to Wilt's 30.1 ppg ...19.2 rpg to 22.9 rpg ......
J 3.6 assist/g to W 4.4 apg ... J 36.5 minutes/g ....W 45.8 min/g. Just saying those two are comparable. Bill Russell was my favorite. Jordan, Dr.J were fun to watch.

Wilt was a unique combination of size and athleticism for his era. When watching him my grandmother used to say repeatedly, “It’s not fair!” The only other athlete to dominate like him may have been Jim Brown - who was as fast as a WR but as big as many DL in his era.

Every time I delve into Wilt’s insane stats, there’s always this quiet voice echoing, “But...Russell...” Bill Russell’s tenacity, competitiveness and preparation were incomparable. If not for that, Wilt would have collected many more rings. Instead, Russell got them. He’s GOAT in my book (not that anyone else reads my book.)

 

[MatthewM.]

Wtf is this stupid ass thread?

 

[stephenPE]

You clicked thinking "greatest Laker Girl".................i feel your pain.............

 

[Marine1]

Wilt was a unique combination of size and athleticism for his era. When watching him my grandmother used to say repeatedly, “It’s not fair!” The only other athlete to dominate like him may have been Jim Brown - who was as fast as a WR but as big as many DL in his era.

Every time I delve into Wilt’s insane stats, there’s always this quiet voice echoing, “But...Russell...” Bill Russell’s tenacity, competitiveness and preparation were incomparable. If not for that, Wilt would have collected many more rings. Instead, Russell got them. He’s GOAT in my book (not that anyone else reads my book.)

It’s hard to argue against Bill. He did what he did...win championships! But he also played in the ultimate team oriented organization. Wilt did prove in ‘67 with the Sixers and ‘72 with the Lakers that he was perfectly able and willing to adapt his game to his surroundings.....becoming a pass oriented center and tenacious defender. He won championships both years and, in fact, set records for wins each time (up to that point). Most folks include both teams in considering the best team of all-time. Personally I think he would have had equal success had he played in Boston as Russell did.

 

[Himey]

Corey Brewer

 

[78]

Just finished watching this final-quarter clip from Game 7 of the '69 Finals. Chamberlain and Russell go toe to toe with five fouls, which impacts how aggressive they can go. Chamberlain suffers a knee midway through that limits his effectiveness.

Chamberlain outscores Russell, 18-6, and controls the boards, 27-21, but it's the little things that make Russell the player he is. The Celts run a high post through him with a ton of movement off the ball. He finds the open man, he hustles, he creates second-chance opps. It's beautiful to watch.

Jerry West (what a shooter) is the dominant player in this game, but his triple-double heroics (he was named Finals MVP) aren't enough to erase a huge Celtic lead and Boston notches another title.

This is really great watching.

 

[T REX]

Walton played with 6-7 other HOF'ers

 

[Marine1]

Just finished watching this final-quarter clip from Game 7 of the '69 Finals. Chamberlain and Russell go toe to toe with five fouls, which impacts how aggressive they can go. Chamberlain suffers a knee midway through that limits his effectiveness.

Chamberlain outscores Russell, 18-6, and controls the boards, 27-21, but it's the little things that make Russell the player he is. The Celts run a high post through him with a ton of movement off the ball. He finds the open man, he hustles, he creates second-chance opps. It's beautiful to watch.

Jerry West (what a shooter) is the dominant player in this game, but his triple-double heroics (he was named Finals MVP) aren't enough to erase a huge Celtic lead and Boston notches another title.

This is really great watching.

Great video! Loved this era. Back story to this game. Wilt hurt his knee at about the 6 minute mark and had to come out. The Lakers had cut the lead from 17 to 7 at this point. Jerry West Kept the Lakers going and got the lead cut to 3. Wilt asked to go back in and idiot coach Butch Van Breda Kolff told him they were going to go with Mel Counts the rest of the way....which infuriated Jerry West. Wilt never got back in the game. This was the end of Butch. The Celtics coach (Russell) outcoached the Laker coach.

 

[78]

Great video! Loved this era. Back story to this game. Wilt hurt his knee at about the 6 minute mark and had to come out. The Lakers had cut the lead from 17 to 7 at this point. Jerry West Kept the Lakers going and got the lead cut to 3. Wilt asked to go back in and idiot coach Butch Van Breda Kolff told him they were going to go with Mel Counts the rest of the way....which infuriated Jerry West. Wilt never got back in the game. This was the end of Butch. The Celtics coach (Russell) outcoached the Laker coach.

And that was the end of van Breda Kolff. Mullaney kept the seat warm until Bill Sharman arrived two seasons later.

 

[stephenPE]

A completely different game without the 3pt shot. Did you hear the whistles? Tinny sounding compared to the new ones,

 

[Marine1]

What I noticed was that ball handlers rarely used their left hand. Jerry West in particular...

 

[78]

What I noticed was that ball handlers rarely used their left hand. Jerry West in particular...

Good point. Em Bryant was one of the few and the only guy out there with a crossover move, at the 17:30 mark.

 

[t-gator]

Wilt’s offense is suspect? He’s arguably the greatest scorer who ever lived. He averaged 50 ppg for a full season.

Against abunch of 5'10" white guys

 

[Gator-Don]

Kobe has to be in the discussion for top 3 Lakers at least. Cmon guys. He won 5 championships there and he's the second all-time scorer in franchise history behind Wilt. I wouldn't say best ever. But definitely in the discussion for top 3. Magic is definitely #1. Wilt or the Logo 2 or 3 and then Kobe in there maybe.

I wonder how many championships he would have if Shaq hadn't played for them.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

You clicked thinking "greatest Laker Girl".................i feel your pain.............

I accidentally clicked on this dumbazz thread but at least coach made it worth my time.