Is Wilt one of the greatest NBA players of all time? Following this inquiry, Charmbalin’s response to this

Is Wilt one of the greatest NBA players of all time? Following this inquiry, Charmbalin’s response to this.

The NBA playoffs are currently underway, and since the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets are no longer my two teams of choice, it seems appropriate to address the never-ending discussion about who the true best player of all time is. It’s frequently referred to as the GOAT.

It’s not Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, despite what some may say. The late 7’1″, 300 lb player is unquestionably the greatest of all time. Wilt (The Stilt) Chamberlain was an incredible iron man who played in 14 NBA seasons and held numerous unbreakable records. He was born in 1959 and lived to be 73.

“We will never see another one like Wilt,” said Abdul-Jabbar, who started his professional career as Lew Alcindor with the Bucks.

Together with my numerous in-person and television viewings of Chamberlain (also known as the Big Dipper), my initial impression was supported by a newspaper interview I conducted with the late Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, the league’s unchallenged all-time best defensive player. Russell, who was Chamberlain’s longtime rival, said in the late 1970s, “Wilt was so strong he was virtually unstoppable—even by me.”

As a lifelong fan of professional basketball, I witnessed my first NBA game as a child here in the 1950s at The Arena downtown, home of the Milwaukee Hawks, before they moved to St. Louis and later to Atlanta. “He could do what he wanted, any time he wanted,” Russell said, laughing heartily. “Rebound, shoot finger-rolls, dunk, pass, block shots, push you around—everything. There ain’t never been no one like him and probably never will be….

Milwaukee Holiday Doubleheader: Though I was attending Marquette University at the time, I first saw the lanky, muscular, super-athletic Chamberlain in 1957 when he led the University of Kansas Jayhawks into Milwaukee as part of a holiday doubleheader. A standout in track at Kansas, Chamberlain was also a world-class volleyball player, high jumper, and 440-yard dasher. When the NBA called, he became an instant star, a multi-skilled, powerful big man who was destined to rewrite the record books.

I saw Chamberlain play professionally for the first time, escorted by my father, at Chicago Stadium in 1958 with the legendary Black Harlem Globetrotters. The following year, he started his incredible NBA career with the Philadelphia Warriors, and he went on to form one of the best Big 3 teams in NBA history with Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. In 1962, Chamberlain moved with the team to San Francisco, and in 1965, he returned to Philadelphia with the 76ers. From 1968 to 1973, he played for the Los Angeles Lakers, where he joined forces with Elgin Baylor and Jerry West to form an unsurmountable trio.

How Many Points? The highest number of points in a game (100 in 1962), the highest number of points in a season (4,029), the highest number of points in a game by a rookie (58 in 1959), the most career over-50-point games (118), the highest number of over-60-point games (32), and the highest number of over-70-point games (6); the highest average points-per-game in a season (50.4 in 1962); the most shots in a game without a miss (18), the highest average assists by a center (8.6), the highest number of rebounds in a game (55), the most rebounds in a playoff game (41), the most rebounds in a season (2,149), the longest streak of games without fouling out (1,045), and, including playoff games, the highest minutes-per-game in a season (48.5) and complete games (46-72 in 1961–62).

During his incredible career, Chamberlain hardly missed a game for any reason for a whole season—a feat he accomplished without the help of the 3-point shot rule, unlike Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant. Despite these incredible accomplishments, some mocked Chamberlain’s scoring prowess because of his enormous size and strength, to which Chamberlain would often respond, “Nobody loves Goliath.” Nevertheless, he was so well-liked that a well-known publicity stunt even suggested a heavyweight match between the enormous Chamberlain and 6-3, 220 lb. champion Muhammad Ali. In his daily life, Chamberlain was a true-blue everyman who frequently expressed strong political and social views. He was an outspoken supporter of women’s sports, particularly volle.

Vibrant Life Interestingly, Wilt also led a vibrant life away from the world of professional basketball. In 1961, for instance, he bought the renowned Harlem live-music hotspot, Small’s Paradise, and renamed it Big Wilt’s Small’s. There, he reportedly spent eighteen hours a day learning the ins and outs of the nightclub industry, changing the music from jazz to rhythm and blues and bringing in Ray Charles as his first act. During Chamberlain’s tenure, the club hosted a number of well-known athletes, entertainers, and politicians while continuing to enjoy popular ownership into the early 1970s. Ultimately, the establishment was closed in 1983.