Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Saturday, there are 59 days remaining.Without hyperbole or exaggeration, we may never see another individual dominate team sports that way Wilt Chamberlain did over his 14-year career.
And yet, as strange as it sounds, Chamberlain's career almost feels incomplete, at least when you consider he was robbed of two seasons before his NBA career even began. Just like how archaic NCAA rules kept him from joining Kansas' varsity team as a freshman in 1955-56, NBA rules prohibited him from being drafted immediately after he left college early in 1958, prompting the best basketball player in the world to spend his first year as a pro barnstorming with the Harlem Globetrotters.
In the video after the jump, a young Chamberlain is interviewed shortly after he was finally drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959, explaining why he turned down more money to stay with the Globetrotters for the chance to play in the NBA.
The Globetrotter's loss was the NBA's gain: Chamberlain burst onto the scene as the league's most dominant player, averaging 37.6 points and 27 rebounds a game while capturing Most Valuable Player, All-Star Most Valuable Player and, of course, Rookie of the Year honors.
His career started with seven consecutive scoring crowns and finished with 11 rebounding titles and 13 All-Star game appearances. By the time he left the game, he was the NBA's all-time leader in points -- had he played in an era that allowed him to join the NBA immediately after high school, it's likely he'd still have a lead over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Michael Jordan -- and he remains the league's all-time leader in rebounds.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hard for anyone, even Wilt, to feel sorry for Wilt, but Auerbach has admitted publically he wanted Wilt straight out of high school, so we are NOT guessing how much in demand he woulda/coulda/shoulda been. The Knicks had a 6`6 all pro center, which should further underscore how desperate the association should have been for him. Might have been, if he`d been white. The Nba was basically a northeastern minor league, no major league in basketball, which is why the Globies could offer more money back then. Legally required segregation was still being fought in the south, black/white restrooms, black/white schools. DeFacto segregation in the northeast. And Wilt did NOT retire. His OWNER, couldn`t be refered to as his employer in those days, his OWNER, slave language still, otherwise, maybe a good guy, his OWNER went to court to PREVENT him from working. Otherwise, he might have worked at least another 6 or 8 years, like Kareem or Robert Parish did. He had no wife, no kids, though allegedly plenty of sex, but no one to stay home for, and once you are maybe 38, your kids are maybe reaching puberty, if you have had any, and stop whining when you aren`t around and start whining when you are around, all too often. But the association banned offensive goal tending because of him, in `58. They went afraid of Pettit or even Russell doing it. They widen the 3 second lane, maybe 3 times, basically because of him. They just couldn`t stnad how even as a high school grad, he`d have made all the other grown men seem like boys in comparison. Only won the championship twice, but if he`d gone in the territorial draft they used to have to a team with stars, which wanted him, like Boston, which traded a Hall of Famer they did have, Ed MacCauley, and one they only had the rights to, Cliff Hagan, for Russ, meaning they could have maybe had Russ AND Wilt if they`d wanted, and combined Russ` championships with Wilt`s, Chamberlain with the better individual stats would have, rightly, dominated the publicity teaming with Russ, and Russ, wrongly, wouldn`t have been given nearly the credit he was due. Athletes should have their self coaching records published. Folks now claim James knows how to win. Then why hasn`t he? Same reasons, sort of, as Wilt, basketball is a team sport, not an individual sport. Check Wilt`s winning percentage, number of games won, like you check coaches. He took his teams to the Championship most years. A team placing 2nd isn`t placing 30th or 36th. Give Russ, Sanders, Loscutoff all the credit they deserve, they won championships, they deserve to be in the Hall as team players. Only Russ of the three deserves to be in the Hall as an individual player. Likewise with Horry, great team player, not great individual player. Wiltshould have still been working as an athlete, later GM and/or coach, at the start of the `80s, and shouldn`t have died, still falsely branded a loser, at 64, of a broken heart, literally and figuratively.
Wilt, 2 NBA Championships, Bill Russell, 11.
Wilt, 4 MVPs, Russell 5. Enought said.
He nick name was Dip or Dipper, not Wilt the Stilt. They changed the game to hold Wilt down, unlike other where they unoffically changed the rules to let score. Will they ever call traveling?
Some folks these days don`t realize how great a team the Celtics were. Russell is #1 in Championship rebounds, #1 in championship games played, #3 in championships assists. Cousy is #2 in championship assists. Sam Jones is #2 in championship games played. Tom Heinsohn is #5 in championship rebounds and #5 in championship games played. They were the greatest small ball team in nba history. The nba should add official championship mvps in `56 to `68. One for Petit, the year he won, one for Chamberlain, the years he won, then split the other 10 about equally between Russell, Cousy, Heinsohn, and Jones. Give the Celtics their just due. Chamberlain won the mvp in `59 - `60 as a rookie, the had BETTER stats the next three years, and lost. Why? Compare stats. Russ won with 23.9 rebounds, 2nd to Chamberlain at 27.2, 16.9 pts., 18th, Chamberlain 38.4, 1st, Chamberlain also led the association in FG%, Russ wasn`t in the top ten. Next year, Russ won with 23.6 rebounds, 2n to Chamberlain, 25.7 rebounds, Russ scored 18.9 pts., 17th, Chamberlain 50.4, 1st. second in FG%, with 50.6, to Walt Ballamy, rookie, with51.9, Bells was also 2nd in scoring, third in rebounds. Next year, Russ won with 23.0 rebounds, 2nd to Wilt, with 24.3, Russ scored 16.8, 19th, while Wilt scored 44.8, Wilt led the nba in FG% again, 52.8. He wasn`t shooting enough! In `68-`69, Russ` last year in the nba, Wes Unseld became the only other rookie to win mvp than Wilt. Wes was 2nd in the nba in rebounds, 18.2, to Wilt, 21.1, not among the stat leaders in any other category. Hayes was 4th in rebounds, 17.1, 1st in scoring. Clearly, Hayes was the real rookie of the year, not Unseld. Wilt had dropped all the way to 19th in scoring, 20.5 having joined a new team, the Lakers. First in FG% with 58.3. Not scoring nearly enough. Clearly, Wilt was the real mvp in `60 - `62, not Russ. The false nba record OUGHT to be corrected. Then folks today will have a real understanding of how great the Celtics really were.
Thanks for posting.
Nice memories.