Historical Greatness

[SWC75]

I'm doing the stats for my annual "NBA Net Points" post and came across something amazing I didn't even want to wait until the rest of the stats are done to report.

The greatest statistical season in NBA history for decades has been Wilt Chamberlain's 1961-62 season. here are the numbers per 48 minutes. (Wilt actually averaged an incredible 48.5 minutes per game that season: he was off the court for 35 minutes all season and they played more than 7 overtime periods.) The "Net Points" formula is to add the points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks per a full game and subtracted the missed field goals, missed free throws, turnovers and fouls committed. In Wilt's time they didn't keep official track of steals, blocks and turnovers, (numbers which approximately cancel each other out for most players). All I could do is use the other stats to come up with Wilt's "net points":
49.8p, 25.3r, 2.3a, ? s, ?b = 77.4 positives, 19.3mfg (Wilt shot 50.6%), 6.5mft (61.3%, his best ever), ?to 1.5pf = 27.3 negatives = 50.1NP
That's the best ever and the only NP over 50 per game. Since then, Kareem has reached 45.9, Bob McAdoo 41.7, Dr. J 38.4, (in the ABA), Larry Bird and Magic Johnson 39.3, Moses Malone 35.2, Karl Malone 36.2, Michael Jordan 40.5, Charles Barkley 37.3, Hakeem Olajuwon 37.7, Patrick Ewing 35.3, David Robinson 38.6, Tim Duncan 33.8, Kevin Garnett 38.0, Shaquille O'Neal 36.7, Kobe Bryant 29.4, LeBron James 42.2, Kevin Durant 37.5, Steph Curry 44.9, Russell Westbrook 43.7, James Harden 39.2, Anthony Davis 40.8, Giannis Antetokounmpo 49.7, Luka Doncic 40.3 and Nikola Jokić 46.2. But nobody has been able to top Wilt. Until now.

Here are Jokić's numbers for 2021-22"
39.8p 19.8r, 11.3a, 2.1s, 1.2b = 74.2 positives, 10.6mfg (58.3%), 1.7mft (83.0%), 5.4to, 3.7pf = 21.4 negative = 52.8NP If we drop the steals, blocks and turnovers, it's 50.7, still better than Wilt. Statistically, that's the best season in NBA history.

Wilt still was well ahead in points and rebounds. Later in his career he actually led the NBA in assists, although his highest average per 48 minutes was 8.8. Wilt surely had considerably more blocks than 1.2 per game. That didn't become an official stat until the year after Wilt retired. The record for blocks per game is 5.56 by Mark Eaton. Where Wilt really loses out, surprisingly is in missed field goals per game. One pictures him repeatedly dunking over smaller men but the NBA in 1961-62 defended him well enough that he missed 19 shots a game and just over 50%. He had his best free throw shooting season that year but it still wasn't very good and he was constantly at the line, (which tells you why he might have had a lower field goal percentage than you'd think). I've no idea what his turnover might have been but tend to think it would have been less than 5.4 per 48 minutes.

Wilt, like many old players, always maintained that the game was rougher in his time and that defense was tougher as a result. I think modern players, being bigger on average and probably more athletic, probably play better defense, (and produce more offense from it) than in the old days but I agree that the manner of player was likely rougher in Wilt's time and also that the rules have been changed over the years to favor offense, (as is true in most American sports), so Wilt may have a point. Maybe it was easier for Nikola Jokić to average 52.8NP per 48 minutes in 2021-22 than it was for Wilt to average 50.1 in 1961-62. Certainly Jokić isn't dominating the game the way Wilt did back in the 60's, (or winning championships the way Bill Russell did).

Here's an interview Wilt did with Charley Rose in 1991:


Here's a clip of an NBA game from Wilt's time. What do you think: is it harder to make shots or are the players not as good at doing it?

1964 NBA Finals - Game 4 - Boston Celtics at San Francisco Warriors (2nd Half)

 

[goofnoff]

I was in my room listening to a Nats game when McKechnie said we're going over to the Warrior-Knicks game where something historic is happening, and soon we heard the call of Chamberlain hitting 100.

He never won a ring with the Warriors, but came back to Philly to win a ring with the 76ers. That team was loaded with players that went to Philly with the Nats. Hal Greer average 22 a game for that team. Greer used top take jump shots for free throws and was usually in the top 5 in foul shooting percentage.

Russel could pretty well stop Chamberlain from scoring which is one reason the hated Celtics won 9 Championships in 10 years. I saw them play against one another in a double header at the War Memorial. Cost $1.50 for a good seat.

 

[SWC75]

I was in my room listening to a Nats game when McKechnie said we're going over to the Warrior-Knicks game where something historic is happening, and soon we heard the call of Chamberlain hitting 100.

He never won a ring with the Warriors, but came back to Philly to win a ring with the 76ers. That team was loaded with players that went to Philly with the Nats. Hal Greer average 22 a game for that team. Greer used top take jump shots for free throws and was usually in the top 5 in foul shooting percentage.

Russel could pretty well stop Chamberlain from scoring which is one reason the hated Celtics won 9 Championships in 10 years. I saw them play against one another in a double header at the War Memorial. Cost $1.50 for a good seat.

Wilt did OK for himself vs. Bill:​

Regular Season​

Player	G	W	L	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
Bill Russell	94	57	37			5.9	15.9	.370	2.4	4.4	.543	22.9	4.4	3.6	14.2
Wilt Chamberlain	94	37	57		47.0	12.0	24.6	.488	5.9	12.0	.493	28.1	3.8	1.9	29.9

 

[goofnoff]

Except that they were 20 games under 500. The Warriors ran their offense through Chamberlain. If Russell held Chamberlain under 30, he was shutting him down. I'd like to see just the playoff games.

 

[SWC75]

Basketball started as purely a team sport. Infact one of Naismith's early ideas was that the court would be divided into a grid with a player for each team in each square and whoever had the ball would have to pass or shoot it past the guy in his square. There could be no stars. Even after they abandoned the grid, coaches would have their team move in patterns like "the weave", which again repressed individual activity.

But over time it was noticed that some players were better, or at least bigger than others and it behooved teams to get those guys the ball as much as possible. If your team had a star and the other didn't, you won. If both teams had stars, it would be a battle of the stars. The NBA when Wilt came along was governed by the star system. The Hawks had Bob Pettit. the Lakers had Elgin Baylor. The Royals had Oscar Robertson. Jerry West would soon join the Lakers to give them a 1-2 punch. Our Nats had Dolph Schayes. And the Warriors had Wilt, the greatest star of all. Those would have been the dominant teams, except that the Celtics were re-inventing the game.

Their star, Bill Russell was not a great scorer. Instead he was a great defensive player. So Red Auerbach built his team around defense and took advantage of the fact that basketball is the game where offense can be generated by defense more than any other. he wanted his team to get the ball and run, hitting the open man. Instead of having one star score 30+ points a game in a half-court set, he had his Celtics hit the open man and beat the other team down court. Everybody score 15-20 points a game and the Celtics outscored everybody, averaging 120+ points per game while playing the best defense in the league. it was a combination even the greatest star player couldn't overcome and the Celtics won 11 titles in 13 years.

Bill was surrounded by some great players: Tom Heinsohn, Bob Cousey, Bill Sharman, Frank Ramsey, John Havlicek, KC and Same Jones, etc. But Wilt played with some great players, too: Paul Arizin, Tom Gola, Guy Rodgers, Al Attles, Tom Meschery, Willie Naulls, Nate Thurmond, Hal Greer, Larry Costello, Luke Jackson, Chet Walker, Billy Cunningham, Wali Jones and then, in LA, Baylor and West, Gail Goodrich and Happy Hairston.

Wilt realized midway through his career that trying to personally outscore the Celtics wasn't working and he would have to adopt elements of their style of play and use the talents of his teammates more to be successful. In the 1965-66 season they beat out the Celtics for the Eastern title but lost in the playoffs. In 1966-67 they blew past the Celtics with the best record in NBA history to that point, 68-13, beat them in five games in the playoffs and then beat Rick Barry's Warriors, (Rick was the new scoring champ) for the title. They again won the east the next year but were upset by the Celtics in the playoffs. Wilt then moved on to LA where they tried to win with the triumvirate of Wilt, Elgin and Jerry but failed. Russell and then Baylor retired and Wilt and Jerry, playing very much as the Celtics had, set a new record for wins in 1971-72 with 69-13, including a professional sports record of 33 wins in a row and won another title. They were back in the finals the next year but were upset by the Knicks and Wilt retired.

Had he kept on setting scoring records, Wilt's career numbers would never have been topped. But by changing the way he and his teams played to a more successful system he won two championships with team that had the best regular season record in league history until the Bulls finally topped them a generation later.

 

[goofnoff]

That's pretty common knowledge. What frustrated Wilt the scorer was that Russel wouldn't let him establish the position he wanted. Everyone talked about Wilt dunking the ball, but he did most of his scoring with a little turn around baseline jumper inside 8 feet. Russell would push out beyond his comfort range. Today all big men guard their counterpart the way Russel guarded Chamberlain.

It seemed strange to watch Chamberlain when he stopped looking for his shot. He then dominated in rebounding assists and shot blocking.