"So one day, Wilt is playing James Worthy, Magic Johnson, Byron Scott, Bernard King & Norm Nixon. Full court. Wilt is 45. The game is like 10-10. Magic goes in, lays it in and Wilt blocks it. Magic counts it, game over. Wilt said, "That wasn't goaltending." Magic yelled over to me and he said, "Coach, was that goaltending?" I am in bad trouble right now because I don't want Magic to be mad at me, but I don't want Wilt either, but I said, "Magic, that was a clean block." And Magic said, "Well, what?" and started screaming. Wilt said, "Look, let's do this. Let's play another game." He turned to me and he said, "Larry, they'll be no more layups made in this basket." And he proceeded to block every shot they took for about 10 minutes. Then Magic grabbed his ball and left."
People don't include Wilt in GOAT conversations because he was so far beyond everyone else, it's ludicrous to compare him to anyone else. Wilt played in the era before free agency. He didn't have the luxury of inviting the best players in the league to join him wherever he was. He played with whomever management drafted. Watching Wilt match up against Bill Russell was a thing of beauty. Glad I got to see that on my family's black and white TV.
Who can forget about the time Michael Jordan was arguing with Wilt Chamberlain about who was the GOAT at the time. Wilt Chamberlain,,,, who usually gets the last word walked up to Jordan and told him. "When you play,,, they changed the rules to make it EASIER for you to play,,, when I played they changed the rules to make it more difficult. Jordan was speechless.
At about 12 years old, I attended a number of Laker games at the Forum during that record, 1971-1972 season. I got to meet Jerry West, Gail Goodrich and a lesser known role player on the team named Pat Riley. I remember the 33 game winning streak, that first championship in Los Angeles and some amazing players along with Wilt Chamberlain. Happy Hairston comes to mind. I also saw games in the Magic/Kareem years, and the Kobe/Shaq years. But there is no doubt in my mind that Wilt Chamberlain was the most amazing player in NBA history. Different criteria will lead to different answers on who is the "GOAT," but if you are just talking about the player, his impact on the game and his performance and absolute statistical dominance, there is no other than Wilt.
Wilt Chamberlain, was probably the greatest player ever played the game of basketball. Beyond any reasonable doubts he's worthy of respect, admiration and appreciation after what he'd done for NBA.
Wilt is the true GOAT of basketball. Teams were actively trying to recruit him when he was 50 years old! I really wish he would have signed up for a season with the Lakers in the 80's, he could have shown the world how dominate he was against more modern competition, and it would have been really fun to watch a guy school people that were half his age.
I love Wilt, since I was a runner, I appreciated seeing wilt at a Cross Country Championship in the 70's. To see the runners pass at different areas fans would run from one spot to the next. Wilt was right there leading the way and cheering ! He truly loved all sports and all people!
Giannis, and I love Giannis, is a 2x MVP, playoff MVP, and the best player in the NBA today. He averaged 30 points and 11.6 rebounds last season. Wilt Chamberlain was taller, bigger, faster, stronger, a higher leaper, and had more basketball game than Giannis. I don't know what Wilt would avg today but he'd easily exceed what Giannis is doing. And by the way, you can't touch him either in today's game.
Wilt Chamberlain is the most dominant player of all time. It's like taking Giannis and then adding 3 inches, 70 lbs, 5 inches of wingspan, a couple more inches of vertical, and a Dirk Nowitzki level mid range game. The most you could do is bait Wilt into taking dumber shots, but even then he was regularly gonna shoot them over your head. He has skyhooks, finger rolls, up and unders, anything he wanted to do in the paint he did, even with Kareem there. You could not stop him, in today's game I'm dead serious when I say he would probably dribble like Giannis and shoot 3s too. He was the inventive type, I wouldn't be surprised if he took more stepback 3s than normal ones cause he was so strong. His 3pter would probably look pretty similar to Lebron's.
When I was in the 4th or 5th grade I saw Wilt Chamberlin play at San Francisco Civic Center. It was my first ever Pro game. My father used to enjoy recounting how I said "Dad look how little the ball is". I treasure that memory to this day. I am 70.
I remember meeting Wilt when he was playing volley ball with the Big Dippers. Other teams would play with 6 players while the Big Dippers would play with 4 players. The Dippers would always win. Wilt would spike the ball so hard that you could not believe it didn't explode and deflate. He was a monster of a man and an unbelievable athlete even at his older age. Shaking his hand was like shaking a catcher's mitt.
The disrespect is unreal Wilt is the original the most unstoppable force the NBA has ever seen. Just watch the videos that's him scoring 60 70 80 points with no problem. I hate the slander that he played against 6 footers knock it off he played against giants of the sport.
