75 Best Players in the History of the NBA: Dame?

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WesleyMatthews said:
What attributes does he have that are vastly superior to today's centers?

The league was shit back then with 8 teams when he entered the league. Players were smaller, and big guys were unathletic lumbering unskilled stiffs. None of that is true in the last 10-20 years. Wilt wasn't skilled shooting; 6 seasons he shot under 50% FT's.

Javalee McGee and Andre Drummond would've also dominated in that era. Now I do think Wilt is better than them... but today he would get outplayed by guys like Jokic, Anthony Davis, maybe even Gobert. Even Nurk could probably slow him down a lot, Nurk would've been a hall of fame center in that era.
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ANYTIME somebody brings up players playing in different eras, I think of this NIKE commercial. Guys trying to guard Wilt during the 60s literally look like my retired father in law. Nobody from back then is dominating anything nowadays. Nas could go back and play in the 60s and they would have his statue outside of the Hall of Fame in Massachusetts!

 
WesleyMatthews said:
What attributes does he have that are vastly superior to today's centers?

The league was shit back then with 8 teams when he entered the league. Players were smaller, and big guys were unathletic lumbering unskilled stiffs. None of that is true in the last 10-20 years. Wilt wasn't skilled shooting; 6 seasons he shot under 50% FT's.

Javalee McGee and Andre Drummond would've also dominated in that era. Now I do think Wilt is better than them... but today he would get outplayed by guys like Jokic, Anthony Davis, maybe even Gobert. Even Nurk could probably slow him down a lot, Nurk would've been a hall of fame center in that era.
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Slow down dropping all these knowledge bombs in one post. Let this kid have a chance to take cover!
 
again...Wilt would dominate today's NBA if there was no restricted circle, no hand check rules & impediment rules, and no 3 point shot.

just like Dame would be just another good PG if players were allowed to hand check and impede him, and there was no 3 point line
 
I would dominate if there wasn't a humans only rule.

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wizenheimer said:
again...Wilt would dominate today's NBA if there was no restricted circle, no hand check rules & impediment rules, and no 3 point shot.

just like Dame would be just another good PG if players were allowed to hand check and impede him, and there was no 3 point line
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Wonder if JinxSpeed thinks Dame would put up the exact same numbers in 1959 as he does today? I got a little feeling deep down he might be averaging 100 A GAME!!!
 
I don't know what people mean by "dominate." Chamberlain obviously wouldn't dominate the current league the way he did in his own league. But Chamberlain (and Russell for that matter, and I used to be a real skeptic of Russell at one time) would at least be stars, if not superstars, today. Chamberlain's size and athleticism wasn't of his time, it was ahead of his time--he'd at the very least be a durable version of Joel Embiid today.

Abdul-Jabbar and Robertson (to take the best two of the 1970s) were likewise ahead of their time, which is why they put up unearthly numbers in their own time. I have no trouble at all imagining them as great players in any era.

The players who don't pass the test of time to me are the guys like Havlicek, Sharman, Cousy--they were very much of their time and I don't think players like that (as they existed back then, making no allowances for growing up today with current training and nutrition) could survive today's league.
 
Wilt averaged 24 points, 24 rebounds and 9 assists when he was 31

he led the league in rebounding for three straight seasons when he was 34-36. And that was at a time when other C's in the league included Kareem, Nate Thurmond, Dave Cowens, Bob Lanier, Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes, and Walt Bellamy

the NBA has evolved because of NBA rule changes
 
SheedSoNasty said:
According to Hoopshype, Dame is #52 and had Bill Walton completely fall out of the top 75.
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I think since there are only 36 players to have won the MVP in league history, it would be crazy to leave any of them off of the list. So I bet Walton makes it.
 
Minstrel said:
I don't know what people mean by "dominate." Chamberlain obviously wouldn't dominate the current league the way he did in his own league. But Chamberlain (and Russell for that matter, and I used to be a real skeptic of Russell at one time) would at least be stars, if not superstars, today. Chamberlain's size and athleticism wasn't of his time, it was ahead of his time--he'd at the very least be a durable version of Joel Embiid today.

Abdul-Jabbar and Robertson (to take the best two of the 1970s) were likewise ahead of their time, which is why they put up unearthly numbers in their own time. I have no trouble at all imagining them as great players in any era.

The players who don't pass the test of time to me are the guys like Havlicek, Sharman, Cousy--they were very much of their time and I don't think players like that (as they existed back then, making no allowances for growing up today with current training and nutrition) could survive today's league.
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He flat out said he’d be the best player in the game today. Thats what he meant by dominate. SIGH….
 
PtldPlatypus said:
The claims that athletes from the 60's couldn't hang with the athletes of today is based on a lot of false assumptions.

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I think a better way to look at it is what would today’s players do back then. Tell me what Dame would average in 1959…….what would The Greek Freak do to the 6’1” 185 lb SF trying to guard him.
 
i think THAT puts in perspective the talent level back then.
 
THE HCP said:
He flat out said he’d be the best player in the game today. Thats what he meant by dominate. SIGH….
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Some people felt Embiid was at least in the argument for best player. He was a top MVP candidate. I don't think Chamberlain would clearly be the best player in the NBA today, but in the argument? Sure, I think that's possible.
 
Minstrel said:
Some people felt Embiid was at least in the argument for best player. He was a top MVP candidate. I don't think Chamberlain would clearly be the best player in the NBA today, but in the argument? Sure, I think that's possible.
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Like I said though…..what about todays players going back and playing against all those accountants and librarians they called players. Anger needs Simmons would average 45 against those dudes.
 
THE HCP said:
Like I said though…..what about todays players going back and playing against all those accountants and librarians they called players.
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They'd probably do things like score 100 points in a game, average more points than minutes played, have 40-20 seasons and the like.

Again, I'm not saying that all the players from the 1960s would do fine today. I was explicitly not saying that. Most of the league in the 1960s wouldn't come anywhere close to NBA-quality today. But Chamberlain wasn't just a 6'7'' player scoring 21 points per game and getting a nice 9 boards per game. He had height, weight, athleticism and strength equivalent to the best of today. He was, in pretty much every way, a modern-style athlete playing against those "accountants and librarians" as you put it. What would a modern great player do against them? Look at Chamberlain's stats to find out.
 
Minstrel said:
They'd probably do things like score 100 points in a game, average more points than minutes played, have 40-20 seasons and the like.

Again, I'm not saying that all the players from the 1960s would do fine today. I was explicitly not saying that. Most of the league in the 1960s wouldn't come anywhere close to NBA-quality today. But Chamberlain wasn't just a 6'7'' player scoring 21 points per game and getting a nice 9 boards per game. He had height, weight, athleticism and strength equivalent to the best of today. He was, in pretty much every way, a modern-style athlete playing against those "accountants and librarians" as you put it. What would a modern great player do against them? Look at Chamberlain's stats to find out.
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Never questioned Wilt’s skills, it’s always been about the competition he played against is all. Reminds me of back in high school. Had a good friend of mine from our church growing up, who is my age and went to Brush Prairie high school up in deep Vancouver. Dude was like first team all conference and every sport. But he always used to brag about basketball. So I finally told him he needed to stay the night with me and he could hang out and play basketball with me and my friends over the weekend. I don’t think he realized that the friends I was playing basketball with included Damon Stoudemire in Terrell Brandon, and a bunch other players that all went D1 that I grew up with and played with everyday. It was hilarious, his job was dropped is he watched everybody dunking just warming up. He was so freaked out, probably didn’t score a point all day couldn’t even hold my jockstrap, and I couldn’t even make our high school team we were so good. So I always look at the competition of who guys are playing with before I judge him. Because you can put up huge numbers if you’re playing against a bunch of scrubs. Not saying that’s the case with wilt, but he would definitely be playing against better players now than back then, and that’s not even a question.
 
THE HCP said:
ot saying that’s the case with wilt, but he would definitely be playing against better players now than back then, and that’s not even a question.
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Yeah, of course that's true. But we (and many experts) believe that Arvydas Sabonis was a truly great big man in his prime and he was playing much worse competition than the NBA. You have to account for the worse competition, so it's a level of projection. I don't think many of the Hall of Famers from the 1950s and 1960s could play today because they just don't have the bodies and athletic traits for it--Wilt did, in addition to being skilled. That's what makes me relatively comfortable projecting him forward.
 
THE HCP said:
I think a better way to look at it is what would today’s players do back then. Tell me what Dame would average in 1959…….what would The Greek Freak do to the 6’1” 185 lb SF trying to guard him.
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What would Dame or the Greek Freak look like in 1959, using 1959 training methods and game techniques?
 
This is well done, but Dame nowhere in sight.



And funny that the only Michael Jordan you saw was the one driving the bus.
 
wizenheimer said:
Wilt averaged 24 points, 24 rebounds and 9 assists when he was 31

he led the league in rebounding for three straight seasons when he was 34-36. And that was at a time when other C's in the league included Kareem, Nate Thurmond, Dave Cowens, Bob Lanier, Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes, and Walt Bellamy

the NBA has evolved because of NBA rule changes
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And many of the rule changes were made because Wilt was so dominant.
 
THE HCP said:
I think a better way to look at it is what would today’s players do back then. Tell me what Dame would average in 1959…….what would The Greek Freak do to the 6’1” 185 lb SF trying to guard him.
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The average height of an NBA player in 1959 was 1 inch less than now. Height and weight in the NBA is dropping - working back to optimal 1959 levels.
 
If most current NBA were transported back to 1959, they'd be called the N-word a bunch of times, they wouldn't take it well. They'd then be beaten and thrown in jail. So, not even available to play on the court...
 
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