Who is the greatest basketball player of all-time?

[MixxAOR]

After Giannis joins Raptors how long will it take him to become the GOAT?

[Apollo]

And Marty McSorley

Hell yeah, Marty helped him and Jordan had guys like Oak. Smart teams protect their meal ticket. You don't want nobodies taking runs at stars to make a name for themselves.

[G__Deane]

After Giannis joins Raptors how long will it take him to become the GOAT?

10 minutes?

[RaptorsVictim]

For me, it is either Bill Russell or Kareem. I do not think many people here have wtached Bill.

[Demographic Shift]

The Greatest NBA player of all time ?

Wilton Norman Chamberlin.
Wilt the Stilt.


For a few reasons on and off the court.

As a rook.. Chamberlain averaged 38 points and 27 boards.
As a rook.

He put up a 100 one night..
A 100.

In one season he averaged a double double.
50 points and 25 boards.
Think about that.. the NBA guys get stiff if Curry scores 50. Wilt did it every night.. For a year.

He logged 4,000 plus points in one season.
Next best is Micheal Jordan's 3000.

He claims to have slept with 20,000 women.
Even if he is bullshitting on a Trudeau or Trump level and its only half of the claiim, that is something that bears a tip of the hat.

To paraphrase Roy Hobbs.. Wilt Chamberlin....The Best There Ever Was.

[Apollo]

The Greatest NBA player of all time ?

Wilton Norman Chamberlin.
Wilt the Stilt.


For a few reasons on and off the court.

As a rook.. Chamberlain averaged 38 points and 27 boards.
As a rook.

He put up a 100 one night..
A 100.

In one season he averaged a double double.
50 points and 25 boards.
Think about that.. the NBA guys get stiff if Curry scores 50. Wilt did it every night.. For a year.

He logged 4,000 plus points in one season.
Next best is Micheal Jordan's 3000.

He claims to have slept with 20,000 women.
Even if he is bullshitting on a Trudeau or Trump level and its only half of the claiim, that is something that bears a tip of the hat.

To paraphrase Roy Hobbs.. Wilt Chamberlin....The Best There Ever Was.

Drop Wilt into this era for a moment. What are his rookie numbers? What's his highest scoring game for his career?

[chris]

Drop Wilt into this era for a moment. What are his rookie numbers? What's his highest scoring game for his career?

28 and 17 (with 5 blocks)? somewhere between 70 and 90? he would physically dominate any era.

still not the GOAT. he belongs in lebron's tier (4-5) of historic underachievers relative to their talents and physical abilities.

[Demographic Shift]

Drop Wilt into this era for a moment. What are his rookie numbers? What's his highest scoring game for his career?

Its so hard to compare players from different eras....

In todays NBA with bigger faster stronger guys I think Wilt could play ....but with the changes in offensive philosophy he wouldn't dominate like he did in his era.

[chris]

Its so hard to compare players from different eras....

In todays NBA with bigger faster stronger guys I think Wilt could play ....but with the changes in offensive philosophy he wouldn't dominate like he did in his era.

how do you think shaq would do in this era? because he's a bigger stronger faster shaq. i think he'd figure it out. i think coaches might even try to get him the ball inside if they had that type of player

[Demographic Shift]

how do you think shaq would do in this era? because he's a bigger stronger faster shaq. i think he'd figure it out. i think coaches might even try to get him the ball inside if they had that type of player

Lean Shaq in Orlando and his early early LA is a great compare to Wilt.
I think Wilt aged better than Shaq did.
Playing with Jerry West probably extended him a few years more than he might have played.

We have had good discussions around the topic "is the big man dead in today's nba ?"
Its certainly been dormant for the last few years with SG/SF wings taking centre stage as the only way to win but if you had a transcendent talent like Wilt or Shaq you might see an anti-D'antoni coach emerge and try to win it all by grinding the pace to a halt and winning in the half court.

Could Dwane Casey win a ring starting Wilt alongside Klay Thompson, Pascal and Kyle Lowry and a decent stretch 4 ?

[Apollo]

Its so hard to compare players from different eras....

In todays NBA with bigger faster stronger guys I think Wilt could play ....but with the changes in offensive philosophy he wouldn't dominate like he did in his era.

I get that but when we're talking the GOAT and mentioning stats it seems like an unavoidable conversation. I'm always curious to hear people's guess.

[Apollo]

I can flip it the other way now too though. Let's say LEBRON JAMES is transported back in time at age 18 to 1959. What does his stats look like from 1959 to 1973 (Wilt's career period)?

As a reference point, the Big O played in that period. He was about five inches shorted than Bron, 50 pounds lighter and I have a hard time believing he was more athletic. Robertson average close to 26, 10 and 8 for his career and that's with some later stage years weighing down his numbers. His career spanned the same as Wilt's in terms of time and length.

[golden]

Lean Shaq in Orlando and his early early LA is a great compare to Wilt.
I think Wilt aged better than Shaq did.
Playing with Jerry West probably extended him a few years more than he might have played.

We have had good discussions around the topic "is the big man dead in today's nba ?"
Its certainly been dormant for the last few years with SG/SF wings taking centre stage as the only way to win but if you had a transcendent talent like Wilt or Shaq you might see an anti-D'antoni coach emerge and try to win it all by grinding the pace to a halt and winning in the half court.

Could Dwane Casey win a ring starting Wilt alongside Klay Thompson, Pascal and Kyle Lowry and a decent stretch 4 ?

[G__Deane]

I can flip it the other way now too though. Let's say LEBRON JAMES is transported back in time at age 18 to 1959. What does his stats look like from 1959 to 1973 (Wilt's career period)?

As a reference point, the Big O played in that period. He was about five inches shorted than Bron, 50 pounds lighter and I have a hard time believing he was more athletic. Robertson average close to 26, 10 and 8 for his career and that's with some later stage years weighing down his numbers. His career spanned the same as Wilt's in terms of time and length.

Does lebron get to transport his special vitamins back to 1959?
Really hard to compare eras; when you take players forward, I think you just plunk them here to play, no advantages of current diet and exercise/training or it defeats the purpose of era comparisons.

When you take players back, they obviously arrive with the modern era advantages built in. lebron would kill it in any era except he wouldn't get the advantage of the constant phantom fouls he enjoys today. He's have to suck it up and learn to take contact.

[Apollo]

Does lebron get to transport his special vitamins back to 1959?
Really hard to compare eras; when you take players forward, I think you just plunk them here to play, no advantages of current diet and exercise/training or it defeats the purpose of era comparisons.

When you take players back, they obviously arrive with the modern era advantages built in. lebron would kill it in any era except he wouldn't get the advantage of the constant phantom fouls he enjoys today. He's have to suck it up and learn to take contact.

It is really hard to compare eras but if you're going to say a guy from one era is the best player all time then you've entered into that conversation where you have to compare eras, there is no way around it besides not answering the question and posing a new one that avoids era comparisons.

To your question I'll ask a counter question: would someone like Wilt do what LeBron does, would he want it on that level in present day? Would he even survive the social media onslaught given his off the court lifestyle? LeBron does have advantages but he sought them out and many cases he created advantages that others of his era chose not to create. But he also has disadvantages yet Bron is squeaky clean. A guy like Wilt would be "in trouble" a lot in this current era, similar in some ways to Dennis Rodman was in the 90's. It could be a distraction, it could take away from winning. It might have been a distraction back then even because for all his dominate stats he only won a single championship as "the man". There are other guys in that era who posted dominate stats and dominate championship resumes. I don't think Wilt is an era GOAT but that's just me.