Wilt Chamberlin Vs Bill Russell

[Chris Daddy Cool]

This is stemming off from the "Most Dominating Athlete Ever" thread and I counted multiple instances of people mentioning Bill Russel over Wilt, which couldn't be more wrong.

Bill Russell is quoted as to saying that Wilt was better than him and that he was the most dominating opponent he ever played against.

Russell was the premier defender of his era, but Russell tells of stories how he was playing hard nosed defense agaisnt Wilt and felt like he was containing him, but when he looked at the box score later, it turned out that Wilt had scored 50 points and grabbed 20 rebounds. Nobody, not even Bill Russell, could defend Wilt Chamberlin. I don't see how you could even compare the two.

Wilt Chamberlin scored 100 points in a game. He averaged 50 points in one season. He averaged 27 rebounds a game in a season and over 20 a game his whole career. In onced averaged 48.5 minutes a game for an entire season. They had to change rules just for Wilt to make things more fair (I think the offensive 3 second rule and goaltending rules). He pretty much defined domination.

And then in that thread there is also a mentioning about all of Russell's rings and how Wilt *only* had 3. That is by far the lamest argument ever. That's like the arguments before A-Rod went to the Yankees that Derek Jeter is a better shortstop than A-Rod. Give me a break.

The championship argument gets me so vexed because people forget about team sports is that it actually requires a team. You think the Yankees won all those championships because of Derek Jeter's "leadership"? The Celtics were full of stars and if you put Wilt on those teams, I'm pretty sure he would of had a couple more rings.

And Wilt also slept with over 20,000 women. That, my friends, is dominating.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
And Wilt also slept with over 20,000 women. That, my friends, is dominating.

[/ QUOTE ]

But they all spanked him and made him wear their underwear. Not dominating.

[Toro]

quit stealing my material. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Shajen]

Individually? Sure.

Championships? Nope.

Russell defended Wilt well enough to win the game.

Russell is also very understated. Wilt hated playing against Russell. Russell frustrated him like no other opponent.



Great question though. This one could be debated for a long time...

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]


Great question though. This one could be debated for a long time...

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really. It's been settled for a long time.

It's like Jordan vs. Magic....one can *claim* its debatable, but pretty much everyone knows its not.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

What exactly are your arguments for Russell?

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
What exactly are your arguments for Russell?

[/ QUOTE ]

He had better teammates.

[sublime]

What exactly are your arguments for Russell?

he was the most dominating defensive player in the history of the NBA maybe?

[Toro]

Wilts Career Stats:

G FG% FT% Rebs RPG Asts APG Pts PPG
1,045 .540 .511 23,924 22.9 4,643 4.4 31,419 30.1



Russells Career Stats:

G FG% FT% Rebs RPG Asts APG Pts PPG
963 .440 .561 21,620 22.5 4,100 4.3 14,522 15.1

[Shajen]

[ QUOTE ]
Not really. It's been settled for a long time.


[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, good to know.

Case closed then.

What were the findings? Based on individual performance, Wilt was better? Based on championships/team performance Russell was better?

You can make a case for either. This isn't simple, Clark.