I really wanted to write about Football today, but this topic has been burning my mind for as long as I can remember.. so bare with me. Certain players, such as Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson Etc. are some of the all time greatest players to play the game. Not only are they pioneers of the sport, but they all revolutionized the game in one way or another. Wilt averaged 30 points, 23 rebounds, and 4 assists for his career... yea... his career. Bill Russell has 11 championships, and averaged 15 points, 23 rebounds, and 4 assists for his career numbers. Oscar Robertson averaged 31 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 11.5 assists in a single season, he is the only player to ever average a triple double for a season... this was his AVERAGE ( and he came extremely close in multiple seasons ). There are many more greats who played in the 1960-1975 era ( pre merger.. examples are Jerry West, Bob Cousy etc. ), but these guys all hold ridiculous individual records and thats why I chose to focus on them.
The intro may have seemed a tad bit long, but it will all come together soon... take a breath... and prepare to be angry. I am writing on this topic today, asking myself, and my audience ( if I even have an audience at this point ), if these numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt, and.. dare I say it.. if these players are really AS phenomenal as we give them credit for. As a start up blogger, I know it's probably not the best idea to have one of my early entries seemingly dismiss some of the greatest accomplishments/players in sports history... but hopefully after this is all over, if I haven't been virtually crucified by that time, readers will see that I am not trying to take anything away from these men, just attempting to pose a food for thought question. As I attempt to play devils advocate, I looked up things such as average height/weight comparisons, athleticism, and play style comparisons from todays game ( 1985- Present ) and the game of the past ( Pre-Merger ). My findings, and some of the things I've noticed may provide SOME logical evidence as to why these players had similar stats to the MonStar team of Space Jam.
In 1965 ( I chose this year because it was, give or take a couple years, the time when most of these greats mentioned above were really getting into their prime ) the average height and weight of a professional Basketball player was 6'5" and right around 200 lbs. While I must admit, these are higher averages than I anticipated, they still don't measure up to the averages of todays players. This year, the average height and weight of an NBA player was about 6'7" and somewhere around 225 lbs. The 2 inch height difference and 25 lb weight difference may seem quite marginal, but remember, these are averages, and with the training regiments and supplements available to todays athletes I can almost guarantee that the strength and quickness of NBA players today far outnumbers that of the pre-merger players. This statistic doesn't really hurt Oscar Robertson, as he was 6'5" and 220 lbs ( Almost comparable to an average NBA player today ), but it doesn't help Wilt or Bill Russell, 7'1" 275 lbs and 6'11" 217 lbs respectively. These two would be among the tallest in the league in todays game, so they were virtually skyscrapers compared to the average player in the 1960s. Now, I am not saying that height and size were the only thing going for these two, I know they were also extremely skilled so lets not start throwing stones yet ( thats for later ), I am just saying that things such as rebounding and scoring around the rim might have been a little bit easier back then... who am I kidding, rebounding and scoring around the rim DEFINITELY would have been easier for those guys. That is my first observation... lets keep moving on ( most have probably got fed up and stopped reading by now ).
I think I am going to bundle athleticism and play style comparisons into one topic. There are obviously no true statistical measurements to gauge these things, but any Basketball fan knows that there were no athletic freaks such as Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, MJ and Lebron back in the pre-merger game. To be completely honest and accurate... the league back then was filled with a bunch of skinny, shooting specialist white dudes, who would most likely get eaten alive defensively in todays game. Also, the game back then was much more about fundamentals and far less about individual matchups, so when you had Physical, and athletic juggernauts come in, such as Wilt, Bill, and Oscar, the league was taken aback and dominated by something that they had never been exposed to before. This is, again, not solely taking away from all the great accomplishments by these individuals, just adding another tidbit to the whole story.
After reviewing these major points, and comparisons from todays game compared to the game before the merger, it would seem to me that there are a couple good explanations for the unhuman statistics that were consistently posted by pre-merger juggernauts. This is not to say that they wouldn't be great in todays game as I am sure they would adapt, and I am definitely not discounting the fact that many of them are among the greatest of all time. It just doesn't seem fair to me that some of these records ( such as rebounding, and points scored ) are all basically untouchable and looked at in a different light. Do we really think guys like Wilt are good for 10 more rebounds a game than lets say... Dwight... ehhh Wilt and Dwight shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence, I apologize. Let me rephrase myself.. Are people such as Wilt and Bill 10+ rebounds better than guys like Rodman, the Admiral etc? I don't think so. Put those guys in the 1960s and they may average 28-30 rebounds a game. What kind of damage would guys like Lebron, and MJ do in the PPG category had they been playing in the 1960s? Before I stop making sense ( maybe I already have ), I will leave it at this. Lets not take away from the greats of the post merger simply based on the numbers of those in the pre-merger. Please comment and tell me why I am right/wrong. I welcome insults and non-constructive criticism as well. Thank you all for reading NoBetterThanMonroe, I look forward to building a group of consistent readers... or after this post... haters.
* The Admiral... Kicking myself for the bad edit ( Colonel... what was I thinking )
ReplyDeleteI just wanna start by saying comparing Dwight Howard to Wilt Chamberlin is offensive. You should go run 100 sets of lines for speaking such blasphemy lol. WIlt Chamberlin was a physical freak and was the tallest player in the league as well as one of the fastest. There is no doubt that he was playing against inferior competition then. But look at the center competition now! Could Anthony Davis or Dwight Howard even compete with Chamberlin! I say no. This is the era of offense and the NBA is trying to market the game as fast paced and high scoring. So Wilt would have fit in just fine I believe. But I have always contested that Bill Russell was a better player. He won 11 championships and Wilt won 2. How the hell did Wilt Chamberlin only win 2 championships??? And one of his 'ships was with Oscar Robertson. Basically the Shaq and Kobe of that era. I'm not gonna give him that much credit for doing what he should of done. I will give him credit for banging 20,000 chicks! Thats like 5 women a day for 50 years. Talk about commitment to excellence.
ReplyDeleteI got a little off track n the Wilt vs Russell argument. I just hate that people think Wilt was an overall better than my boy Bill. My thoughts on this post are a little mixed. If your focused on statistics only then I think your on to something. Could Rick Barry and Jerry West have had the monumental statistics they had in this era? I would have to go with no on that one. But I still believe they would be hall of famers and all stars given the resources and skill coaching players receive today. Lets not forget how much the 3 pointer has changed the game. If you instituted that in 1965 we could argue the stats they had would be even more ridiculous.
The generation and different era arguments are always hard to quantify. In the 80's and 90's the NBA had no defensive 3 second in the key and also allowed guards to defensively manhandle opposing guards. Imagine if the guards back then played in today's rules where great guards go to the line 8-12 times a game on weak hand check fouls. So throughout NBA history the rules and officiating has changed. Each era has favored different styles of play and different styles of players. We cant hold players responsible for the era's but rather how they played within the parameters and rules of the game. I think we all agree Michael Jordan was the best player ever. This is because we trust our eyes and we can identify greatness and realize when someone transcends a sport and goes to a level that before was unseen. So unless you have watched everyone play it's hard to definitively answer this question. But I love you for asking it!
First off, I made my correction for mentioning Dwight with WIlt.... that definitely warranted some hate. While I will admit that I simply asked this question to play devils advocate, I can also admit that it is extremely hard to answer this questions definitively... there are just to many different points to be considered ( you could easily argue many different ways ). The petty fouls would have definitely helped the guards back then, as would the three point line. I was never suggesting that these guys wouldn't still be some of the greats of the game... just questioning how relevant some of these records are, and were they really 30 points and 25 rebounds as an average good? Once again, these are things that we will never know due to the time lapse... barring a time travel mechanism ( which I am working on right now just to be able to finish this argument once and for all ). Thanks for the comment, its good to hear back. Check back tomorrow for a new post!
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