Wilt Meets Bill and Tommy (4,000+ words)

Outside,

Obviously, Wilt's stats went beyond incredible. As you know, I don't care a lot about the stats per se because there are what a statistician would call "intervening variables" involved (such as how many of his teammates represented serious "competition" for the stats he posted and, conversely, how many of his stats may have been at the expenses of teammates' ability to maximize their contributions). So, as you make your posts, I'll be searching mainly for factors that I feel might have a bearing on the subject of this entire debate: how Wilt's presence on the team could have affected the Russell Celtics (presumably without Russell on hand).

So far, I see three traits that look like they could be consistent with Red's system:

Endurance: 48.5 MPG throughout an entire season

Consistency of dominance: scored 30+ PPG in 65 consecutive games; also recorded a quadruple double double (40 points and 40 rebounds) eight times (the only player to accomplish it even once); also averaged a double double over his entire career; also never fouled out (although I also think that one was part of a statistical agenda that compromised his defense in the clutch)

Resilience: played only 12 games in the regular season of 1969-70 due to a serious knee injury and then (1) played all 18 playoff games that season, averaging 47.3 MPG, 22.1 PPG and 22.2 RPG and (2) also played in all 82 games in each of the following seasons, which were the last of his career at ages 34-36.

I think we all felt that Wilt's stats would reinforce existing perceptions of his individual greatness. What I will now be looking for, as your excellent posts continue, will be indications of likely synergy between (1) Wilt and Red's system and (2) Wilt and Celtics teammates—especially in enabling maximum contributions from each of them.

Very nicely done so far.

Sam

Sam,

One other item that I didn't include in the first post -- Wilt is the only NBA player to ever have a double triple-double with 22 points 25 rebounds and 21 assists on February 2, 1968.

Here's post no. 2. Several apologies are in order:

-- I'm sorry for the length of time between the first and second posts. I originally intended to spit these out more rapidly, ideally one a day, but this one took extra time. I hope to submit the remaining ones every day or two.

-- I'm sorry for the length of the post. This will be the longest one, I promise. The other topics I have in mind are more focused, and those posts will be shorter.

-- Sam, I know you're trying to keep me focused on the main issue -- how the Celtics would have fared with Chamberlain in place of Russell -- so my apologies if you feel I'm wandering too far astream here. However, in my mind, I plan to use posts 1-5 as building blocks to address that question in post 6.

PART 2. HOW RUSSELL AND WILT CHANGED THE NBA

How Russell changed the game

Some people like to think of the players in today's game as being so much bigger, faster, and stronger than players used to be, but today's NBA is dominated by guards and forwards, and there are few quality centers. In the past 10 years, we've had Shaq, Tim Duncan, and Dwight Howard, and Duncan was considered a power forward for much of his career because he started out playing alongside David Robinson. Yao Ming had the potential to be an elite player but couldn't stay healthy. Amare Stoudemire is best suited for power forward and has been first team No Defense for years. Then you're down to specialists like Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutumbo, or guys like Andrew Bogut and Brook Lopez who may develop into something eventually, but no one who needs to be working on a Hall of Fame induction speech. In today's NBA, the list of top guards and forwards is long, and the list of top centers is barely a list.

Bill Russell played during a golden age of centers. Besides Wilt Chamberlain, there was Dolph Schayes, Nate Thurmond, Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Willis Reed, Clyde Lovelette, Neil Johnston, and Ed Macauley. Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes were rookies in Russell's last season. All of them are in the Hall of Fame. Chamberlain, Hayes, Lucas, Russell, Schayes, Thurmond, and Unseld are among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History chosen in 1996 to commemorate the NBA's 50th anniversary.

The center position evolved during the early years of the game. Basketball was originally a game for smaller, more agile players, and big men were considered "plodders" who lacked skill and couldn't keep up. George Mikan was the first great center, and he dominated the league with sweeping hook shots from either hand, and he was a solid rebounder. He used his size to great advantage and was a skilled player, but he wasn't the quickest guy around. When Russell joined the league, the best big men were forwards like Bob Petit or hybrid center-forwards like Schayes, Lovelette, and Macauley, none of whom had Mikan's size.

That all changed with Russell. He was 6-10, which was tall for his day, but many teams had players of that height or even taller. But Russell had physical advantages no center could match -- a 7-4 wingspan, jumping ability that reportedly allowed him to kick the net and touch the top of the backboard, and the quickness, speed, and agility of an elite athlete.

Before Russell, big men rarely jumped to block shots but instead used their long arms to deflect the ball. As a result, shotblocking wasn't a significant aspect of defensive play. Russell's instincts were to use his quickness and leaping ability to swat away an opponent's shot, but many coaches had tried to break him of what they thought was a bad habit. "To play good defense," Russell said,"it was told back then that you had to stay flatfooted at all times to react quickly. When I started to jump to make defensive plays and to block shots, I was initially corrected, but I stuck with it, and it paid off."

He had a defensive-minded coach at the University of San Francisco, Phil Woolpert, who saw the advantages of Russell's style of play. Russell was rail-thin, but instead of getting into pushing contests with bulkier centers who usually weren't a significant offensive threat anyway, he came off his man to challenge shots by any player who drove into the lane. This type of defense hadn't been seen before, and opposing coaches had great difficulty adjusting. With Russell and future Celtic great K.C. Jones, Woolpert used aggressive defense and a deliberate offense to win two NCAA titles.

The NBA was obviously aware of this phenomenon at USF, but many people still had doubts. In The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball, John Taylor wrote:

A number of coaches and sportswriters believed Russell lacked pro potential. He had certain specific, if somewhat limited, skills, they believed, but he was too skinny and he was a poor shooter. He was certainly not the all-around phenomenon that Wilt Chamberlain, then still a high school student, was proving to be. But Auerbach's inquiries left him with the impression that, however limited Russell might be in general, in the areas of his strengths he was overwhelming. Russell was not the answer to every coach's prayers. But working with players whose skills complemented and extended his and whose talents covered for his weaknessess--players, that is, like the Celtics--he could be the linchpin of an indomitable team.

But even Auerbach wasn't sure that it would work. In those days, NBA teams operated on a shoestring budget. Film and travel for scouting purposes was too expensive, as were scouts. Auerbach was aware of Russell but hadn't seen him play, and like most coaches, he relied on a network of fellow coaches to give him scouting reports. USF had played Red's alma mater, George Washington University, and although Russell had scored only a few points, Red's college coach, Bill Reinhart, raved about Russell's impact. Reinhart said that Russell was the fastest center in college, rebounded better than anyone, and used his defense to destroy an opponent's game plan. "Try to get this guy," Reinhart said, "no matter what you have to pay or who you have to trade." After former Celtic and USF Don Fred Scolari saw Russell play, he told Auerbach, "Red, he can't shoot to save his life, but he's the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life on a basketball court."

Auerbach knew that Russell could be the key ingredient to make his fast-breaking team led by Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, and Ed Macauley into title contenders. So he traded Macauley, a six-time all-star, and Cliff Hagan, a future star who'd been serving in the Air Force, to the St. Louis Hawks for the second pick in the draft and took Russell. He also acquired Tom Heinsohn with a territorial pick and Russell's USF teammate K.C. Jones (who didn't play until 1958 because of military service).

But at this point, Auerbach had seen Russell play only once, and he would have to wait a little longer for Russell's services until he had finished playing in the Olympics. The U.S. Olympic team was playing in Washington D.C., so Auerbach went to see them play. As related by Taylor:

Russell played one of the worst games of his life. Auerbach thought he was awful, horrible in fact. He thought, God, I've traded away Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan for this guy. He felt like holding his head in his hands. Later, Russell came over and apologized, saying that he'd never played so poorly but that he was suffering from a hernia. Auerbach said that he hoped that was the case because if it was not, then he, Auerbach, was a dead pigeon. Russell sounded sincere, and anyone could have an off night, but Auerbach couldn't help wondering if the people who said Russell was not cut out for the NBA had been right.

Fortunately for Auerbach and the Celtics, Russell was more than worth it, and the defensive revolution that Russell started in college continued in the NBA.

From Taylor:

[Russell's] size and athleticism had literally transformed professional basketball. Prior to Russell joining the National Basketball Association, the game had consisted of little more than men running up and down the court making layups. But because Russell blocked layups so effectively, players had been forced to create a wider range of offensive plays, passing back and forth and setting screens until one of them could make a mid-range jump shot. The game immediately became more complex, varied, and challenging for the players and more involving and fun to watch for the spectators, and the late fifties became known as the Russell Era.

With Russell, Boston was able to play what was called the "Hey Bill" defense -- whenever a teammate needed help on defense, he would shout "Hey Bill!" and Russell was so quick and agile that he could run over for a blocked shot or double-team and make it back to his man if the offense tried to swing the ball. "Russell would jump over you to block your man's shot," said former Russell teammate and Georgetown coach John Thompson. "The word with kids now is 'Switch!' But I tell them the word on the Celtics was 'Russ!' You could hear it all over the floor. If your man beat you, all you could hear was people yelling 'Russ!'" Sportswriters began calling his blocks "Wilsonburgers," because he made them eat Wilson basketballs if they dared to shoot.

But Russell's impact spread well beyond his individual ability to rebound and block shots. Teammates became more aggressive defensively, knowing that Russell would cover for them if their man got by. Russell became adept at not just rebounding, but quickly launching a precision pass to a fast-breaking teammate, leading to easy baskets. He even turned blocked shots into outlet passes, deftly tapping the ball to a teammate instead of knocking it out of bounds. His defensive prowess befuddled opponents whether he actually blocked their shot or not, and his mere presence on the court made players think twice about shooting. "The sound of his footsteps intimidated opposing players," said Auerbach.

His first game was against St. Louis. He came in off the bench, played only 21 minutes, and scored only six points, but his impact was immediate. His man was center Charlie Share, but Russell covered the entire area around the basket. Twice he blocked all-star forward Bob Petit's layups, directing the ball to a teammate. When Ed Macauley, now on the Hawks, came off a screen to shoot an outside jumper, "there was no reason for Russell to be anywhere near me. He was someplace else guarding Share. So I went up for the shot and there was no problem. Except that Russell had come out of nowhere and slapped the ball directly over my head." Russell essentially knocked the blocked shot to himself so that he had an easy dunk. Celtic announcer Johnny Most was so excited about Russell's performance in that first game that he got hoarse from shouting. "You'll have to forgive me for losing my voice," he said, "but I think we've just witnessed the birth of a star."

The NBA hadn't seen anything like it. Here was a player with minimal offensive ability, such a poor shooter that he once missed 15 consecutive shots in a game against the Warriors, yet he was able to control and dominate the basketball court. The game would never be the same.


How Wilt changed the game

When Wilt Chamberlain entered the league three years after Russell, the league changed again. Like Russell, Wilt was also a tremendous athlete, a great rebounder who could block shots and intimidate opponents, but as great as he was defensively, his biggest impact was on the offensive end. There had never been someone so tall (7-2), so big (250 pounds when he joined the league, over 300 pounds later), so athletic, and so skilled.

Wilt initially didn't want to play basketball but was instead a track and field athlete. In high school, he competed in the high jump, long jump, 440, 880, and shot put, and he excelled at all of them. At the University of Kansas, he won the league high jump title three years in a row, ran the 100-yard dash in 10.9, and had a personal best in the shotput of 56 feet and the triple jump of 50 feet. He was a 7-2 track star.

When Wilt decided to play basketball in high school, he became an unstoppable force. His height, quickness, athletic grace, and skill allowed him to overpower opponents unlike any big man before him. In one game, he scored 60 points in 10 minutes. In the first 16 games of his senior season, he scored 800 points (a 50-point average). He led his team to Philadelphia city championships in 1954 and 1955.

At Kansas, NCAA rules at the time prohibited freshmen from playing on the varsity, but in a freshman-varsity game, Wilt scored 50 points and led the freshman to a win. As a sophomore, he scored 52 points in his first game on the varsity, but he would never match that total in college again. Opposing teams used zone defenses, stalled (there was no shot clock), and employed any tactic possible keep the ball out of his hands. He was still able to lead Kansas to the NCAA finals, where they lost to North Carolina in triple overtime.

Frustrated by zone defenses and stall tactics, Wilt left Kansas after his junior year. He wasn't eligible to join the NBA until after what would have been his senior year, so he joined the Harlem Globetrotters.

Once he finally joined the NBA, Wilt changed the game. Or, to be more precise, the league changed the game because of Wilt.

The league had changed rules during George Mikan's era to reduce the impact of the dominant big man, but they had to change the rules even more once Wilt arrived:

-- Offensive goaltending. Before Wilt, it was not a violation for an offensive player to touch a shot on its downward arc. Wilt, however, routinely used teammates' shots as passes that he would dunk or lay in the basket. So the league changed the goaltending rule to include offensive players.

-- Dunking free throws. Before Wilt, it was legal to jump from behind the line when attempting a free throw, but Wilt was able to start at the top of the key, leap from behind the line, and dunk his free throws. (This was decades before Dr. J caused a sensation by jumping from the free throw line during a dunk contest with a running start from half court.) So the league implemented a rule that the free-throw shooter could not break the plane of the free-throw line until the shot hit the rim. Since free throws were one of Wilt's few weaknesses (and he was routinely fouled to prevent easy baskets), imagine how much more unstoppable Wilt would've been if this rule hadn't been changed.

-- Widening the lane. One of Wilt's most effective shots was the finger roll, which he used to score with impunity. The lane had previously been widened during Mikan's era from six to 12 feet, but the league widened the lane again to 16 feet to push Wilt and his finger roll farther from the basket.

-- Inbounding the ball over the backboard. Before Wilt, teams could inbound the ball over the backboard, but Wilt would use the backboard as a screen, and teammates would pass the ball over the backboard to Wilt for an easy layup or dunk. So the league outlawed that.

-- Off-the-ball fouls. If an opposing team was trailing late in the game, they would intentionally foul Wilt because of his poor free-throw shooting (51.1% for his career). This led a farcical sideshow as opponents chased Wilt to foul him and he ran away and tried to dodge them. So the league added a rule that committing an off-the-ball foul in the last two minutes would give the offensive team free throws and the ball. "The reason they have that rule is that fouling someone off-the-ball looks foolish," said Pat Riley. "Some of the funniest things I ever saw were players that used to chase him like it was hide-and-seek. Wilt would run away from people, and the league changed the rule based on how silly that looked."

Even with the rule changes, teams still had to change their defenses to adjust to Wilt. Zones were illegal in the NBA, so teams resorted to double- and triple-teams and then fouling whenever he got the ball in deep. Wilt adjusted and continued to dominate the game.

Darrall Imhoff, who was a rookie center the night Wilt had his 100-point game, played only 20 minutes in that game before fouling out. When Imhoff and the Knicks played Chamberlain and the Warriors two nights later, Imhoff played the entire game and held Wilt to 54 points, and he received a standing ovation. Only against Wilt could holding a player to 54 points be considered an outstanding achievement.

In his early years, referees didn't call many fouls against Wilt's opponents because he was so much bigger and better than his opponents, but in his later years, they did it because they felt sorry for him because he didn't shoot free throws well. One referee told him, "Wilt, I know you get hacked every time, but the game would be pretty boring watching you go one for two from the line every time down the court."

Despite it all, Wilt continued to put up incredible numbers. Along the way, he forced teams to change the way they play defense, and he forever altered the perception of what a big man can do in the game of basketball. "This is a guy whose impact changed the rules of the game," Phil Jackson said about Wilt. "He changed the interior part of our basketball game."


Race

At the time that Russell and Chamberlain entered the league, the racial climate in the United States was much different than today. The civil rights movement was in its infancy, and racism toward blacks was pervasive in many parts of the country.

From John Taylor's book:

[The] first game between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain was played just weeks before the dawn of what John Kennedy... would call "the challenging, revolutionary sixties." At the time, the greatest turbulence in the country centered around race relations. Black migration out of the rural South had continued strong since the end of World War II, and the 1960 census found that in Washington, D.C., blacks for the first time had become a majority in a large American city. But segregation remained the rule throughout the Deep South, and in April 1959, seven months before the game, the most notorious lynching since the murder of Emmett Till took place when a group of hooded men kidnapped Mack Parker, the black suspect in the rape of a white woman, from a jail in Mississippi and left his mutilated body in the Pearl River.

Russell joined the league first, partway through the 1956-57 season. Russell had been exposed to racism throughout his life, feeling the sting of awards he deserved going to white players during his time at USF, and seeing racism in the extreme when the U.S. Olympic team toured the South in 1956. There had been star black athletes, most notably Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson, but not in basketball. Russell's spectacular play and two titles at USF had made him known nationally, and his transformative play with the Celtics made him the first black basketball star.

Red Auerbach was as racially progressive as any American sports figure, and Russell thrived in an environment where all that mattered was how he performed. But Boston was a difficult city for Russell. While the Celtics integrated early, the Red Sox would be the last major league team to sign a black player in 1959. Racial tension in the city was high, and Russell was subjected to abuse once he left the cocoon of his Celtic team. The racism intensified further when Russell became player-coach in 1967. People react to racism in different ways; Russell was a fiercely proud, intelligent, and private man, and he tended to withdraw and hold resentment inside.

Chamberlain, who entered the league three years after Russell, had an entirely different personality. While also intelligent and proud like Russell, he was outgoing, genial, and comfortable with all kinds of people. He was more flamboyant as a person, and his spectacular offensive ability was more flamboyant than the defensive-minded game that Russell played. Russell was already an MVP winner and two-time champion and had paved the way as a black star in the NBA, but Chamberlain's physical size, outsized personality to match, and incredible scoring ability made him a star of a different order. Wilt was a black star who was comfortable with being a celebrity.

Together, Russell and Chamberlain opened the doors for all the black NBA stars to come. There were outstanding black players in the league before Russell's arrival, such as Maurice Stokes, but it was primarily a white league followed by white audiences. With Russell and Wilt, fans came to accept that black players could be stars, which had not been the case before their arrival. They not only changed the racial climate of the NBA, they also contributed in their own way to changing the racial climate of the country as a whole. Russell showed that a black player could reach the pinnacle of team sports while maintaining grace and dignity in the face of hateful words and acts. Chamberlain broke barriers in a different way, showing that a black athlete could be a media star. Both showed the country that black athletes could be intelligent and well-spoken.


The impact of their rivalry

Individually, Russell and Chamberlain were so good that either could have dominated the league. Because they played the same position and battled against each other, their rivalry became legendary.

Chamberlain and Russell won nine of 11 MVP awards from 1958 to 1969. Between 1959 and 1969, their teams played each another six times in the eastern conference finals and twice in the NBA finals. They set records that haven't been surpassed, including some that may not ever be broken. Together, the two of them have the top 18 season averages for rebounds.

Each pushed the other to become better. In their own words:

-- Wilt: "Bill Russell helped make my dream a better dream because when you play with the best, you know you have to play your best."

-- Russell: "Wilt was the greatest offensive player I have ever seen. Because his talent and skills were so superhuman, his play forced me to play at my highest level. If I didn't, I'd risk embarrassment and our team would likely lose."

-- Russell: "Many have called our competition the greatest rivalry in the history of sports. We didn't have a rivalry; we had a genuinely fierce competition that was based on friendship and respect. We just loved playing against each other. The fierceness of the competition bonded us as friends for eternity. We loved competition. Wilt loved competition."

Together, they changed the way the game was played, Russell at the defensive end and Chamberlain at the offensive end. Until their arrival, basketball was considered to be a game played below the rim, but with their incredible leaping and athletic ability, it became a game played in the air. "Those two players changed the whole game of basketball," said Darrall Imhoff, the opposing center the night Wilt scored 100. "The game just took an entire step up to the next level."

Their rivalry also improved the profile and fortunes of the NBA. Prior to Russell and Chamberlain, the league was struggling financially and was not considered on a par with baseball and football as a major pro sport (or hockey in some cities, like Boston).

From John Taylor's book:

While Boston was a storied sports town, the sports that had always provoked the most passion were baseball and hockey, the sports of the Red Sox and the Bruins. These were sports with rich local histories, sports that had been played for generations in Boston and had, over the years, woven themselves so deeply into the fabric of the city that residence there seemed virtually synonymous with a rabid devotion to its baseball and hockey teams. Professional basketball, in contrast, was only thirteen years old in 1959. Walter Brown, the owner of the Bruins and leaseholder on the Boston Garden, had started the Celtics to fill seats at the arena on nights when his beloved hockey team was not playing and the big, drafty building, located above the train station, would otherwise sit dark and empty. In other words, the team was a purely commercial afterthought in a sport without strong roots in the city's culture, and for much of the fifties, attendance at its games reflected this. Rarely was the Garden more than half filled on the nights it played. Members of the Celtics joked that while Ted Williams could not get out of a car on Charles Street without being mobbed, their entire team could walk the length of the Common and no one would give them a second glance...

Attendance at Celtics games was now so dismal that when the 1955 playoffs were over, Walter Brown had been unable to pay the players their playoff bonuses. He had promised to make good on the debts, together with interest, at the start of the following season, and he was true to his word. But Auerbach felt uncertain enough about his future that he had begun supplementing his income by working as a sales representative for CelluCraft, a plastics company that manufactured flexible packaging like Jell-O bags and Kool Pop wrappers.

The NBA is currently in a lockout as owners and players squabble over splitting a multi-billion dollar pie. When Bill Russell joined the league in 1956, the league was struggling for its survival. Russell's and Chamberlain's individual stardom and intense rivalry helped put the NBA on firmer financial ground and make the league a major pro sport.

So in addition to changing how the game was played, Russell and Chamberlain helped turn a struggling league into a major pro sport, and for good measure, helped advance race relations in this country. Too bad ESPN wasn't around to immortalize it.

outside
Very informative Outside. With all this extra effort you just might end up with a "Best Seller". Keep it coming.
swish

Outside,

Interesting that you point out the rule changes brought about because of Wilt's game.

I'm not trying to stretch this into a "greatest ever" debate but in those "greatest" debates it seems the strongest arguments made by proponents for Wilt or Kareem often cite Chamberlain or Jabbar over Jordan or Russell (and sometimes Oscar Robertson when he sneaks into the debate) because the NCAA and NBA changed rules directly due to Jabbar or Chamberlain but never did so directly for Russell or Jordan.

Again, not trying to change or reframe the discussion. I just find it interesting that there are very few players who ever individually and directly led to changes in the rules. That such changes needed to be made for Wilt says something about the dominance of his game.

I won't take my thoughts any further than my earlier statement that if (through some warp in basketball time and history) we had Wilt instead of Russ we would have been just as dominant and record setting as we were. Your posts so far haven't done anything to dispel that notion for me.

Looking forward to reading your upcoming segments on this topic.

Regards

NYCelt,

During the course of reading numerous articles and web sites for this, I came across several "Jordan was better than Wilt" or "[insert favorite player's name here] was the best of all time" discussions. One Jordan vs. Wilt discussion included an argument that the league had to change rules to limit Chamberlain, while Jordan was the beneficiary of several key rule changes, in particular no hand checking and the three-point shot. Plus, Chamberlain got fouled frequently without getting the benefit of the whistle, while you'd get a foul called if you breathed too closely on Jordan. Seems like a compelling argument to me.

As for the league not changing rules because of Russell, it would be difficult to legislate against intangibles. He seems to be down the list on web sites in the "who's the best" discussions, but he'll always hold the top spot on my list.

My guess is that the older players like Russell and Chamberlain don't get the respect they're due mainly because so many people were too young to see them play and they had the misfortune of playing before the modern media age.

Outside

Outside,

Shame on you for making me wait so long for this!

We are SO lucky. Can anybody, even with the wildest leap of imagination, believe we'd get a work product as good as this at BDC?

Is there a 3rd installment? 4th? I sure hope so. This is great, great stuff.

bob

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Outside,

Excellent post, which is the result of more research than we'll probably ever know.

You confirm one thing I always felt was fact. For the most part, Wilt changed rules, while Russ changed the way the game was played. Gut it's only fair to say that, if Russ hadn't preceded Wilt in the NBA, Wilt quite likely would have changed much about the way the game was played.

Just one minor qualification. While Dolph Schayes may have been listed as a F-C, at 6' 7", he was primarily what now would be called a power forward. For many years, he played in Syracuse with a great, slick-passing, three-time all-star center named John "Red" Kerr. Dolph's signature shot was an overhead two-handed set shot from beyond what would now be the three-point arc. He was also an exception free throw shooter. And what is most amazing to me about him is that he remained a force until 1962 and stayed in the league until 1964—well after the two-handed set shot was a relic of the past.

Thanks again for providing such a wonderful service to a board in somewhat of a drought.

Sam

Sam, I remember as a kid reading a book about Schayes and he told the story of how he became such a great free throw shooter. He had a friend with a metal shop make him a regulation sized rim with a smaller rim fitted inside of it. After taking (and eventually making) endless shots with his homemade rim the regulation rim looked to him like, in his words, "shooting into the grand canyon". Hmm, wonder if Rondo ever took metal shop?

bobheckler wrote:We are SO lucky. Can anybody, even with the wildest leap of imagination, believe we'd get a work product as good as this at BDC?

Hey, Spike started it. I'm just trying to keep up with what he did.

Not a bad idea, Will. I know Rondo has worked with Mark Price (although a great shooter is not automatically a great teacher). But there must be other ideas, along with the smaller rim, that would help. To teach a guy who doesn't get enough arc on the ball (i.e. many of the NBA big men) I've heard of stringing a volley ball net about 11 and 12 feet high and placing it between the hoop and the shooter. In order to hit the shot, the guy has to develop an arc (and quite likely a softer shot too).

Sam

It's too bad there's so much ego in the game now. The guy Rondo should be learning from is Rick Barry, but I suspect he won't be able to swallow taking them underhand.

bob

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PART 3. THE GENTLE GIANT

Although Wilt looked almost painfully thin in high school and college, he was much stronger than he appeared. Once he joined the NBA and realized that rough play was the norm and that hard fouls and even rougher play were the norm against him, he bulked up and got even stronger. And like his scoring and rebounding, his strength was legendary.

Some examples:

-- While Wilt was with the Globetrotters, they had a skit where he would throw Meadowlark Lemon several feet up in the air and catch him like a doll. Lemon called Chamberlain "the strongest athlete who ever lived."

-- Dr. Stan Lorber, Globetrotters team doctor: "On the trip to Russia with the Harlem Globetrotters, we were in Lenin Stadium, and they assigned a dressing room to the team. The players were getting dressed for one of their games. They were in rather close quarters. Remember, these were young kids--Wilt was 23. The others were his age. They were like kittens. You bump me, i'll bump you back. And before you know it, two of the guys set on Wilt. They started playfully pushing and shoving him. And finally one of his teammates hit Wilt a little too hard. He took these two guys, twisted each of their shirts, and lifted both of them off the ground. Each of these guys weighed over 200 pounds. It looked like he had two little crackers in his hands. I thought he was going to hit their heads together. It was an amazing demonstration of strength."

-- Bill Russell, in Go Up For Glory: "I still remember the time when one of our strongest men, Gene Conley, decided to fight Chamberlain for the ball. He grabbed it and hung on and Chamberlain just lifted him and ball right up towards the rim."

-- Billy Cunningham, in Tall Tales: "The greatest play I've ever seen was one of the last games of the 1966-67 season and we were playing Baltimore... There was a play earlier in the game where Gus Johnson had dunked one over Wilt. Gus was a very strong player. I weighed 220 pounds, and with one hand Gus could push me out of the lane. The man was a physical specimen [6-6, 230 pounds], all muscle. He loved to dunk and was a very colorful player. When he slammed it on Wilt, he really threw it down, and you could tell that Wilt didn't like it one bit.

"Later in the game, Gus was out on the fast break, and the only man between him and the basket was Wilt. He was going to dunk on Wilt--again. Gus cupped the ball and took off--he had a perfect angle for a slam. Wilt went up and with one hand he grabbed the ball--cleanly! Then he took the ball and shoved it right back into Gus, drilling Gus into the floor with the basketball.

"Gus was flattened and they carried him out. It turned out that Gus Johnson was the only player in NBA history to suffer a dislocated shoulder from a blocked shot."

-- Johnny Kerr, in Tall Tales: "Once Wilt got upset with me and dunked the ball so hard it went through the rim with such force that it broke my toe as it hit the floor."

-- Spencer Haywood, in The NBA at 50: "I said, 'Wilt isn't such a tough guy. I can guard him.' He backed me down and dunked the ball. And I was so far under the basket, and he dunked it so hard, that the ball came through the net and hit me in the forehead twice! Bang! So I said, 'You know, I think he is that great.'"

-- Paul Silas, in Goliath's Wonderful Life, Hoop Magazine: "One time, when I was with Boston and he was with the Lakers, Happy Hairston and I were about to get in a scrape. All of a sudden, I felt an enormous vise around me. I was 6-7, 235, and Wilt had picked me up and turned me around. He said, 'We're not going to have that stuff.' I said, 'Yes sir.'"

-- K.C. Jones, in Goliath's Wonderful Life, Hoop Magazine: "He [Wilt] stopped me dead in my tracks with his arm, hugged me and lifted me off the floor with my feet dangling. It scared the hell out of me. When I went to the free-throw line, my legs were still shaking. Wilt was the strongest guy and best athlete ever to play the game."

-- From The Good Natured Giant Wasn't Belligerent by Dave Anderson, Sports of the Times; Several years after Wilt stopped playing, he toyed with the idea of a comeback. On the day he visited the Knicks' offices in Madison Square Garden, he talked to Red Holzman, then strode out to the elevator. When it opened, two deliverymen were struggling with a dolly piled high with boxes of office supplies, mostly letterheads and envelopes. The load was so heavy, the elevator had stopped maybe four inches below the floor level and now the deliverymen were huffing and puffing, but they couldn't raise the dolly high enough to get it on the floor level. After maybe two minutes of the deliverymen's huffing and puffing, Wilt, his biceps bulging in a tank top, peered down at them and intoned, "Gentlemen, maybe I can help." They stepped back, he stepped into the elevator, grabbed each end of the rope slung under the dolly and without much exertion, quickly lifted the dolly onto the floor level. Looking up in awe, the deliverymen said, "Thank you." Wilt said, "You're welcome." Wilt stepped into the elevator and rode down to the street level as another witness followed the two deliverymen toward the Knick offices and asked, "How much does all this weigh?" They quickly surveyed the stack of big boxes of office supplies. "Close to 600 pounds," one said.

Chamberlain's size and strength had some disadvantages, including that referees let opposing players get away with fouling him. He was constantly double- and triple-teamed, and opponents fouled him a lot, both because it was better than letting him get a layup or dunk and because he was a poor free-throw shooter. Since he was so strong, opponents had to foul him hard.

"We went for his weakness," Tom Heinsohn told the Philadelphia Daily News in 1991, "tried to send him to the foul line, and in doing that he took the most brutal pounding of any player ever. I hear people today talk about hard fouls. Half the fouls against him were hard fouls."

It's no surprise that he holds the NBA record for most free throws attempted in a game (34) and led the league in free-throw attempts nine of his first 10 seasons.

For many people, a natural reaction to being fouled so much would be to retaliate. But Wilt didn't, because he was too nice of a guy and because he knew that with his strength he could truly hurt someone. It is said that with great power comes great responsibility, and Wilt understood that he couldn't use his strength in anger.

Some quotes:

-- Alex Hannum, in Tall Tales: "When I coached against him, I'd put four guys on him at the end of the game. My guys would beat the hell out of him, and Wilt would get frustrated. While he was an aggressive player, he certainly took a lot more of a pounding than he gave out. Above all, Wilt was always a gentleman. Later, I coached him and I said, 'Wilt, these guys are bashing you, holding your arms and trying to hurt you, Just once, all you have to do is smash the ball down their throat and break their wrists. Just once, that's all it would take and they would back off.' But he wouldn't do it. He knew his own strength and he knew how dangerous he could be."

-- Earl Lloyd, in Tall Tales: "I think of Wilt's strength and I remember how guys would beat on him, pull his pants, and he just took it. The fact that Wilt was so even-tempered made you believe in the Lord. If he had been mean, the league would have had to take up a collection for protection money."

-- "I always said it was a damn good thing that God made Wilt such a nice guy," said Jack McMahon, who played and coached against Chamberlain for two decades, "because if he'd have been mean, he might have killed people."

-- Sid Borgia, in Tall Tales: "Wilt was never one to complain to officials. Only once did he get on me. It was during a time-out, and Wilt yelled, 'If I wasn't black already, I'd be nothing but black-and-blue.'"

-- Al Attles, in Tall Tales: "I would talk to Wilt about all the players pounding on him. Sometimes, he said he didn't notice it--he was so strong. But I also believe that there were two sets of rules. By that, I mean because Wilt was so strong, the officials let the man guarding him get away with more--almost trying to equalize the game. I also believe that Wilt just took it because he didn't want to get thrown out, and because it had always been like that with him. But I'd watch it and I'd get mad. It takes me a while to get my temper going, but when it does--look out. I'd see what the other players were doing to Wilt and what the officials were allowing, and I'd get more upset than if it were happening to me. So I jumped in there. It wasn't that Wilt couldn't defend himself. If he ever got really hot, he'd kill people, so he let things pass. But I didn't have to worry about that. I was strong for my size, but I was not about to do anything like the kind of damage Wilt would."

-- Johnny Kerr: "We never saw him upset or mean. His demeanor was such. Some of the guys who play today are nasty. Michael (Jordan) was nasty. He was the most vicious offensive player. Wilt did his stuff, but I never saw him play angry."

Wilt was a complex man, but I look at this aspect of him almost as a simple mathematical equation -- incredible strength + nice guy = Gentle Giant.

Wilt's teams and the Celtics had many classic battles. After the heat and bluster of competition faded over the years, a lasting respect remained. "He was a terrific guy," said Tom Heinsohn when Wilt died. "It is a great loss to the sports world. Wilt Chamberlain had a special place in basketball history and he will be missed. We had many battles with Wilt. He was a fun guy to be around; he was a 'Gentle Giant.'"

Outside,

I always thought it ironic that Sam Jones, one of the least confrontational players and a good friend of Wilt, may have frustrated Wilt to the point of anger at least as much as any other player. I love the story Sam tells of when it came to a head, so I'll repeat it.

The way Sam tells it, the Celtics were about to play Wilt's team in Philly, and they went to Wilt's house to eat earlier in the day. While they were chatting, wilt said to Sam, You know how you like to shoot just over me and then say, "Too late" when I can't block it? Well, if you do that tonight, I'm going to pound you into the ground."

So the game started, and Auerbach called Sam's number on the very first play. Sam drove the lane, pulled up, and hit a short jumper just over Wilt's outstretched hand. "Too late," said Sam.

On the Celtics' next offensive play, Red again called Sam's number, and Sam again went up for a short jumper. He remembers getting about an inch or two off the floor, and the next thing he recallls is lying on the floor after being knocked out. And Wilt was standing over him.

"You gettin' up?" asied Wilt. "Not tonight," answered Sam. But the Celtics pulled Sam up and called a timeout. And, looking ahead to the Celtics' next offensive play, Red once again called Sam's number. "No way," retaliated Sam. "Let Cousy or someone else do it."

Despite Wilt's haymaker, the two jousted for the rest of Sam's career. Outside, you may be going to tell the story of how Wilt chased Sam across the Boston Garden floor and Sam picked up a three-legged photographer's stool and brandished it in defense. Wilt backed off. Sam swears he was ready to crown Wilt with the stool. We'll never know for sure.

I believe that, if he and Shaq (both in their prime) had met in mortal combat—with gloves, without gloves, it wouldn't matter—Wilt would have killed Shaq.

There's no question about Wilt's stats, physical attributes, and effect on the rules of the game. And Sam Jones, one of the most gentlemanly players ever, may have been in the vanguard of trash talk.

Sam

Sam,

There are just so many stories and quotes involving Wilt that, at a certain point, I just stop gathering them because I already have much more than what I need for purposes of these posts, so I hadn't planned on using the photographer's stool story. There have been numerous ones I haven't included because, although they are great stories, they don't fit into the flow of what I'm doing. It was probably overkill including as many quotes about Wilt as I did in this most recent post, but I did it for a couple of reasons:

-- If you hear one or two stories about Wilt's practically superhuman strength, you can dismiss it as them as exaggeration and bluster. When you hear a bunch of them, the idea of how strong he was is harder to dismiss. I had more I could've included, but the number I included seemed like enough.

-- They are such great quotes and stories.

Thanks for the "too late" story about Wilt and Sam Jones, because I hadn't heard that one before (or had forgotten it). There are stories like this of Wilt losing his temper and retaliating on rare occasions, but even though he hit Sam, it seems clear from everything I've read that Wilt undoubtedly did not hit Sam as hard as he could but instead was just delivering a message. If Wilt had truly hit someone hard, the outcome would've been frightening.

Another element that story includes is that Wilt was friends with some of his opponents, even the bitter rival Celtics (including Russell), and invited them to dinner whenever they played in Philadelphia. I probably should've included something about that in the "too nice" section.

Sam Jones may have been one of the first to trash talk, but my guess is that he did it with a purpose -- to irk an opponent and throw him off his game, thereby benefiting the Celtics. Today's players do it for self-aggrandizement. If Sam had been a jerk about it, I doubt he would've received those dinner invitations from Wilt.

Regarding Wilt's strength, the one thing I've always wondered is what would've happened had he fought Muhammad Ali, which came very close to happening. My head tells me that it would've been a lousy fight because Wilt probably didn't have any boxing skills and Ali's speed and skills would've been too much, but Wilt was so strong and athletic that I wonder. Interesting to ponder.

Outside

This is a Celtic board and, of course, I love reading stories about Celtics new and old but I'm really appreciating this homage to Wilt.

Did Russell and the Celtics have the best team of their era, and perhaps of all-time? Absolutely, as seen through my green-tinted goggles. You don't win 11 out of 13 just through luck or a weak league (especially when there are only 8 teams, boasting the best players in the world in a highly-concentrated sports version of warfare) but there have been many great players and great teams and there are lessons to be learned from all those players and teams.

It's the slow season and this thread, and the great effort by a number of posters (not only Outside), have really helped me stay involved this month as we await the final outcome of this stupid strike.

Thanks to all. It's these types of stories and the tone in which they are being delivered that is keeping me coming back day after day.

More light, less heat = more knowledge. Diogenes would be proud and so am I to be a member of this board.

bob

.

Outside,

Undoubtedly you're right, and Wilt didn't hit Sam as hard as he could have. I'm sure Sam wouldn't have wanted to goad Wilt to hit harder. At least Sam got two freebies out of it.

For me, Wilt was one of those opponents you love to hate but miss like crazy when he's no longer around. West and Baylor fit those descriptions too, at least from my perspective.

The Other Sam

Outside

Nice read here on the fight that ..... wasn't

Ali vs. Wilt Chamberlain: The Fight That Almost Was
29.05.06 - By W. Gregory Guedel: Springtime, 1971. Inside an office within the Houston Astrodome, a most unusual negotiation is about to take place. Seated at one end of the table is Muhammad Ali, former Heavyweight Champion of the World and self-proclaimed greatest fighter of all time. Next to him: Bob Arum, the former Justice Department attorney turned boxing promoter who had worked with Ali since his 1966 fight with George Chuvalo.

A few minutes later, they are joined by one of the most imposing figures in all of sport, the towering titan of professional basketball Wilt Chamberlain. Ali and Chamberlain knew each other well and had appeared together on numerous occasions in the past, from television talk shows to press conferences addressing civil rights issues. The purpose of this meeting, however, was far different from their previous encounters.

Today no media cameras are present, no reporters scramble for sound bites. The two most famous athletes in the world isolated themselves within the cavernous empty stadium to quietly discuss an event without precedent in the annals of sport. For on this day, Muhammad Ali and Wilt Chamberlain will agree to face each other in a 15-round boxing match, to be held in the Astrodome on July 26, 1971.

For Chamberlain, fighting Ali represented the pinnacle in his quest to conquer not only his own sport, but the entire sporting world. His accomplishments on the basketball court were already legendary. His records of 100 points scored in one game and 55 rebounds grabbed in another remain untouched, and many observers (then and now) considered him to be the greatest ever to play the game. With an NBA championship trophy and multiple MVP awards on his mantle, Wilt felt he had little left to achieve in basketball. However, Chamberlain was a driven man whose accomplishments spurred him to continually seek greater glory. In the off-season, Chamberlain was a world-class volleyball player and avid weightlifter who possessed enormous physical strength. With nothing left to prove in basketball, Wilt intended to prove that he was one of the greatest all-around athletes of all time. Naturally, there could be no better way to establish this credential than to switch sports and dethrone the man known to the world as “The Greatest”.

For Ali, the circumstances surrounding this fight were less rosy. Following his conviction for unlawfully refusing induction in the armed forces, his nearly three-year exile from boxing had taken its toll both professionally and financially. Although he kept his public profile high with numerous speaking engagements, his income during this period was negligible, and by the time he was finally granted a license to fight again in the US he was nearly penniless. Despite questions as to whether he was the same consummate fighter he had been several years earlier, the beginning of Ali’s comeback was promising, with a TKO of Jerry Quarry in October of 1970 and a knockout of Oscar Bonavena that December. Those victories set up one of the most highly anticipated clashes in Heavyweight history, a title match against reigning champion Joe Frazier in March of 1971.

The battle between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in Madison Square Garden lived up to its billing and stands as an all-time classic fight. There was only one problem for Ali – he lost. To the shock of many fans and perhaps most of all to himself, Ali was beaten by unanimous decision. With his hopes of regaining the championship denied, and his purse from the fight being applied to debts in order to stabilize his finances, he sought new avenues for maintaining his popularity and increasing his bank balance. The publicity and gate dollars a fight with Chamberlain would generate were more than enough incentive to garner Ali’s agreement to the bout.

Interestingly, Ali’s loss to Frazier also placed his fight with Chamberlain in jeopardy. Wilt had long been interested in taking on Ali, but his dream was based on the context of a match for the Heavyweight title. Chamberlain’s goal was more than just to beat the man, he coveted what was considered the greatest prize in all sports: the status of being The Heavyweight Champion of the World. Prior to the Ali-Frazier fight, Wilt had agreed that he would enter the ring after Ali defeated Frazier in March and was again champion. When Smokin’ Joe retained the title by beating Ali, the latter’s proposed fight with Chamberlain no longer carried title implications, and Wilt’s desire started to wane. Nevertheless, an intrepid Bob Arum continued to stay in contact with Chamberlain and stoke his interest. Given Wilt’s own proclivities for fame and fortune, it wasn’t too hard to sell. Arum promised big bucks and an even bigger spectacle, and soon Chamberlain was back on board.

Although Chamberlain had no competitive experience as a boxer, he approached the Ali fight with a plan. He would retain the services of world-class trainer Cus D’Amato – who readily volunteered to prepare Chamberlain for the bout. The choice of trainers was thoroughly appropriate, as D’Amato possessed an uncanny ability to create heavyweight champions quickly. He had trained Floyd Patterson to become at age 21 the youngest Heavyweight titlist in history, a record that stood for decades until broken by D’Amato’s next protégé – Mike Tyson. D’Amato opined that with proper coaching, Wilt could utilize his overwhelming size advantage to secure victory. The strategy was to keep Ali at bay by using the long jab – indeed, the longest jab of all time – and employ Chamberlain’s massive reach to prevent Ali from landing damaging shots. If Chamberlain could jab effectively it would give him the space to land blows outside of Ali’s range, and if enough shots landed Chamberlain would win a decision simply based on the punch count.

In contrast, Ali was so confident that he hardly felt a plan was necessary. Other top-level athletes outside of boxing had entertained the idea of fighting him before. While Ali was preparing for a fight in London in 1966, football legend Jim Brown was in the area working on the film “The Dirty Dozen”. Brown informed Bob Arum, with whom he was acquainted, that he wanted to challenge Ali to a fight for the title. When Ali heard this, he instructed Arum to have Brown meet him in Hyde Park where Ali took his morning training runs. When Brown arrived, Ali told the NFL star to try and hit him and not worry about whether Ali got hurt. Brown proceeded to throw a barrage of heavy punches, all of which Ali dodged with ease. With Brown still swinging in earnest, Ali playfully slapped Brown’s face repeatedly as the latter’s punches sailed by in futility. Brown quietly dropped his challenge thereafter. For the fight with Chamberlain, Ali summed up his prognostication in a single word. As Wilt entered the office in the Astrodome to discuss the final terms of the match, Ali sized up his foe and shouted: “Timber!”

As word of the match spread throughout the sporting world, excited questions began to fly. Did Wilt really stand a chance against “The Greatest”? Could Wilt actually pull off an upset? Would this be the highest-grossing fight of all time? Would Wilt’s boxing shoes be the largest of all time? Sadly, these questions were to forever remain unanswered. On April 22, 1971, Walter Cronkite reported on the CBS Evening News that Wilt Chamberlain had declined to sign the final contract for the match. The world would never see these literal and figurative giants trade blows in the ring, and sporting aficionados everywhere were left to ponder what might have been.

The official reason for Chamberlain’s withdrawal, provided by his attorneys, was that the after-tax money Wilt would earn from the bout was only $500,000. They claimed this was too small a purse to make the effort worthwhile. Naturally, other opinions abounded. Bob Arum believed that Wilt was trying to use the idea of the fight (and the potential that he might be injured) as leverage in contract negotiations with Los Angeles Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke. Arum stated that at the Astrodome meeting, Wilt excused himself to a private room to call Cooke and discuss details of his NBA contract renewal, and would certainly have mentioned the fact that he was about to agree to fight Muhammad Ali. If so, Cooke undoubtedly would have attempted to talk him out of it, and nothing in the sports world speaks as persuasively as money.

When interviewed in later years, Wilt himself offered another explanation for his decision to withdraw from the fight. Chamberlain reminisced: "I remember leaving my place in L.A. and -- my father is a big fight fan -- and I said, `Dad, I got a couple of days off and I'm getting ready to go to Houston to sign to fight Muhammad Ali.'" His father told him he should work on his free throws instead.

"And I looked at my Dad and said, 'Well, Dad, you're probably right."

Beat, thanks for that post. Yet another example of what Bob was talking about -- everyone chipping in with great stuff.

Could has Gus got Wilt ready to fight Ali? Never knew that part of it nor had I heard the Ali-Jim Brown story.

Wonder if wilt could have taken a punch to the midsection (or several)?

And if Wilt could have landed a punch, could Ali have taken it?
Pure speculation now and in some ways best it never did happen so people like us can talk about the what ifs.

beat

beat wrote:Could has Gus got Wilt ready to fight Ali? Never knew that part of it nor had I heard the Ali-Jim Brown story.

Wonder if wilt could have taken a punch to the midsection (or several)?

And if Wilt could have landed a punch, could Ali have taken it?
Pure speculation now and in some ways best it never did happen so people like us can talk about the what ifs.

beat

Beat,

I remember when talk of that fight was news.

In some ways it may be better that the fight never materialized. Ali was undoubtably the greatest showman-athlete of that time (maybe ever) and Wilt was easily the most physically imposing athlete of that same era (maybe ever).

The fight itself probably could never have lived up to the incredible hype it would have received. Maybe it's better that we can have fun debating the what-ifs!

[Ali by TKO in 2; Wilt would have never stayed down.]

Regards

PART 4. DID RED WANT WILT?

This seems relatively objective since there's information about it, but there's subjectivity in interpreting the information. First, the information, which revolves around summer basketball in the Catskills and the territorial draft.

Milt Kutsher hired college basketball players to work during the summer at his resort where they would play against teams fielded by other Catskills resorts. Pro coaches and owners attended and watched the college players play with an eye toward who might be worth drafting someday. Wilt was a sensation in high school, so Kutsher hired him as a bellhop and put him up against the older, more experienced players. The coach for Kutsher's team was one Arnold "Red" Auerbach.

From The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball, by John Taylor:

In the summer of 1953, Auerbach had met a player he was convinced could be the solution to all his problems.... While Kutsher usually hired only college students, there was that summer a high school kid in Philadelphia named Wilt Chamberlain who was such a phenomenal player that after watching him, Haskell Cohen, the public relations man for the NBA, had persuaded Kutsher to make him a bellhop. The first time Auerbach saw Chamberlain, moving along briskly in his bellhop uniform... he just stood there and watched him walk... what Auerbach thought was incredible was how graceful he was for someone his size. A little while later, when he saw him on the basketball court, he realized that even though the kid was still in high school, he was comparable to the best college players Auerbach had ever seen.

Auerbach pushed Chamberlain hard during practices and tried to work with him on his moves, like guarding the pivot man, but Chamberlain, he found, was not a receptive student. Wilt was only sixteen, but because of his size and ability and all the press attention he'd already received, people even then had begun to treat him with awe, and it had gone to his head. Still, his talent was phenomenal, and so was his hustle. Even off the court he hustled, carrying guests' luggage in and out of the hotel, pocketing tips, bringing trays of drinks to the patio. The NBA at the time had a territorial draft, which allowed each team to exploit the draw of local talent by giving it the right, regardless of its position in the regular draft, to acquire a top player graduating from a college within its territory. Which meant if Chamberlain went to a college in New England, Auerbach could claim him for the Celtics. "Why don't you go to Harvard, kid?" Auerbach asked Chamberlain one day.

Auerbach was serious. He called Walter Brown, who was at his vacation house on Cape Cod, and urged him to come up and take a look at Chamberlain. "This is the most fantastic player I've ever seen," Auerbach said. He added that it would be worth almost any amount of money to acquire him, and even suggested that Brown consider giving Chamberlain's family $25,000--just out and out bribe the mother and father--if Wilt would attend a college within the Celtics' territory.... Eddie Gottlieb, owner of the Philadelphia Warriors, heard about Auerbach's scheme. He considered Chamberlain a Philadelphia talent and was determined to have him play for the Warriors.... "If that kid even thinks about blowing town for Boston," Gottlieb told Milt Kutsher, "I'll turn your joint into a bowling alley."

...[A]t a league meeting in early 1955, before Chamberlain had graduated from Overbrook High, Gottlieb proposed a rule extending the territorial draft to high school. To Gottlieb, it was entirely logical. The league was still struggling. Hometown boys, big at the box office, could make the difference between whether a team stayed afloat for another couple of years or sank... Gottlieb then selected Chamberlain in the 1955 draft even though he would not be eligible to play for four more years.

From I'm Punchy From Basketball, Baby, And Tired Of Being A Villain, by Wilt and Bob Ottum, Sports Illustrated:

That Red Auerbach. Now, isn't he too much? With that cigar and the look like he would snap you in half. I mean mean. But what a guy. I can remember the first time we met—and maybe you don't know this, but he was my coach at one time. It was back in 1953 and I was a high school freshman then. Maybe about...oh, 6 feet 10? or so...and a real smart aleck. You know. I had been playing a lot of basketball already against some pretty tough old boys, and I thought I was pretty hot stuff. And Haskell Cohen, the public relations guy for the NBA—man, he was really looking into the future—had spotted me down at Overbrook High in Philadelphia. And he got me a summer job bell-hopping at Kutsher's resort up in the Catskills. It was a sort of breeding ground for future professionals. Haskell was looking beyond high school and college, I guess. So I turned up on the borscht circuit carrying suitcases and waiting on tables and sort of standing around all bones and eyeballs and teeth. Every summer resort up there had its own basketball team made up of college kids who needed jobs for the summer. They worked a little and played a little. And who was the coach at Kutsher's? The man with the cigar.

Looking back on it, I think maybe it was my attitude that first touched off Auerbach. You know, I wasn't exactly the most modest kid in town, and I had a lot of moves for a high school freshie playing with the big boys. And when Red would call practice he would sort of talk to me in that voice that catches you right here, right between the ribs. He especially didn't like the way I played defense.

"Don't you think. Chamberlain," Red would growl, "that it might be sort of a good idea to defense your man from in front of him instead of behind him? What the hell are you doing back there?" But I went on defensing from behind the guys, reaching around with my arms to get the ball, waiting to fall on them when they wheeled around to shoot.

"We are going to play Shawanga Lodge next," said Red, looking through me. "And you are going to have to defense B. H. Born. I think it only fair to tell you. Chamberlain, that B. H. Born has just made All-America from the University of Kansas. And I think it only fair to tell you that B. H. Born is going to make chopped chicken liver out of you." So we played Shawanga.

At the half-time break I had scored 30-some points and Born had scored exactly two. And I came ambling back into the dressing room and flopped myself down on the training table and folded my arms behind my head. I was whistling, you know, doo de doo de doo, and sort of looking sidewise at old Red while he looked back at me with a steely stare. Finally he grinned a little trace of a grin at me. "Now about the second half," he said. Then, "Now, Mister Chamberlain, may I please have your attention for a moment?" Suddenly we understood each other. Red and I. And I learned to play defense on both sides; I play it a lot in front now. After that, Red would let me serve him drinks and cigars in his room when he was up all night playing poker, and he later got me aside to talk about future schooling.

"Why don't you go to Harvard, kid?" he said. "And then I'll be able to pick you off in the territorial draft for the Celtics." But other forces were already at work.

From Tall Tales: The Glory Years of the NBA, by Terry Pluto:

Wilt: It was a coup when Eddie Gottlieb drafted me while I was still in high school. He may have done it because he got word that I had played under Red Auerbach at Kutsher's Country Club in the summer. Red wanted me to attend Harvard so he could have my rights....

Alex Hannum: It was common knowledge that Eddie also encouraged Wilt to go to college at Kansas in order to keep him away from any of the NBA cities. He did this for two reasons: First, he didn't want Wilt at a Philly school such as La Salle, where he would be drawing fans away from Eddie's Warriors. Second, if Wilt went somewhere such as Kansas, no other NBA team could contest Eddie's territorial pick of Wilt while he was in high school.

I see several things here.

Red made a concerted effort to get Chamberlain through the territorial draft. Gottlieb was in a better position since Wilt was a Philly kid, and he outmanuevered Red in this instance to get an early territorial claim to Wilt. But that doesn't change the fact that Red recognized Wilt's obvious talent, really wanted him, and tried to get him.

Red did this after having experience coaching Wilt that summer, so if he had any reservations about coaching Wilt, they weren't enough to scare him off. Wilt was a headstrong kid, too full of himself after getting a lot of attention, but as Wilt's story from the Sports Illustrated article shows, Red was more than up to the task of dealing with that, and Wilt gained a lot of respect for Red as a coach.

Red went after Wilt well before he was aware of Russell, so it's impossible to say if he would've pursued Wilt after knowing what Russell could do. Red didn't really find out about Russell until after he drafted him in 1956, and by that time, Gottlieb had locked up Chamberlain as a territorial pick. If Red had known at that point what kind of player Russell could be, it's possible that he wouldn't have pursued Wilt, at least to the extent that he did. We can chalk that up in the "we'll never know" column, and it's not all that important to our discussion anyway.

So it seems that we can say that Red wanted Wilt and tried to get him, but that was when Wilt was in high school, long before he was available for the draft. Assuming he was still available (and, according to our scenario, that Russell was not on the Celtics), would Red have still wanted Wilt in 1959? Since Wilt was the greatest prospect that anyone had ever seen, why wouldn't Red want him?

Outside

Another ace.

I just think that if Wilt had been signed. Red would have made him play "his" way, heck your info sort of inferes that even over a few games during a hot summer in 1953 he had gotten a bit into Wilt's youthful head. That sort of shreds the idea that he was not coachable. At least thats how I see it.

Funny how things play out. Wilt could have been the Center for the C's for all those years. Multiple Championships for sure, how many debateable, but if so where would have Russ ended up and without Red what would Russ's career elsewhere have been like?


Interesting stuff for sure.

beat

Just to let you know, work and life got busy this week, and we're going to be gone this weekend, so I won't get to my last two posts until next week. Something to look forward to and/or dread.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend.

Outside,

I wish we could all give you as much of an assist in your busy schedule as you've provided for this forum in the past and especially in recent weeks.

Actually, you have given us so much to think about that it's probably just as well that you're now allowing us time to digest Parts 1-4 before addressing the remainder of the series. It will definitely be something to look forward to, and you already have our tremendous gratitude for undertaking this initiative. Heck, just look at the number of "views" this thread has attracted at a time when any attentiveness at all is bucking the current basketball tide.

Good luck with your other priorities. And all the best to you and the entire board as we enter a weekend holiday we all deserve.

Sam