4) Wilt Chamberlain
I struggled with where to rank Wilt the Stilt more than I did with any other player on this list. For all his unbelievable statistical dominance he has only two career championships. Not that winning two rings is a failure, but considering how dominant Wilt was, two titles don’t feel like enough. It’s also hard to get past the extent to which Bill Russell’s Celtics dominated Wilt throughout the years, even when Chamberlain was flanked by Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. Ultimately though, I couldn’t ignore the preposterous statistics Chamberlain posted throughout his career.
For his career Chamberlain averaged 30 points and 23 rebounds per game. No player at any time has approached numbers that dominant for a single season, much less a career. Plus, Wilt also averaged 50 points over an entire year. After receiving criticism for shooting too often, Chamberlain changed his game entirely and once led the league in assists just because he felt like it. No other player ever has made such a dramatic and successful alteration to his game. MJ never became the league’s best rebounder, Shaq never figured out free-throws, and Dennis Rodman never became a big-time scorer.
Wilt played in thirteen All-Star games, won four MVPs, one Finals MVP, and was the league’s 7-time scoring champion. He led the league in rebounding 11 out of his 13 seasons, and the two seasons he didn’t, he finished second. In terms of field goal percentage, he was first in the league nine times. Though blocks weren’t recorded in his era, you can bet Chamberlain always would have been among the league’s leaders in that category as well.
Wilt was a supernatural force. His statistics seem impossible; nobody has ever or will ever approach what he did. I don’t know what his relative lack of success winning championships says specifically about him, but it’s hard for me to blame a guy who averaged 23 points and 25 rebounds throughout his playoff career for not winning more rings.
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| #4 Wilt Chamberlain |
3) Bill Russell
I know it was a different era with less teams and a less evolved game, but Bill Russell was the first player to truly understand how to be the best player and the best leader on his team. That’s something Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Dominique Wilkins, LeBron James (thus far) and other great players never fully figured out. Additionally, he may have been the best defensive player of all-time and perhaps the best rebounder, though in his era many more shots were taken than in today’s game, meaning more opportunities for rebounds.
15 points per game is not an overwhelming scoring average, and it might have you confused as to why he’s this high on the list. Well, let me hit you with some other numbers. 23 rebounds per game was his career average; he made twelve All-Star games; and he won eleven championships, two of which came as a player/coach. Yes, he played and coached simultaneously. Not only was Russell busy battling Wilt on the floor, he was also thinking about substitutions, when to use timeouts, and how to play matchups favorably.
Russell claimed five MVP awards, was in the top-5 league-wide in field goal percentage four times, was in the top-4 in rebounding thirteen times, and was (according to new advanced stats) the most impactful defender in the league thirteen times.
Though Russell wasn’t going to take over the game scoring the ball, he owned the glass, owned the lane, and owned rival phenom Wilt Chamberlain. Russell was the greatest defender, winner, and statistically the second-best rebounder of all-time. Good enough for number 3 on this list? I think so.
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| #3 Bill Russell |
--from @AdamHocking
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