shaq v wilt

[ChillinDuke]

From what I know on the subject, Wilt Chamberlain is the single most remarkable basketball player to have ever played. And I don't believe it's really all that close.

And yes, I picked my words with intention.

- Chillin

[JasonEvans]

A) Conan the Destroy is the greatest movie of all time
B) Wilt was in Conan the Destroyer
C) Therefore, Wilt must be the best center of all time

See, it is really simple, folks.

[brevity]

A) Conan the Destroy is the greatest movie of all time
B) Wilt was in Conan the Destroyer
C) Therefore, Wilt must be the best center of all time

See, it is really simple, folks.

Counterpoint:



Actually, we can do this strictly by movie metrics.

Airplane! (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1980): Metacritic 78, Rotten Tomatoes 97, IMDb 7.8/10
Conan the Destroyer (Wilt Chamberlain, 1984): Metacritic 53, Rotten Tomatoes 26, IMDb 5.9/10
Blue Chips (Shaquille O'Neal, 1994): Metacritic 54, Rotten Tomatoes 37, IMDb 6.1/10
Space Jam (Michael Jordan, 1996): Metacritic 59, Rotten Tomatoes 38, IMDb 6.3/10
Trainwreck (LeBron James, 2015): Metacritic 75, Rotten Tomatoes 86, IMDb 6.2/10

[Troublemaker]

Actually, we can do this strictly by movie metrics.

Airplane! (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1980): Metacritic 78, Rotten Tomatoes 97, IMDb 7.8/10
Conan the Destroyer (Wilt Chamberlain, 1984): Metacritic 53, Rotten Tomatoes 26, IMDb 5.9/10
Blue Chips (Shaquille O'Neal, 1994): Metacritic 54, Rotten Tomatoes 37, IMDb 6.1/10
Space Jam (Michael Jordan, 1996): Metacritic 59, Rotten Tomatoes 38, IMDb 6.3/10
Trainwreck (LeBron James, 2015): Metacritic 75, Rotten Tomatoes 86, IMDb 6.2/10

Loved the Airplane! clip. My favorite Kareem moment on film was when he was a credible Final Boss for Bruce Lee to fight in Game of Death.

[lotusland]

Loved the Airplane! clip. My favorite Kareem moment on film was when he was a credible Final Boss for Bruce Lee to fight in Game of Death.

Kareem squandered a huge advantage. He should have employed the Quart of Blood technique for the win.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

... Wilt Chamberlain is the single most remarkable basketball player to have ever played. And I don't believe it's really all that close.

And yes, I picked my words with intention.

- Chillin

And you picked them very well..."most remarkable" is a great way to put it. It may not settle "the greatest" argument per se, but hard to argue against him being the most remarkable.

Maybe second on "the remarkable" list would be Pistol Pete, who we found out only had about half an operating heart during his entire career...

[Acymetric]

Counterpoint:



Actually, we can do this strictly by movie metrics.

Airplane! (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1980): Metacritic 78, Rotten Tomatoes 97, IMDb 7.8/10
Conan the Destroyer (Wilt Chamberlain, 1984): Metacritic 53, Rotten Tomatoes 26, IMDb 5.9/10
Blue Chips (Shaquille O'Neal, 1994): Metacritic 54, Rotten Tomatoes 37, IMDb 6.1/10
Space Jam (Michael Jordan, 1996): Metacritic 59, Rotten Tomatoes 38, IMDb 6.3/10
Trainwreck (LeBron James, 2015): Metacritic 75, Rotten Tomatoes 86, IMDb 6.2/10

Space Jam has a 38 on Rotten Tomatoes? Must be a lot of people out there that felt personally wronged by bugs bunny or something. Looking at the reviews...is it normal for movie reviewers to review the quality of kids movies as though they were intended for adults?

I also would have been tempted to use Kazaam for Shaq...although your choice is the more fair one ratings wise. I do feel reasonably confident that Kareem had the best acting career of this group overall (lots of great cameos in movies and tv shows beyond airplane, no duds that I can recall).

[JasonEvans]

I do feel reasonably confident that Kareem had the best acting career of this group overall (lots of great cameos in movies and tv shows beyond airplane, no duds that I can recall).

Yeah, but Kareem almost always plays himself in movies/TV. Same with Shaq and Jordan and Lebron, who largely just play basketball players in their acting gigs (other than Shaq in Kazaam, which is one of the worst movies ever made, 6% on Rotten Tomatoes) Wilt played a totally different character when he was a warrior in Conan. That takes range!

-Jason "that said, Kareem's 'tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes' may be the best NBA to screen moment ever!!" Evans

[NSDukeFan]

Yeah, but Kareem almost always plays himself in movies/TV. Same with Shaq and Jordan and Lebron, who largely just play basketball players in their acting gigs (other than Shaq in Kazaam, which is one of the worst movies ever made, 6% on Rotten Tomatoes) Wilt played a totally different character when he was a warrior in Conan. That takes range!

-Jason "that said, Kareem's 'tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes' may be the best NBA to screen moment ever!!" Evans

That is a great line.

[JasonEvans]

The state of Wisconsin got some of the Airplane crew back together recently for a TV ad. Kareem does have range!

[sagegrouse]

And you picked them very well..."most remarkable" is a great way to put it. It may not settle "the greatest" argument per se, but hard to argue against him being the most remarkable.

Maybe second on "the remarkable" list would be Pistol Pete, who we found out only had about half an operating heart during his entire career...

If there is a ranking of the most remarkable ATHLETES in history, I believe Wilt is high on the list for his size, angularity, muscularity, and proficiency in multiple athletic endeavors.

Bill Russell, who had a radio show in LA for years, has said a lot about Wilt. One thing I remember, something like: "We used to elbow, push, kick and do everything to Wilt. He never hit back. He had the patience of a lamb."

[kAzE]

From what I know on the subject, Wilt Chamberlain is the single most remarkable basketball player to have ever played. And I don't believe it's really all that close.

And yes, I picked my words with intention.

- Chillin

I definitely would not argue against that. But I would say that it is close between Wilt and LeBron. IMO, going by pure talent, Wilt and LeBron are #1 and #1A. LeBron honestly is that impressive of an athlete, IMO. We would be lucky to see another guy in our lifetimes with the combo of size, strength, speed, skill, longevity that LeBron has.

[sagegrouse]

If there is a ranking of the most remarkable ATHLETES in history, I believe Wilt is high on the list for his size, angularity, muscularity, and proficiency in multiple athletic endeavors.

Bill Russell, who had a radio show in LA for years, has said a lot about Wilt. One thing I remember, something like: "We used to elbow, push, kick and do everything to Wilt. He never hit back. He had the patience of a lamb."

On second thought, Russell actually described Wilt as "gentle as a lamb" in not responding to felonious assaults by other players.

[ncexnyc]

That's a really awesome photo posted by Jason and it just goes to show what a physical specimen Wilt truly was. That movie came out in 1984, eleven years after Wilt's final season in the NBA and he was still ripped. Muscle wise, most people look puny when in a photo with Arnold, but not Wilt.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

The state of Wisconsin got some of the Airplane crew back together recently for a TV ad. Kareem does have range!

That is a wonderful idea - that they turned into a mediocre commercial.

[WV_Iron_Duke]

One of Wilt's athletic accomplishments in high school was running a sub 50 second 440 . His offensive resembled Shaq. Not much finesse but plenty of strength.

[dukeinla]

Just a couple of more points about Kareem:

In 3 years of high school ball he lost once ( to a team with Pat Riley)

He went to UCLA when freshman were not allowed to play varsity ball. His freshman team played the UCLA upperclassman (the defending national champions) and crushed them

In 3 years at UCLA he only lost once- to Houston with Elvin Hayes- and UCLA crushed them in the rematch.

His sky hook was the most unstoppable weapon in basketball history.

In a prior post it was mentioned that the lane was widened because of Wilt- The rules were changed to ban dunking to stop Kareem- and all that accomplished was to make Kareem a more complete offensive player.

He was the anchor of the showtime lakers- arguably one of the best teams in NBA history- and was the leading scorer in NBA history.

How can you dispute that resume?

[porkpa]

No comparison. When he was of the mindset, Wilt wasn't just better than Shaq. He was better than anybody whoever played the game and not by just a little bit either.
The operative phrase is "of the mindset".
Wilt, as great as he was, did not always play at his best, or often near it. If he had the competitive nature of MJ or Lebron, there would be nobody else in the discussion.
H did have an Achilles hel though. As bad a foul shooter as Shaq was, Wilt was probably worse.

[WV_Iron_Duke]

Kareem's autobiography mentions his relationship with Wilt .When Kareem was still a teenager Wilt took him under his wing. The funniest incident in the book was when Kareem tried to hit on one of Wilt's girlfriends

[BD80]

Kareem's autobiography mentions his relationship with Wilt .When Kareem was still a teenager Wilt took him under his wing. The funniest incident in the book was when Kareem tried to hit on one of Wilt's girlfriends

How in the world is someone to know which dozen or two of the hundreds of women around Wilt were his "girlfriends?"

With Wilt, it is likely that he considered any female in the same zip code to be one of his girlfriends.