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http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-heisler-20110327,0,5108536,full.column

A superstar, Elgin Baylor, nobody knew; a Lakers team nobody saw

Fifty years ago, the Lakers hardly drew flies during their first season in L.A. So there were few witnesses to the greatness of Baylor, who was reinventing basketball almost nightly while averaging 34.8 points and 18.8 rebounds for a team that came within one game of the NBA Finals.

I found this article very interesting from a from a historical point of view.

Baylor is amazing. He started what we see today. If there was ever a way to give a ring to a player that has meant so much to your team it would be Baylor . It's a travesty he isn't talked about more. A American war hero and laker legend.

Oh he also avg 38 points one season sad other laker fans haven't said anything about him yet:(. Definitely before his time.

No offense to Baylor or Wilt but those kind of numbers really make me question the legitimacy of the competition in the league during those days. A little athleticism would probably put a player head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.

If you do Alot research on him you will see he's a big part that the laker franchise survived .

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:No offense to Baylor or Wilt but those kind of numbers really make me question the legitimacy of the competition in the league during those days. A little athleticism would probably put a player head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.

I understand where you are coming from, but if you are gonna cross generations you can just have it one way. you have to consider what Baylor would be capable of if he had grown up with this current generation of players and knowing what they all know now. On the flip side you have to consider today's players playing under the circumstances and limitations that those players played under.

examples of circumstances:
3 back to back games, commercial flying (seats not made for basketball players), racism, did you know that during that season Baylor was a volunteer Army reservist and only played on weekends during that season because of his obligations to the Army during the week and he still put up monster numbers. ask Lebron to do that today and see what happens.

examples of limitations:
no alley oops, no dunking, no 3 point line heroics, that is just a few of the things that were unheard of. imagine if you took away those things from the Lebron's, Blake griffin's, DHowards how exiting would they be? how far would their athleticism take them?

baylor was definately the truth. just another great player in this rich laker tradition!

snaquille oatmeal wrote:

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:No offense to Baylor or Wilt but those kind of numbers really make me question the legitimacy of the competition in the league during those days. A little athleticism would probably put a player head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.

I understand where you are coming from, but if you are gonna cross generations you can just have it one way. you have to consider what Baylor would be capable of if he had grown up with this current generation of players and knowing what they all know now. On the flip side you have to consider today's players playing under the circumstances and limitations that those players played under.

examples of circumstances:
3 back to back games, commercial flying (seats not made for basketball players), racism, did you know that during that season Baylor was a volunteer Army reservist and only played on weekends during that season because of his obligations to the Army during the week and he still put up monster numbers. ask Lebron to do that today and see what happens.

examples of limitations:
no alley oops, no dunking, no 3 point line heroics, that is just a few of the things that were unheard of. imagine if you took away those things from the Lebron's, Blake griffin's, DHowards how exiting would they be? how far would their athleticism take them?

I can understand some of the issues you pointed out like no 3-point line, which I'm sure would have made Jerry West's scoring averages look even more impressive. Also God knows how much better guys like Wilt and Baylor could have been with the modern day sports science and workout regimen, supplements.

However the issues like army commitments make me question those stats even more. Jordan to me was closest to perfection in terms of basketball and even he was pretty rusty when he came back from his baseball hiatus and most modern athletes who practice their shooting forms with assistance from physists and sports scientists struggle to make shots after a week long lay off.

So did Baylor really play once a week with a rigorous weekday job and put up 35/20 on world class opponents? I think guys like Wilt and Baylor would be great athletes even if they played in modern generation but I don't think they would be averaging the same numbers.

Also I believe those stats aren't adjusted for pace and the 48 min game format.