Wilt Chamberlain Footage Analysis Thread

[kcktiny]

I found a YouTube video awhile back showing Wilt's stats from the 1966-67 playoffs, but can't find it now. It showed he played 15 playoff games, 718 minutes (all but 7 minutes of the three series), scored 326 pts (21.7 pts/g), with 437 rebounds (29.1 reb/g), 135 assists, and 149 blocks.

I don't know how accurate the number of blocks it showed is (the other numbers are factual), but if accurate, that would mean Chamberlain blocked close to nine percent of all shots attempted by the 76ers three playoff opponents, which is outrageously high. In the video it showed over the 15 games (1-15) he blocked 9, 6, 14, 12 (vs. Cincinnati), 12, 5, 5, 8, 15 (vs. Boston), 9, 10, 8, 15, 13, and 8 (vs. San Francisco) shots.

[70sFan]

Watch on YouTube

Game 5 of 1964 Finals - probably the best Wilt clip in my whole collection. I will go back with my notes from that game later.

I have notes from that game, if you are interested.

Of course I am!

[Top10alltime]

Watch on YouTube

Game 5 of 1964 Finals - probably the best Wilt clip in my whole collection. I will go back with my notes from that game later.

I have notes from that game, if you are interested.

Of course I am!

Well, it's crappy I think, but share your thoughts after your done reading:

Offense -
1:45 - Wilt wins tipoff over Russell
1:58 - Wilt receives the ball on left block, hits fadeaway over Russell
4:37 - Receives ball in low post, gets the finger roll over Russell
5:10 - Wilt hits another fadeaway, fake pass faked out defender, doubled.
5:52 - Wilt loses jumpball, Gary Hills steals ball tho.
6:15 - Wilt loses grip of ball after offensive rebound, foul called on him.
6:58 - After Wilt gets loose ball knocked by Al Attles, hard foul on him by Naulls.
8:36 - Wilt in transition, misses putback shot.
8:47 - Wilt gets nice pass to lob dunk.
9:32 - Wilt down in left block, passing out to Guy Rodgers
10:55 - Wilt doubled as he misses a fadeaway.
14:02 - Russell with smothering on ball defense, Wilt quick pass to Hightower, who travels.
15:35 - Wilt gets ball, notices Rodgers open for shot (thankfully, he didn't miss), for creation.
19:53 - Thurmond tips ball to Wilt, for easy dunk.
20:34 - Wilt grabs offensive board, misses layup, Warriors battle Celtics on board until they make it.
21:03 - Lob pass by Rodgers for Wilt to make basket.
23:13 - Wilt receives ball in left block, handoff to Attles for creation
24:02 - Rodgers messed up in transition, Wilt with offensive board but effective paint protection by Russell as he bricks.
26:04 - Wilt doubled as he makes another basket in the post.
28:15 - (END of GAME)

Defense -
0:23 - Heinsohn faked out Wilt would the jump mid air to pass to Russ, who dunked on him.
2:54 - Bad defensive play, I assume he was trying to save energy but he left Sanders open for that shot.
3:50 - Just incredible block by Chamberlain, don't forget who he is on this end.
4:25 - Wilt gets defensive board off Sam Jones
5:22 - This is one of those highlight defensive plays, Wilt blocks Russell's dunk and falls down with the ball.
6:50 - Wilt leaves Sam Jones open (another bad defensive play), who somehow manages to miss, then Wilt gets defensive rebound.
7:46 - Wilt and Russell battle out on boards, but Thurmond commits foul.
8:31 - Weak contest by Wilt, Russell misses anyways.
9:55 - Russell scores in transition, guess Wilt was too slow.
12:16 - Russell misses hook shot, Wilt knocks it out to Ramsey. After Ramsey misses Wilt tips it to Hightower.
14:54 - Wilt grabs defensive board on Satch Sanders miss.
15:03 - Celtics fast-break, Havlicek scores layup over Wilt who didn't contest.
15:18 - Wilt contests K.C Jones shot, then Heinsohn comes in for putback.
15:50 - Another ineffective paint protection by Wilt, should've contested it more horizontally than vertically.
17:20 - Wilt with no contest, Russell still misses hook.
18:27 - Notice, they don't shoot against Wilt, his presence alone makes them want to shoot outside the paint.
21:15 - Russell gets deep post position, Wilt in high post, so Russell has wide open dunk.
22:17 - Wilt couldn't protect paint effectively, Celtics scored, to be fair, someone was in front of Russ, but not effective protection.
22:45 - Good defense on Russell I guess, but ball keeps being swung out to Celtics, until deep shot made.
25:08 - Nice defensive board by Wilt.
28:15 - (END of GAME)

Watch on YouTube

[Top10alltime]

I found a YouTube video awhile back showing Wilt's stats from the 1966-67 playoffs, but can't find it now. It showed he played 15 playoff games, 718 minutes (all but 7 minutes of the three series), scored 326 pts (21.7 pts/g), with 437 rebounds (29.1 reb/g), 135 assists, and 149 blocks.

I don't know how accurate the number of blocks it showed is (the other numbers are factual), but if accurate, that would mean Chamberlain blocked close to nine percent of all shots attempted by the 76ers three playoff opponents, which is outrageously high. In the video it showed over the 15 games (1-15) he blocked 9, 6, 14, 12 (vs. Cincinnati), 12, 5, 5, 8, 15 (vs. Boston), 9, 10, 8, 15, 13, and 8 (vs. San Francisco) shots.

Watch on YouTube

That one?

[kcktiny]

Yes that's it. Good find - I searched for an hour but could not find it again.

Don't know who Foobas Sports is, but like I wrote above if the data for blocks is accurate - and all the other stats they listed in the video are - then if that is representative of how often Wilt blocked shots on a regular basis then Chamberlain is clearly one of the greatest shot blockers ever.

NBA teams in 1966-67 averaged 8350 shots in the regular season (103 shots per 48 minute game). Wilt was on the floor 95% of the time. So eight to nine percent of 8350 x 45/48 x 0.08 or 0.09 = some 630 to 700 blocks. Even at just seven percent that'd be some 550 blocks.

Wish we had similar data for Russell and Thurmond.

[MacGill]

Respect to the footage, I've only made it through the first YT clip. A few observations, and I hope that everyone here can calmly and collectively have an exchange without emotions getting in the way. And I mean this respectfully!

I've already stated that if more full footage games of Wilt were released, aka not all highlighted reel footage, we would see a much more mortal human than the clips made him to be. This is not a critique on Wilt specifically, but when I watched a few of the available early 70's (maybe very late 60's) games, you could certainly poke many holes, which I did over the years, but I'm hoping that when it comes to celebrating his legacy and critiquing his game that this helps with a little more perspective. Sadly, his film career seems to have been locked up like the JFK files and a lot of speculation and/or warranted/unwarranted hyperbole grows on both sides of the coin.

Secondly, my own thoughts re: Shaq. We know I am a Shaq guy, but I'm at the opinion now that comapring eras of Wilt and Shaq is like comparing centers of the 90/00's to current nba with the 3-point line. Physical specimens aside, clearly the game, intensity and focus was different. Myself, I honestly want to use this thread to gain further knowledge about Wilt, and as I stated earlier, don't need to bring any emotion of any other player into the mix.

I'd luv to see more match-ups with Russell and other great bigs of the day so I will continue to watch this thread and the contributions. Just my .02 and I hope this comes across the right way. Wilt was a heck of a player and if new footage brings me closer to changing my opinion, I am all for that. I just hate when we use more modern players to either bring him up or down when we have almost all video/stat footage of one, and 5% the other. Hope that's fair and thanks for sharing!

[70sFan]

8:36 - Wilt in transition, misses putback shot.

That was called over the back foul actually.

8:47 - Wilt gets nice pass to lob dunk.

It wasn't an intentional pass, Wilt just grabbed the shot that wouldn't be made.

9:32 - Wilt down in left block, passing out to Guy Rodgers

Notice how KC Jones guarded Wilt and how the Celtics got away with very crowded defense because of lack of spacing.

10:55 - Wilt doubled as he misses a fadeaway.

Another poor spacing possession.

14:02 - Russell with smothering on ball defense, Wilt quick pass to Hightower, who misses layup.

Hightower was called for travelling call here.

15:35 - Wilt gets ball, notices Rodgers open for shot (thankfully, he didn't miss), for creation.

Again, take a look at how the Celtics defended Wilt even before he got the ball:

19:53 - Rodgers tips ball to Wilt, for easy dunk.

That's Thurmond, not Rodgers.

Defense -
0:23 - Heinsohn faked out Wilt would the jump mid air to pass to Russ, who dunked on him.

I think that was a clear Wilt mistake, because Thurmond had Heinsohn contained, Wilt should focus on securing the rebound instead.

2:54 - Bad defensive play, I assume he was trying to save energy but he left Sanders open for that shot.

Yeah, he probably didn't want to leave Russell under the basket either. Sanders wasn't a knockdown shooter, but when open he wasn't bad either from what I've seen.

5:22 - This is one of those highlight defensive plays, Wilt blocks Russell's dunk and falls down with the ball.

One of the most spectacular defensive plays in the finals history in my opinion. I have no idea what the league doesn't use it on their historical highlight reels.

6:50 - Wilt leaves Sam Jones open (another bad defensive play), who somehow manages to miss, then Wilt gets defensive rebound.

I'm not sure it would be a good decision to contest Jones here. Havlicek was running on the left side and pull-up midrange shoot is a better choice for the Warriors than an uncontested layup from Hondo. I wouldn't call that a bad play.

7:46 - Wilt and Russell battle out on boards, but Thurmond commits foul.

I'd like to see a better angle, but Nate doesn't commit foul here - he tied up Heinsohn.

8:31 - Weak contest by Wilt, Russell misses anyways.

Yeah, that's a low effort from Wilt. He didn't also position himself well inside on this occasion, that's something he's prone to do compared to other ATG defenders.

9:55 - Russell scores in transition, guess Wilt was too slow.

Yeah, Russell was a gazelle on the court.

12:16 - Russell misses hook shot, Wilt knocks it out to Ramsey. After Ramsey misses Wilt tips it to Hightower.

Weak effort from Wilt here, especially on the post play.

15:03 - Celtics fast-break, Havlicek scores layup over Wilt who didn't contest.

That's Heinsohn, not Havlicek. Wilt was too late to contest it here.

15:50 - Another ineffective paint protection by Wilt, should've contested it more horizontally than vertically.

I think he wasn't in position to contest it anyway, but that's another pattern Wilt was prone to. In this particular moment, when I watch it in slow motion, I think Wilt gave up knowing he'd be called for a goaltending cause he'd definitely reach that one (and he rightfully gave up).

17:20 - Wilt with no contest, Russell still misses hook.

That's right handed hook, probably took Wilt by surprise here.

21:15 - Russell gets deep post position, Wilt in high post, so Russell has wide open dunk.

That's clearly Thurmond's mistake. Wilt had to check Naulls outside and Nate was left without anyone guarding. Rookie mistake I suppose.

22:17 - Wilt couldn't protect paint effectively, Celtics scored, to be fair, someone was in front of Russ, but not effective protection.

That was Sanders against Attles, so post up mismatch. I don't think Wilt could have done much more here. He couldn't leave Russell wide open inside earlier and Tom shot it nicely with high arch fadeaway.

22:45 - Good defense on Russell I guess, but ball keeps being swung out to Celtics, until deep shot made.

Lazy effort before Russell got the ball, but contested it nicely in the end. I think he could have contested Sam's shot a bit more, but he didn't have much of an impact in that possession.


I think you could include your conclusions after this one game to make a discussion a little bit more dynamic

[70sFan]

Respect to the footage, I've only made it through the first YT clip. A few observations, and I hope that everyone here can calmly and collectively have an exchange without emotions getting in the way. And I mean this respectfully!

I've already stated that if more full footage games of Wilt were released, aka not all highlighted reel footage, we would see a much more mortal human than the clips made him to be. This is not a critique on Wilt specifically, but when I watched a few of the available early 70's (maybe very late 60's) games, you could certainly poke many holes, which I did over the years, but I'm hoping that when it comes to celebrating his legacy and critiquing his game that this helps with a little more perspective. Sadly, his film career seems to have been locked up like the JFK files and a lot of speculation and/or warranted/unwarranted hyperbole grows on both sides of the coin.

Secondly, my own thoughts re: Shaq. We know I am a Shaq guy, but I'm at the opinion now that comapring eras of Wilt and Shaq is like comparing centers of the 90/00's to current nba with the 3-point line. Physical specimens aside, clearly the game, intensity and focus was different. Myself, I honestly want to use this thread to gain further knowledge about Wilt, and as I stated earlier, don't need to bring any emotion of any other player into the mix.

I'd luv to see more match-ups with Russell and other great bigs of the day so I will continue to watch this thread and the contributions. Just my .02 and I hope this comes across the right way. Wilt was a heck of a player and if new footage brings me closer to changing my opinion, I am all for that. I just hate when we use more modern players to either bring him up or down when we have almost all video/stat footage of one, and 5% the other. Hope that's fair and thanks for sharing!

I'm sure we would all get a much clearer picture of a prime Wilt with the footage released from the NBA. I know for example that they have at least 4 full Wilt games from 1960-65 period and we haven't seen any of them. Watching full games is much more exciting than watching highlights for players evaluation.

One thing I'd point out regarding Wilt's myths - although it's true that many of them could be falsified by more footage available (especially among Wilt stans who portray him as demigod specimen), I have found one interesting "myth" that circulated around the Internet back when we had much less film to analyze - Wilt's fadeaway shooting ability. People relied heavily on FT% to estimate that he shot fadeaways on horrible efficiency (like 30-35% was thrown), while relying on 1-2 incomplete games we had back then.

Right now, I have tracked all the footage we have from 1962-68 Wilt and I counted 50/109 fadeaway attempts, which is 45.9 FG%.
If I include Lakers sample to that, we'll get 59/130, which gives us 45.4 FG%.

So even in the Lakers sample, I have counted 9/21 fadeaways attempts, which is very respectable 42.3 FG%. These numbers are actually really good for fadeaway shots, similar to my tracking data of Olajuwon fadeaways and far better than Shaq's.

Wilt's game is still full of mysteries and I hope we will explore them sooner or later.

[Top10alltime]

Yeah, haha I am new to tracking so.. yeah, I thought it would be crappy. Thanks for the comments though!

[70sFan]

Yeah, haha I am new to tracking so.. yeah, I thought it would be crappy. Thanks for the comments though!

It's not crappy at all, it's has descriptive value and I like the way you do it. My points were mostly about mistaking players or adding my thoughts, not a criticism of your work!

Keep doing that, we need more Wilt tracking work here!

[70sFan]

Finals rematch from the beginning of 1964/65 season:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[Top10alltime]

1965 vs Celtics Pt 1 notes -

Offense -
0:08 - Wilt wins tip-off, but ball heads to Celtics.
0:55 - Wilt grabs offensive board on Rodgers miss, putback.
1:00 - After steal, initiates fastbreak, ball fake, then pass to Rodgers in post for layup.
1:32 - Wilt gets offensive board, but loses it and turnover.
1:39 - Jump ball, trys to score on that but miss, Thurmond scores anyways.
1:49 - Wilt gets ball poked away by Russell, turnover.
2:04 - Wilt Chamberlain post fadeaway blocked by Russ.
2:37 - We don't have full play here, but looks like Wilt called for 3 second violation.
3:25 - Wilt post fadeaway missed again, quite short.
3:48 - Wilt with nice jumper, wonder if he had more of these.
4:29 - Wilt rebounds Rodgers shot, gets dunk.
4:56 - Wilt tries to back up Russell, but instead hits fadeaway.
5:17 - Wilt misses another fadeaway. Thurmond grabs board, then Wilt tries to alter shot with finger roll, misses and misses a putback. Then Russell blocks shot.

Defense -
1:00 - Didn't know this was from 1965 season, but Wilt strips ball from Russell.
2:15 - Thurmond contests Sam Jones, Wilt covers for him. Blocks shot.
3:33 - Wilt poking ball from Heinsohn to Rodgers.
4:10 - Wilt swats Russell hook out of bounds.
4:17 - Wilt on clear goaltend from Sam Jones shot.
4:23 - Wilt this time doesn't make the same mistake vs Sam Jones, instead of goaltend actually goes outside and blocks it.
4:37 - Wilt secures defensive rebound.

Will do Pt 2 later. Thoughts?

[Top10alltime]

Continuing with Pt 2 notes..

Offense -
0:10 - Wilt wins jumpball but tips to Celtics
0:28 - Wilt misses post fadeaway
0:42 - Wilt doesn't expect pass, tips ball up for missed shot
0:55 - After Rodgers steal, Wilt grabs offensive rebound from Phillips missed shot. Wilt pass to Cotton Nash, who misses, gets ball back, then Wilt gets unintentional lob to redirect an airball shot.
1:55 - Wilt misses putback, but got fouled.
2:14 - Wilt makes putback.
(@70sFan, some reason there's Philly v New York in middle of this)

Defense -
4:31 - Wilt didn't assist Phillips v Russell, mismatch play there.

[70sFan]

1965 vs Celtics Pt 1 notes -

1:32 - Wilt gets offensive board, but loses it and turnover.

He actually got tied up, won jumpball that led to the basket.

1:49 - Wilt gets ball poked away by Russell, turnover.

Careless possession by Wilt.

2:04 - Wilt Chamberlain post fadeaway blocked by Russ.

That's incredible defensive possession, you may think it was a weak attempt but Wilt made such shots against centers all the time. Russell positioned himself perfectly on Wilt's right shoulder and used his left hand perfectly to time the ball.

2:37 - We don't have full play here, but looks like Wilt called for 3 second violation.

That's probably carrying violation on Rodgers.

3:25 - Wilt post fadeaway missed again, quite short.

Watching it in slow motion, I am 95% sure Russell blocked that shot. Two blocks on fadeaways in one game, incredible.

3:48 - Wilt with nice jumper, wonder if he had more of these.

Newspaper reports sometimes say about younger Wilt shooting far away from the paint, we do have a few examples of him taking jumpshots - both mades and misses. He abandoned it completely in the later part of his career, but I'd expect to see it more in earlier footage.

5:17 - Wilt misses another fadeaway. Thurmond grabs board, then Wilt tries to alter shot with finger roll, misses and misses a putback. Then Russell blocks shot.

Another spectacular possession by Russell on defense.

2:15 - Thurmond contests Sam Jones, Wilt covers for him. Blocks shot.

Something was called on that play, but don't know if it was a foul before the block or a goaltending.

4:10 - Wilt swats Russell hook out of bounds.

That's Sanders hook.

4:17 - Wilt on clear goaltend from Sam Jones shot.

Yeah, that one was very clear.

4:23 - Wilt this time doesn't make the same mistake vs Sam Jones, instead of goaltend actually goes outside and blocks it.

Ridiculous play, it's staggering how quickly he covered the ground on that play.

Will comment part 2 soon.

[GeorgeMarcus]

Im guessing somebody else has, haven't checked the comments yet, but I can't not ask about 67

[Top10alltime]

Im guessing somebody else has, haven't checked the comments yet, but I can't not ask about 67

We will get to that once I finish tracking 65 and 66 wilt. I am just waiting on 70sfan to post....

[70sFan]

Another 1964/65 game:

Watch on YouTube

[Top10alltime]

Another 1964/65 game:

Watch on YouTube

Notes:
Offense -
0:17 - Wilt gets pass from Al Attles, nice finger-roll made.
0:27 - Wilt hits fadeaway from left block.
0:32 - Wilt pass to Thurmond open for bricked shot, Thurmond gets offensive board.
0:51 - Wilt looking for pass while on double team, goes ahead for fadeaway and1.
2:05 - Wilt secures offensive rebound. Look like foul.
2:42 - Wilt misses two putback, get turnover.
2:50 - Wilt misses right block fadeaway.
3:02 - Wilt shoots fade, I think, don't get to see if goes in.
3:07 - Wilt good fake pass, airballs shot doubled I think.
3:30 - Wilt gets ball, makes fadeaway, from right block.
3:35 - Notice how even in down year of Wilt, the defense to deny him ball.
3:48 - Wilt gets blocked,
4:03 - Wilt makes FT

Defense -
4:26 - Wilt secures defensive board

Very short clip, not seeing a lot of defense from Warriors side, really only offensive.