Cavsfansince84 wrote:mstat13shuh wrote:Akron, OH Beacon Journal
Dec. 20, 1961
"Thurmond's uncanny ability to block 8 or 9 shots a game"
Wichita State kept Gene Wiley's blocks when he was there.
I know some Kansas statistician kept Wilt's blocks when he was there,
but I can't find the numbers off-hand.
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
Apr. 4, 1965
"It is not unusual for his big hands(Elvin Hayes) to ward off 8 attempts by opponents in a game"
And now for the finale:
As many of you know, Bill Russell said in "Red & Me" that he estimated he averaged AT LEAST 15 BLOCKS PER GAME!!
Now, if Russ himself thought it was at least 15, then I'm thinking the actual number is between 17-18.
I do know this for certain though:
A couple years ago on youtube, I came upon a commentator(sorry I've forgotten the name by now) who specifically mentioned to me that he saw Bill play about 30 games in person at USF, and he estimated that of those 30 games, and of those 30, he thought Russ blocked AT LEAST 15-18 IN EVERY GAME!(Maybe more in certain games, but he couldn't recall for certain.)
Personally, I do think the idea of Russell and even Wilt(I say even because I think Russell dedicated himself a bit more to the defensive side and had better quickness to react to shots than Wilt did) blocking 10+ shots per game seems pretty feasible given:
a. they were playing 45+mpg.
b. the pace and the larger number of shots taken nearer to the rim back then
c. it explains why Russell had the defensive impact he did to some degree. I mean we all know he's largely considered the greatest defensive player of all time but him being able to block that many shots goes a long way in explaining why those Celtics teams were so dominant defensively in that time.
So yes, the idea of Russell blocking anywhere from 10-15 shots per game does seem realistic to me as does other centers from that time approaching 10.
Excellent observations, something I occasionally feel the need to mention on youtube whenever I encounter anything that I consider to be unnecessary & unfair criticism, not only about Dippy, but also about Russ & in that era in general.
I might also add that 2 additional factors leading to the higher shot-blocking opportunities were: 1) the rules favored the defensive player far more than the offensive player & 2)Around half the top scorers of the '60s were post players(i.e. power forwards & centers). Not attempting to negate what the defensive players and/or teams were able to accomplish, as it was quite epic & biblical on many accounts, only appropriating it in the proper historical context.
The only thing I take
slight issue with here is you thinking because Russ dedicated himself a bit more on the defensive side than Wilt that he probably averaged more NBA blocks for his career. While I will say I unfortunately was not around during that era as some of you here were(I came up in the '80s & early '90s & became interested in the NBA when I became aware of Kareem's impending retirement), what I
haveheard & read from those who were blessed enough to watch both of them master their craft(I prefer using "master their craft" because I believe it's somewhat disrespectful toward professional athletes to say they are "playing" a game, even though the people using the phrase "playing" probably don't intend any disrespect. But that's another drive for another day.)was that Wilt was far more intimidating inside, but Russ could block shots from 10 feet away & still recover toward the post(Paul Silas). I will suffice here by merely saying that, more so earlier in his career, Wilt, I believe probably averaged more blocks than Russell, but Russ was a somewhat more effective team defender because he had more lateral quickness to recover & rotate towards different players to challenge & alter shots. This I believe was partially, if not mainly, because Wilt needed to score what he obviously needed to score, but also to conserve his energy to have something in reserve later in games, which, of course, he obviously had.
In closing, here is a video that perhaps some of you on here may not have been aware of, and I wasn't either, until a couple years ago:
(Fast forward to the 20 minute version of this; it mentions Wilt's shot-blocking totals for his last 2 seasons with 76ers, which, I may add, was about what I estimated his averages to be for those respective seasons, according to the data that I've been able to procure from certain games.)
