looking at the similarities between Wilt and Lebron careers.

coastalmarker99 · Post #1 » by **coastalmarker99** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 9:13 am

Both won 4 MVP's

Both were teenage prodigy's that could have played in the NBA at 16 or 17 years old.

Both played on three teams.

Both have a losing record in the finals.

Both have a finals meltdown 1969 for Wilt ,2011 for Lebron

Both were the best athletes of their era's

Both won titles against their former teams in the finals

Wilt vs Golden state in 1967 and Lebron vs Miami in 2020.

Both joined the Lakers in their mid 30's.

Both own the record books Wilt for peak and Lebron for longevity

Both won assist titles as non Point guards.

Both were expected to win no matter what supporting cast they had around them.

both had to face the most stacked teams ever, Wilt vs the Celtics and Lebron vs gsw

Both were hated on for lacking the killer instinct despite playing awesome in elimination games.

As Wilt averaged 31 PPG /26 RPG /3.4 APG on 54FG% while Lebron averaged 33.48 PPG / 10.76 RPG / 7.4 APG / 1.0 BPG / 1.6 SPG / 48.8% FG

It's kind of freaky when you look at the careers of both.

How similar they are to each other.

As Wilt was two turnovers away in 65 and 69 from having the same amount of rings as Lebron'

While Lebron was two missed shots away from having the same amount of rings as Wilt.

coastalmarker99 · Post #2 » by **coastalmarker99** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 9:34 am

Watching Lebron at the moment still play at a elite level.

Makes me think how long Wilt could have done so had he not been forced to retire at 36.

As Wilt was still dominant when he left the game, finishing 4th in MVP voting, setting the record for field goal percentage (shooting 73 percent for the season), leading the league in rebounding, and making yet another NBA Finals appearance.

Plus the footage we have of his last game showed that Wilt had a lot left in the tank.

Watch on YouTube

rk2023 · Post #3 » by **rk2023** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 9:45 am

Another striking similarity is the outlier level of athleticism and size they have/had for their roles and positions, Wilt being a big in the old-fashioned (arguable) golden age of big-men, while Bron a super-sized and super-charged forward in the most advanced era of offense.

coastalmarker99 · Post #4 » by **coastalmarker99** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 9:52 am

rk2023 wrote:Another striking similarity is the outlier level of athleticism and size they have/had for their roles and positions, Wilt being a big in the old-fashioned (arguable) golden age of big-men, while Bron a super-sized and super-charged forward in the most advanced era of offense.

The both of them have the Goat athleticism in NBA history.

Read on Twitter

Watch on YouTube

I think that's why there is so much criticism for both when it comes to not winning enough rings

As when people look at Lebron's and Wilt's pure talent they can't fathom them not winning every single year.

coastalmarker99 · Post #5 » by **coastalmarker99** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 10:13 am

Before Wilt was drafted to the Warriors they were dead last in the league in fg% averaging .381 as a team.

And even after Wilt came in they still didn't provide him much help.

In Wilt's first 6 postseasons his teammates collectively shot averages of 38.2, .35.2, .33.2, .35.4, .35.2, and 38.0.

With those kinds of performances it's remarkable they won any playoff games at all.

The only reason they did was because of Wilt taking up a brunt of the scoring and rebounding while also playing elite defence.

Wilt shot 51.7 for the 1964 Finals while his teammates collectively shot .34.8.

The Warriors won only one game which was the only game they shot over .40.0 from the field as a team.

Wilt' was basically playing 1 vs 5 in the playoffs for the first half of his career.

Watch on YouTube

Now who does that remind you of?

Watch on YouTube

It's kind of scary to think about Wilt and Lebron being drafted into great teams as the other Goat candidates besides Jordan had the luxury of.

As just imagine the carnage that Wilt on Boston or Lebron on the Pistons would have caused.

As Lebron as a result of being drafted to a great team such as the Pistons would have most likely 7 rings nowadays along with a extra MVP in 2006.

70sFan · Post #6 » by **70sFan** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 10:55 am

There are some similarities, but there are a lot of differences as well. I think every all-time great has unique path to the greatness and that's what's the coolest thing about these comparisons.

I wish we had more prime Wilt footage to see him at his apex. Watching young LeBron makes you realize how much better he was than he is now, despite still being elite player. I have the same feeling watching Lakers Wilt, but we don't have much footage to compare unfortunately.

coastalmarker99 · Post #7 » by **coastalmarker99** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 11:08 am

70sFan wrote:There are some similarities, but there are a lot of differences as well. I think every all-time great has unique path to the greatness and that's what's the coolest thing about these comparisons.

I wish we had more prime Wilt footage to see him at his apex. Watching young LeBron makes you realize how much better he was than he is now, despite still being elite player. I have the same feeling watching Lakers Wilt, but we don't have much footage to compare unfortunately.

If I had to rank the three versions of Wilt it would go like this.

76ers first

Warriors second

Lakers third.

That vault of theirs contains more Wilt footage then I expected.'

I knew they had game 6 of the Bulls series in 1973 a while back due to talking with people.

But the sheer cost of restoring the footage they have of him into HD and into colour is so much money like US 6000.

It sucks as they basically hold you to ransom if you want to see their locked up footage of Wilt.

Plus if you share what they have given you to the general public.

They will sue the crap out of you.

70sFan · Post #8 » by **70sFan** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 12:17 pm

coastalmarker99 wrote:
70sFan wrote:There are some similarities, but there are a lot of differences as well. I think every all-time great has unique path to the greatness and that's what's the coolest thing about these comparisons.

I wish we had more prime Wilt footage to see him at his apex. Watching young LeBron makes you realize how much better he was than he is now, despite still being elite player. I have the same feeling watching Lakers Wilt, but we don't have much footage to compare unfortunately.

If I had to rank the three versions of Wilt it would go like this.

76ers first

Warriors second

Lakers third.

That vault of theirs contains more Wilt footage then I expected.'

I knew they had game 6 of the Bulls series in 1973 a while back due to talking with people.

But the sheer cost of restoring the footage they have of him into HD and into colour is so much money like US 6000.

It sucks as they basically hold you to ransom if you want to see their locked up footage of Wilt.

Plus if you share what they have given you to the general public.

They will sue the crap out of you.

There are people capable of helping them financially. I have spent thousands of USD already for digitizing old games. The problem is that they are not willing to do that anyway. A shame, as it seems with their recent upload of Bulls vs Lakers games that they have quite a lot of full games from that period.