Wilt Chamberlain shot charts (and other ATG centers)

[70sFan]

I present you very rare shotchart at the end of 2023 - almost complete (missing one missed shot) shotchart from one of Wilt's greatest scoring performances of his career:

29/42 FG + 15 FTs

Shots breakdown:

4/4 dunks
11/22 fadeaways
8/8 layups
1/1 alley-oop
5/6 putbacks
0/1 floater

Are you interested in more similar shotcharts from single games?

[Doctor MJ]

Pretty cool. Yes, I'm interested.

[tsherkin]

Absolutely.

[SkyHookFTW]

Wow, nice job!

[D.Brasco]

Yes interested.

[70sFan]

Highest Kareem scoring game I tracked so far: game 5 of 1977 WCSF vs Warriors



16/27 FG +13 FTs

Shots breakdown:

5/10 skyhooks
2/7 fadeaways
5/6 layups
2/2 dunks
1/1 jumphook
1/1 putback

Highest Duncan scoring game I tracked so far: game 1 of 2003 WCF vs Mavs



14/20 FG +12 FTs

7/8 layups
2/2 jumpshots
2/2 dunks
1/2 push shots
1/1 putback
1/2 fadeaways
0/1 floater
0/2 jumphooks


Highest Hakeem scoring game I tracked so far: game 2 of 1994 WC 1st Round vs Blazers



16/30 FG +13 FTs

10/15 fadeaways
1/7 jumphooks
3/5 jumpshots (1/2 3PA)
1/1 layup
1/2 dunks

Highest Moses scoring game I tracked so far: game 1 of 1981 WC 1st Round vs Lakers



15/34 FG +8 FTs (4 FGA missed)

3/9 fadeaways
4/7 jumpshots
0/1 jumphooks
5/10 layups
2/2 dunks
0/1 putback

Highest Shaq scoring game I tracked so far: 61 points game vs Clippers 2000



24/35 FG +13 FTs

3/4 fadeaways
3/7 jumphooks
5/8 layups
8/8 dunks
3/4 alley-oops
1/2 one handers
1/1 finger roll

[Djoker]

I presume the Wilt game in the OP is the 73-point effort against the Knicks on 11/16/1962.

[eminence]

These diamonds are presumably colored for makes and misses? Any chance I could convince you to switch to x's and o's? (I am color blind)

[70sFan]

I presume the Wilt game in the OP is the 73-point effort against the Knicks on 11/16/1962.

Yes, that's the game. Sorry for missing that info.

[70sFan]

These diamonds are presumably colored for makes and misses? Any chance I could convince you to switch to x's and o's? (I am color blind)

I can do that, I think I will make it similar to Basketball-reference shotcharts. Just give me a few hours.

[penbeast0]

Wilt's post game seems far more oriented to one block than the others, everything is coming from that one side.

[70sFan]

These diamonds are presumably colored for makes and misses? Any chance I could convince you to switch to x's and o's? (I am color blind)

I just changed the points, I hope they are clearer now.

[70sFan]

Wilt's post game seems far more oriented to one block than the others, everything is coming from that one side.

It was in that game, but it's not that drastic when I tracked more games. Here is post FGA contribution for all centers I finished tracking by the side of the court:


2000-01 Shaq (678 FGA):

Left block: 50.3%
Right block: 49.7%

1993-94 Hakeem (437 FGA):

Left block: 72.8%
Right block: 27.2%

1971-79 Kareem (390 FGA):

Left block: 59.5%
Right block: 40.5%

1979-83 Moses (353 FGA):

Left block: 70.5%
Right block: 29.5%

2002-03 Duncan (didn't finish yet, 254 FGA):

Left block: 58.3%
Right block: 41.7%

1973-82 Gilmore (279 FGA):

Left block: 30.1%
Right block: 69.9%

1962-73 Wilt (229 FGA):

Left block: 68.1%
Right block: 31.9%


Notes:

1. Only Shaq showed no clear preference for either side of the block.
2. Kareem and Duncan also were versatile in terms of choosen side, but they prefer the left block like most right handed post players.
3. It's quite normal that players show clear preference for one side over the other and Wilt isn't an outlier in that respect. The most significant difference can be observed in Hakeem's case, whose post game is quite one dimensional despite the reputation (he was extremely effective though and he had plenty of counters).

[penbeast0]

Thanks

[penbeast0]

If you get time, would you be interested in adding DRob, Ewing, Jokic, and Embiid?

[70sFan]

If you get time, would you be interested in adding DRob, Ewing, Jokic, and Embiid?

I will move on to Robinson when I finish Duncan (have 9 games left). I will add Jokic as well.

With Embiid and Ewing, it's a bit tougher. I wanted to do top 10 centers peaks (+ the best ABA center) and I still haven't touched Walton and Robinson barely so. I wanted to do the same for Ewing and Embiid, but then I feel like I should do Reed, Lanier, Mourning and Howard as well... that's just too much work.

Maybe I will do Embiid because it's easier with modern players, we'll see. It takes a lot of time to track 30-40 games per one player.

[tsherkin]

Highest Shaq scoring game I tracked so far: game 1 of 1981 WC 1st Round vs Lakers



24/35 FG +13 FTs

3/4 fadeaways
3/7 jumphooks
5/8 layups
8/8 dunks
3/4 alley-oops
1/2 one handers
1/1 finger roll

Sorry, which game is this?

[70sFan]

Highest Shaq scoring game I tracked so far: game 1 of 1981 WC 1st Round vs Lakers



24/35 FG +13 FTs

3/4 fadeaways
3/7 jumphooks
5/8 layups
8/8 dunks
3/4 alley-oops
1/2 one handers
1/1 finger roll

Sorry, which game is this?

Stupid me, it's Shaq's career high against the Clippers.

[tsherkin]

Highest Shaq scoring game I tracked so far: game 1 of 1981 WC 1st Round vs Lakers



24/35 FG +13 FTs

3/4 fadeaways
3/7 jumphooks
5/8 layups
8/8 dunks
3/4 alley-oops
1/2 one handers
1/1 finger roll

Sorry, which game is this?

Stupid me, it's Shaq's career high against the Clippers.

Awesome, thanks for clarifying, and again for all the great work you put into these shot charts

[DraymondGold]

Wilt's post game seems far more oriented to one block than the others, everything is coming from that one side.

It was in that game, but it's not that drastic when I tracked more games. Here is post FGA contribution for all centers I finished tracking by the side of the court:


2000-01 Shaq (678 FGA):

Left block: 50.3%
Right block: 49.7%

1993-94 Hakeem (437 FGA):

Left block: 72.8%
Right block: 27.2%

1971-79 Kareem (390 FGA):

Left block: 59.5%
Right block: 40.5%

1979-83 Moses (353 FGA):

Left block: 70.5%
Right block: 29.5%

2002-03 Duncan (didn't finish yet, 254 FGA):

Left block: 58.3%
Right block: 41.7%

1973-82 Gilmore (279 FGA):

Left block: 30.1%
Right block: 69.9%

1962-73 Wilt (229 FGA):

Left block: 68.1%
Right block: 31.9%


Notes:

1. Only Shaq showed no clear preference for either side of the block.
2. Kareem and Duncan also were versatile in terms of choosen side, but they prefer the left block like most right handed post players.
3. It's quite normal that players show clear preference for one side over the other and Wilt isn't an outlier in that respect. The most significant difference can be observed in Hakeem's case, whose post game is quite one dimensional despite the reputation (he was extremely effective though and he had plenty of counters).

Really fascinating stuff!

Besides getting more data on how these players score (which is interesting in its own right!), I've been wondering whether there's any takeaways on how (if at all) this might influence their offensive value.

For example: 1) Does this have any effect on these players' resilience? If a player has a large bias towards one side, does that make their offense more predictable and less versatile, and thus easier for the defense to prepare to defend, compared to if they were the same player but had a more balanced approach?

2) Does this affect any these players' team-building or scalability? If a player has a strong bias toward scoring from one side of the floor, does this clog the lane more in the case a perimeter player prefers to drive on that side (and on the other hand, does this keep the lane more open if the perimeter player prefers to drive on the other side of the floor)? Does having a more one-sided approach to scoring make it harder to pair with another big in a twin tower scheme?

The effects of positioning are usually subtle on each possession, and I would bet hard to measure. For example, for my resilience question above, I would think one's shotmaking ability would have a bigger impact on one's resilience than their positional preference. Still, even if it's subtle, positioning is the kind of ever-present facet to the game that having better or worse positioning can add up over enough possessions.

On another note: 70sFan, if you have this data, it would be interested to see how these bigs' average shot distance compares to each other. Obviously it would take a lot of work to compile if you don't have it already, so no worries if not!