By all accounts, 1962 was a year Wilt vastly improved--especially with his fadeaway jumper:
"Chamberlain kept Pettit from being more pleased with the night's proceedings by being virtually unstoppable. Again and again he fired fall-away jump shot that bounced off the backboard and through the netting, sometimes hitting from as far as 15 or 20 feet away.
'That is a shot that Wilt has worked to develop this season,' said Philadelphia coach Frank McGuire. 'He gets away for an occasional dunk shot and he tips some in, but he sometimes makes as many as three-fourths of his field goal attempts a fair distance from the basket.'"
"'I always felt,' Hannum said last week, 'that although Wilt's total shooting percentage was around 50 percent, it wasn't everything like that when he moved away from the basket for that fallaway jump shot of his. In other words, the large number of dunks and layups he got made his overall average high, but that his chances weren't very good when he had to shoot from further out.'
'But now he has improved that jump shot so much that even when you force him to take it, he hits a tremendous percentage--if not actually 50 percent, enough to kill you.'"
"Chicago coach Jim Pollard thinks Chamberlain can go out indefinitely at his accelerated pace and 'will score 100 points in an NBA game. His fadeaway jump shot is a lot better.'
Red Auerbach, coach of Boston's defending champions, agrees Chamberlain's fallaway shot has made him even a bigger threat."
"'He's improved so much it isn't funny,' allowed Elgin Baylor, who had a pretty fair night himself with 52 points. 'He's making more offensive moves than I ever saw before. He's mastered that fall-away jumper so he just doesn't miss it, and he's moving much more to his right.'
'Used to be you could force Philly to keep the ball on the right side of the court and help contain him that way. That was his bad side, because all he had over there was the hook. Now he'll make a move to the left, spin off his man and go right around him. I bet he scored 20 points from his bad side tonight. And he's taking advantage of his teammates instead of letting us take advantage of him.'"
"'He's getting better all the time,' said McGuire. 'It's not just a case of his being the tallest man. So far this year he has been hitting from out. His shooting has been good and it's getting better. And he's getting stronger.'"
"Wilt no longer has to linger under the board to specialize on dunk shots. He has not had to rely on this type of shooting this season, although he dunks when the occasion permits. But Wilt has become devastating with his fall-away jump shot, bouncing the ball off the boards into the nets from 15 to 20 feets away.
True enough enough, he has been kept to his lowest point production when he had to contend with Russell, but we cannot agree that this proves that he can be stopped by competent defense. Russell simply has a stronger supporting cast than most of Wilt's foes."
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He was also having immense games blocking shots:
"Chamberlain hauled down 33 rebounds last night and observers said he also blocked about 20 Chicago Packer shots."
"The first time Wilt Chamberlain faced Chicago's struggling Packers he blocked nine consecutive shots attempted by rookie Walt Bellamy."
"Chamberlain was held to 22 points by Russell Thursday night but the cold figures did not tell a true tale of the tall Warrior's game. He had 22 rebounds and was immense in blocking shots."
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It's also amusing to see predictions of Wilt scoring 100 points before it ever happened:
"'One of these days,' he [Frank McGuire] vowed, 'the big man is going to score a hundred, even if they play the whole team on him.'"
"Asked about McGuire's 100-point comment. Baylor agreed that Wilt would hit 100 some night."
