Retro Player of the Year 1962-63 UPDATE — Bill Russell

[AEnigma]

General Project Discussion Thread

Discussion and Results from the 2010 Project

In this thread we'll discuss and vote on the top 5 players and the top 3 offensive and defensive players of 1962-63.

Player of the Year (POY)(5) — most accomplished overall player of that season
Offensive Player of the Year (OPOY)(3) — most accomplished offensive player of that season
Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY)(3) — most accomplished defensive player of that season

Voting will close sometime after 19:30 PM EST on Thursday, August 22nd. I have no issue keeping it open so long as discussion is strong, but please try to vote within the first three days.

Valid ballots must provide an explanation for your choices that gives us a window into how you thought and why you came to the decisions you did. You can vote for any of the three awards — although they must be complete votes — but I will only tally votes for an award when there are at least five valid ballots submitted for it.

Remember, your votes must be based on THIS season. This is intended to give wide wiggle room for personal philosophies while still providing a boundary to make sure the award can be said to mean something. You can factor things like degree of difficulty as defined by you, but what you can't do is ignore how the player actually played on the floor this season in favor of what he might have done if only...

You may change your vote, but if you do, edit your original post rather than writing, "hey, ignore my last post, this is my real post until I change my mind again.” I similarly ask that ballots be kept in one post rather than making one post for Player of the Year, one post for Offensive Player of the Year, and/or one post for Defensive Player of the Year. If you want to provide your reasoning that way for the sake of discussion, fine, but please keep the official votes themselves in one aggregated post. Finally, for ease of tallying, I prefer for you to place your votes at the beginning of your balloting post, with some formatting that makes them stand out. I will not discount votes which fail to follow these requests, but I am certainly more likely to overlook them.

Current Voter List

Spoiler:

________________________________________
Layaway Voters
* B-Mitch 30
* Bad Gatorade
* McBubbles

[trelos6]

Another year, another similar group at the top. It’s the who’s who of 60’s basketball. Russell and his merry band of Celtics sweep the league, winning 58 games and then in the finals in a couple of closer series. Celtics v Lakers finals had 3 games decided by 3 pts, 2 more by 7 pts, and a Lakers 20 pt blowout.

As for Wilt, it’s a tough one. Philly moved to San Francisco, and Wilt’s raw stats are impressive. 27.6 pp75, +5.8 rTS%, but his team floundered. Sure, Paul Arizin retired, and Gola was traded to the Knicks after 21 games. They brought back Sears and Naulls who suffered a large decline in minutes. Wilt was still not great at the line, 59% on 11.4 FTA/100 (this will decline drastically in future seasons), but still, 59% is not great, especially when Elgin was at 84%, Pettit 77%, and West 78%. It’s also going to bring me to consistency in my voting process. I didn’t penalise Pettit for his teams struggles last season, so I won’t leave Wilt completely off the ballot.

Lakers went 42-13 with West, and 11-14 without him. 55 games is enough for me, especially as he was great in the playoffs.

Here’s some stats:

* = led the league

Regular Season

Code: Select all

Player           GP   MIN   PTS   TS%   REB   AST
=======================================================
Bill Russell     78   44.9   16.8   .464   23.6   4.5
Oscar Robertson   80   44.0   28.3   .588   10.4   9.5
Wilt Chamberlain  80   47.6*  44.8*  .550   24.3*  3.4
Elgin Baylor     80   42.1   34.0   .519   14.3   4.8
Bob Pettit       79   39.1   28.4   .525   15.1   3.1
Jerry West       55   39.3   27.1   .523   7.0   5.6

Post Season

Code: Select all

Player           GP   MIN   PTS   TS%   REB   AST
=======================================================
Bill Russell     13   47.5   20.3   .508   25.1*  5.1
Oscar Robertson   12   47.5*  31.8   .574   13.0   9.0*
Wilt Chamberlain  ------------------------------------
Elgin Baylor     13   43.2   32.6*  .508   13.6   4.5
Bob Pettit       11   42.1   31.8   .543   15.1   3.0
Jerry West       13   41.4   27.8   .548   8.2   4.7

Estimated Pace-Adjusted Numbers 1963

ORtg

Code: Select all

1.  Cincinnati   100.0
2.  Syracuse     98.6
3.  Chicago      97.9
4.  Los Angeles   97.4
LEAGUE AVG.      96.0
5.  San Francisco 95.4
6.  St. Louis    94.7
7.  Detroit      94.0
8.  New York     93.3
9.  Boston       92.6


DRtg

Code: Select all

1.  Boston       87.0
2.  St. Louis    93.1
3.  Los Angeles   94.8
4.  Syracuse     95.5
LEAGUE AVG.      94.5
5.  Detroit      97.0
6.  San Francisco 97.1
7.  Cincinnati   98.9
8.  New York     99.6
9.  Chicago      101.6

OPOY
1.Oscar Robertson
2.Jerry West
3.Walt Bellamy

HM: Elgin Baylor


DPOY

1.Bill Russell
2.Tom Sanders
3. KC Jones

HM: Jerry West

Celtics are so far and away the best defensive team, and Wilt wasn’t as impactful this season. So I thought, let’s reward the Celtics. KC Jones gets the nod over West as one of the best defensive guards of the 60’s.

POY
1.Bill Russell
2.Oscar Robertson
3.Jerry West
4.Elgin Baylor
5.Wilt Chamberlain

HM: Bob Pettit

Baylor / Wilt and and Pettit / Bellamy are close calls.

[AEnigma]

Lakers went 42-13 with West, and 11-14 without him. 55 games is enough for me, especially as he was great in the playoffs.

So 7 regular season games — and 34 total minutes — is the difference between you excluding Baylor entirely last year and giving West your third spot this year? 7 regular season games and 34 total minutes let a 29-win Pettit in but excluded him when he went to Game 7 of the conference finals against a superior team?

[penbeast0]

Interesting season. Boston continues to dominate with defense and suck on offense which is the Russell effect. LA is the second best team, this time despite West missing a lot of games (though they had a losing record without him); I think that shows even stronger impact than Baylor last year where he was my #6 guy so West will probably make my top 5 though the injuries will keep him a bit lower than otherwise. Dick Barnett and Rudy LaRusso make a nice top 4.
Syracuse and St.Louis tie for 3rd in the league. Hawks drop to below average offense but 2nd best defense which I have to attribute mainly to Zelmo Beaty and Lenny Wilkens; Pettit is still the offensive straw that stirs the drink there but Hagan is part time. The Nats have the second highest Ortg with Hal Greer and Lee Schaeffer(?) their leading scorers; Red Kerr is their center. The other team above .500 is Cincinnati where Oscar leads another top in the league offense that plays poor defense. Of the other teams, the bad season of the Warriors in SF is the big news. They don't even play league average defense which makes it tough to vote for Wilt despite his perennial individual brilliance.

1. Bill Russell
2. Oscar Robertson
------------------
3. Hal Greer
4. Jerry West
5. Bob Pettit
Could have gone with several different orders in the 3-8 spots; I'm not sold on anyone below the top 2.

[ardee]

PoY

1. Bill Russell

Default pick again. Led the old -8.5 defense, which sounds insane but then the Celtics actually surpassed that mark the subsequent two years.

2. Oscar Robertson

May actually be his peak despite the fact he won the MVP next year. +9 TS% personally as a guard is INSANE, and then he was even better in the Playoffs, again against this historically good Celtics defense against whom he averaged 33/12/9 on 58% TS and took to 7. Worthy number two.

3. Elgin Baylor

The sure peak of a magnificent player (I think '62 and '63 were his combined two year peak but this one gets the nod for availability). Ranking West over him yet seems like jumping the gun a bit. Despite West being lauded for his efficiency and Baylor sometimes getting called a volume chucker, their rTS% is basically the same this year I think Jerry gets it from the next one onward though.

4. Jerry West

His final year as the Robin, takes over after this as one of the best Batmen to ever play. Showed flashes of his future Playoff dominance this year.

5. Wilt Chamberlain

Just a relatively off year unfortunately, and one of those seasons that leads people to question if his raw numbers and actual impact synced up. Just wait for him next year though....

[eminence]

Worst to First '63

Knicks (21-59): The Knicks would rather we skip this decade I think. Guerin still stars, team is into really bad territory. They acquire Gola fairly early, doesn't make much difference.

Zephyrs (25-55): Not even Woody can help a Bellamy defense Bellamy/Dischinger combine for a True Shoot Add over 500, but can't get to 30 wins, ouch. Nellie debuts, got a great photo on BBref.

Warriors (31-49): I don't mind Meschery/Attles, but don't like Guy, so overall this is a pretty poor cast in my eyes. Don't blame Wilt for not taking them anywhere, but it's still certainly not peak Wilt for a POY vote, strong candidate for the back of my ballot.

Pistons (34-46): Rookie DeBusschere arrives and might be their best player by the end of the season, but nothing too special yet. Might challenge for some ballots later? Howell is efficient, but just not enough offensive talent here to make much noise. Pettit laid the wood in the playoffs.

Royals (42-38): All Oscar, all the time, big-time offensive carry job, and gets them darn close to the Finals. Big upset of the Nats and then give the Celtics a good series. Does anybody have any interesting reporting from Game 5 vs the Nats? I'm impressed with Oscar coming out in Game 1 vs the Celtics. Oscar has a strong shot at my #2 ballot this season, and will certainly be on there somewhere.

Nationals (48-32): I see a bit of coaching magic from Hannum here, utilizing the deepest rotation in the league (at first glance). Schaffer gets a lot of shots, but I think they may have been better off running more through Greer. Kerr's still rock solid, Walker is a very talented rookie, Costello still solid. Schayes a shadow of himself, but good depth still. Just a lot of talent around. Don't think any individual does enough to get on my ballot, would have Greer as the top National.

Hawks (48-32): I can see folks giving Wilkens star credit here, but I think I'll stick with Pettit. Zelmo also a strong addition as Hagan falls off to merely good. I imagine getting the coaching situation sorted helped them all around. Pushed a very strong Lakers squad to 7 in the WCF.

Lakers (53-27): This go around it's West that misses the time, demonstrates similar (slightly better) impact to Bayor last season. I'll go with Baylor as the top Laker this round. Will consider West for the back of my ballot. Baylor edges out Oscar for 2nd in MVP voting, but I'm leaning the other way on that one for my 2nd/3rd spots.

Celtics (58-22): They can't be stopped. 6 titles in 7 years (only Mikans Lakers match), another couple of pretty close playoff series, but the Celtics win. Always. Cousy still riding on rep for his awards - Sam deserved top Celtic guard billing (probably racism as well, but I won't hold that against him, he can't control the voters). Heinsohn I think is largely deserved. Russell's 3rd straight and 4th overall MVP. Will (again) be my POY, leaves him just short of Schayes for my top shares winner of the project. Next season. Though Mikan would be a bit further ahead if we'd covered his whole career.

Anywho, Russell for #1, leaning Oscar over Elgin at 2/3, then deciding on an order for Wilt/Pettit/West in 4/5/6. Greer is respectable but I think a step down.

[Narigo]

1. Bill Russell- Amazing defensive impact as always. But Im amazed on Russell uptick in scoring in the playoffs

2. Wilt Chamberlain- Underrated offensive season imo. Despite losing Arizin the offense is only slightly worse with no other shot creators.

3. Oscar Robertson -

4. Bob Pettit- Weird season for the Hawks. Why did Hagan get less minutes despite playing at all star level??

5. Elgin Baylor- Tempting to put West at this spot but he misses too many games imo. Plus I think Baylor was better than West until the following season

[trelos6]

Lakers went 42-13 with West, and 11-14 without him. 55 games is enough for me, especially as he was great in the playoffs.

So 7 regular season games — and 34 total minutes — is the difference between you excluding Baylor entirely last year and giving West your third spot this year? 7 regular season games and 34 total minutes let a 29-win Pettit in but excluded him when he went to Game 7 of the conference finals against a superior team?

I don’t rate Baylor that much. He had a few ok years, but by 62-63, he should’ve already been stepping down to West. I think 62-63 West was a big jump year, and he’ll keep climbing until ‘66 when I’ll probably have him as #1.

Pettit is a tough one. Their regular season offense wasn’t great despite his still very good scoring. I give Bellamy the edge for regular season efficiency, but Pettit / Bellamy is a conversation for 6/7th IMO.

[Djoker]

Super impressed with Oscar this season and he probably gets my #2. Unlike Pettit last season, Wilt will still make my ballot because he's still a much better two-way player. Baylor/West figure to get on there too.

[Dr Positivity]

I am leaning towards voting Pettit over West due to missed games. Pettit had great playoffs and got to G7 against way better Lakers team as young Wilkens is nothing special statistically (better accolades than his numbers tbf), Beaty is just 10ppg guy at this point, Hagan is still putting up great offensive stats per minute but I think is benched cause of bad D.

[70sFan]

I missed 1962, my bad

Player of the Year

1. Bill Russell - this is peak Russell, you just can't compete with that unless you have GOAT-tier season. I don't think anyone had such season in 1962/63, so it's a very easy choice to me.

2. Oscar Robertson - I think you can reasonably argue that it's Oscar peak, which is nothing short of an all-time level. Robertson was by far the best playmaker in the league, while having a solid case for the best scorer and shooter as well:

Oscar: 22.3 pp75 on +9.6 rTS% in RS, 22.6 pp75 on +7.3 rTS%
Wilt: 32.0 pp75 on +5.8 rTS% in RS
Elgin: 28.5 pp75 on +2.7 rTS% in RS, 26.8 pp75 on +1.8 rTS%
Pettit: 25.9 pp75 on +3.3 rTS% in RS, 27.7 pp75 on +6.4 rTS%
West: 24.4 pp75 on +3.1 rTS% in RS, 23.8 pp75 on +5.8 rTS%

Such combination is extremely rare across the league history and only the defensive brilliance of Russell held him down to the 2nd spot. The series against Celtics was extremely impressive, as Oscar averaged staggering 33/12/9 on 58 TS% (something like +12 rTS% or even more). Unfortunately, the footage I have from that series is strongly focused on Celtics offensive possessions, but I can still share it if anyone is interested.

3. Wilt Chamberlain - I am aware that it's not his best season and that his defensive effort was not up to his abilities, but he was still a monstrous scorer, top 2 rebounder and immense rim protector. I don't think should criticize him too much for missing the playoffs when the franchise was so dysfunctional after changing the city.

4. Elgin Baylor - it's his most well-rounded season overall and I think he deserves top 5 spot. Very solid postseason and a great finals performance.

5. Bob Pettit - I had a rough time with Baylor vs Pettit comparison, I decided to give the benefit of doubt to the younger star. Pettit had a phenomenal series against LAL though, you can argue that he outplayed Baylor so I am open to change my mind.

HM: Jerry West

Defensive Player of the Year

1. Bill Russell
2. Tom Sanders
3. Zelmo Beaty

Not super confident with the 3rd choice, but it seems that rookie Beaty addition was a huge upgrade for the Hawks defensive results and he was consistently solid defensive player throughout his career. I would put Gene Wiley even higher, but he didn't even play 20 mpg during the RS.

Offensive Player of the Year

1. Oscar Robertson
2. Elgin Baylor
3. Bob Pettit

Unsure if I should put Wilt ahead of the forwards, so I am again open to change my mind.

[AEnigma]

Lakers went 42-13 with West, and 11-14 without him. 55 games is enough for me, especially as he was great in the playoffs.

So 7 regular season games — and 34 total minutes — is the difference between you excluding Baylor entirely last year and giving West your third spot this year? 7 regular season games and 34 total minutes let a 29-win Pettit in but excluded him when he went to Game 7 of the conference finals against a superior team?

I don’t rate Baylor that much. He had a few ok years, but by 62-63, he should’ve already been stepping down to West. I think 62-63 West was a big jump year, and he’ll keep climbing until ‘66 when I’ll probably have him as #1.

1963 is the worst year of West’s extended prime (1962-73). He is has the lowest efficiency edge over Baylor for his entire career, and will not have lower volume until ~1971. It is not like he makes up for it in the postseason either to any particular degree. Where is the leap?

[penbeast0]

So 7 regular season games — and 34 total minutes — is the difference between you excluding Baylor entirely last year and giving West your third spot this year? 7 regular season games and 34 total minutes let a 29-win Pettit in but excluded him when he went to Game 7 of the conference finals against a superior team?

I don’t rate Baylor that much. He had a few ok years, but by 62-63, he should’ve already been stepping down to West. I think 62-63 West was a big jump year, and he’ll keep climbing until ‘66 when I’ll probably have him as #1.

1963 is the worst year of West’s extended prime (1962-73). He is less efficient than Baylor for the only time in his career, and on lower volume. It is not like he makes up for it in the postseason either to any particular degree. Where is the leap?

...
Elgin: 28.5 pp75 on +2.7 rTS% in RS, 26.8 pp75 on +1.8 rTS%

West: 24.4 pp75 on +3.1 rTS% in RS, 23.8 pp75 on +5.8 rTS%
,,,.

Are your numbers different than 70s Fan's numbers AEnigma? I see the lower volume but not the lower efficiency.

[AEnigma]

Nope, error on my part. Closest in efficiency he has ever been, not outright worse. General point stands, but will correct.

[penbeast0]

I do agree that 1961-62 was the year West made the big jump rather than 63 where he was injured, missed games, and his FT rate dropped off.

[trex_8063]

Sorry I missed the last couple. I'll try to get back in and pitch a tentative ballot.....

Offensive Player of the Year
1. Oscar Robertson - Not a lot to explain here, I don't think. In the last two threads that I missed, you guys voted him [unanimously] the OPOY the last two seasons. Well here we are again: he's 4th in the league in ppg [on an absurd +9.51% rTS!] and 2nd in apg, while once again leading the league's best offense. He was ahead of his time offensively, imo (high volume on 52% FG's???; wild...).

2. Walt Bellamy - The league's 3rd-best offense while probably having one of the WORST starting PG's in the league, and being saddled with Woody Sauldsberry's chucking. On the strength of the high efficiency/high volume scoring of Walt Bellamy and Terry Dischinger, they still managed to pull off that mark (and note that's with Dischinger missing a third of the season).
Bells plays every game and is 5th in ppg @ a very very nice +7.82% rTS (perhaps a considerable number of offensive rebounds, too???; nearly 3 apg as well). Given the Nats' nice ORtg appears more of an ensemble effort, I'm giving Bellamy the nod here.

3. Elgin Baylor - This is an instant where I might have given it to his teammate, Jerry West, for his better playmaking [and marginally better shooting efficiency]; EXCEPT West missed 25 games, and Baylor didn't miss a one. With Elgin being 2nd in the league in scoring on a very respectable +2.63% rTS, and also 6th in apg for a better than average offense. He maintained fairly well in the playoffs, too.
Wilt Chamberlain must be considered as well, and would be a solid pick (my top HM).
Bob Pettit is worth a solid HM. Shout out to Bailey Howell.


Defensive Player of the Year
1. Bill Russell - Granted there are a number of good defensive players on this roster (Havlicek, Sanders, +/- Heinsohn all playing 26-27 mpg, KC Jones about 25 mpg; scattered minutes of Loscutoff), so you sort of expect a decent defense, even with an average defensive center. But holy cow, they're like miles ahead of anyone (even with Taylor's adjusted pace estimates), basically breaking the curve on the league average; Russell is anchoring, playing far more minutes than any of his teammates.
Just by reputation, impact signals, etc that we've gone over ad nauseum in other projects, this feels like the most no-brainer of no-brainer picks for this year.

2. Bob Pettit - Not at all confident in the pick. It's made largely on him being the biggest rebounder [by far] on the 2nd-best defense. I know he'd bulked up a lot by late in his career, too, which arguably may have made him a more effective post-defender, too??? (I'm speculating there).

3. Wilt Chamberlain - This is based on rep and box and anecdotes. His impact signal seems to flag terribly this year, and their defense is not good (despite getting >2500 minutes combined from Al Attles and Tom Gola: good defensive backcourt players). So idk; just not sure who else to credit in the top three. Perhaps Lenny Wilkens deserves some consideration???? May edit later.


Player of the Year
1. Bill Russell - I liked the results of '62 that incorporated the old project, because there Wilt got some #1 votes (which is where I was leaning, though didn't get around to voting). But this year Wilt's signals fall off too much (his raw numbers too); I seem to recall some health issues, though I can't remember if that was '65 that I'm thinking of.
Anyway, with him falling off, and Jerry West missing time, and the Celtics winning the title with Russell seeming to rise big-time in the playoffs........gotta go with him.

2. Oscar Robertson - My OPOY, pushed the Celtics to seven, with Oscar maintaining well in the post-season. I think you can make a case for Oscar as POY, but I'm hedging toward Russell.

3. Wilt Chamberlain - What can I say? I'm still just too impressed by his statistical output, and his reputation and presence in the middle on defense. He needs to be in here somewhere in the top 5, imo, though I have a hard time going higher than 3rd for this particular year.
Anyway, was my #3 on DPOY ballot, and my top HM on OPOY.

4. Elgin Baylor - My #3 on OPOY balloting (with a case for #2, imo), and always seemed [to me] somewhat more relevant defensively than he's usually given credit for. Comports himself well in the playoffs, and while Pettit played him to a standstill [arguably even marginally outplayed him] in the WDF, Baylor soundly outplayed Pettit in the deciding game 7. Sort of tentatively using that as my tie-breaker consideration (along with one less missed game). They seem really close this year.

5. Bob Pettit - My HM in OPOY balloting and a tenuous hold on #2-3 on my DPOY ballot. He had a big statistical year in both the rs and playoffs. One game away from going to the Finals. Having not missed any relevant games, can't see pushing him any lower for this year.

Walt Bellamy is my top HM.

[penbeast0]

Nice mention of Bells who had Wilt lite numbers for the expansion Packers. Good to see someone other than the usual suspects get some love.

[AEnigma]

Offensive Player of the Year

1. Oscar Robertson
2. Jerry West
3. Hal Greer

West gets in through something of a back formation: I think Greer earns a spot as the top playmaker for a strong Nationals offence who then elevated in the postseason… and I just would so much rather have Jerry West in his exact role.

Pettit and Baylor have fine cases as well.

Defensive Player of the Year

1. Bill Russell
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Red Kerr

Also considered Rudy LaRusso, but what it comes down to is that I do not believe even a down year Wilt was failing to affect opposing offences more than any non-Russell player. I understand those who do not vote for him, but Wilt and Russell were so far ahead of anyone else as rebounders and shot-blockers that I refuse to reward outright inferior defenders.

Respect to Kerr for being the league’s third best per minute rebounder and earning a couple of MVP votes (including a first place ballot that pushed him ahead of Wilt! ) mostly for his play on that end.

Player of the Year

1. Bill Russell
2. Oscar Robertson
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Bob Pettit
5. Elgin Baylor

Oscar seizes — and scoring prime Wilt relinquishes — second place for what may be the only time, as he pushes the Celtics to a near upset of his own. As ever, not enough to secure the upset, but still a spectacular season in the heart of his peak/prime.

Rough season for Wilt. I still cannot sincerely argue he would be missing the playoffs with 55 games of West, or 80 games of Baylor, or in Pettit’s place on the Hawks. I believe Wilt fluctuates more than any other all-timer, but his lows are not enough for me to place him below peak Baylor or late prime Pettit.

Baylor is secured a spot for the last time by virtue of being my top Laker. However, Pettit is the uncertain variable. I can see arguing him below West for several reasons… but I can also see arguing him above Baylor based on his play in the conference finals (top performer in 4/7 games, albeit not in the deciding Game 7). Need further thought there. Their head-to-head is certainly not as clear an edge for Pettit as it was for 1960 Baylor, or as it will be for 1964 West. However, I think I will affirm precedent and give the advantage to Pettit.

[trex_8063]

Nice mention of Bells who had Wilt lite numbers for the expansion Packers. Good to see someone other than the usual suspects get some love.

Yeah, I mean he's not that far behind in ppg [or apg], and is doing it on shooting efficiency that is +2.07% relative to Wilt; and doing all this for a better team offense (arguably without a significantly better offensive supporting cast).

[Dr Positivity]

1. Bill Russell - Russell's offensive impact is once again pretty good with 20 pts and 5 ast in the playoffs giving him two way impact the others can't have.

2. Oscar Robertson - I don't see enough defense from Baylor Pettit to put it over his top offensive status, his team results are ok but they are too much of an offensive supporting cast.

3. Elgin Baylor - A major statline when considering the rebounding and passing impact compared to Pettit, and yes while his team is stacked having Barnett and pre decline Baylor for one year (I have Barnett as one of the 60s most underrated players) they played like it with a great record with West and they outscore a Celtics team in the finals who's advantage in 5th to 8th best players over them is just ridiculous.

4. Bob Pettit - Winning 48 games and making within a game of the finals looks really good his impact with some younger players and Hagan declining on defense.

5. Wilt Chamberlain - I can't really get over how many games they lost in a row with Wilt in the lineup, and he has a lot of the guys they played well with in 64 like Rodgers/Attles/Meschery, and Gola's trade return of Naulls (and 14mpg Sears) isn't nothing, Naulls was on decline but was good enough to be maybe an underrated Celtics dynasty guy after this as 7th man for a few years.

Offensive player of the year

1. Oscar Robertson
2. Elgin Baylor
3. Bob Pettit

Defensive player of the year

1. Bill Russell
2. Tom Sanders
3. Rudy LaRusso