How would you play Wilt in 2025?

[Heej]

He'd have a way better time down low because he won't get called for offensive fouls initiating even a tiny bit of contact. Dude was insanely skilled for his size, casually shwapping 3s shooting hook shots lol. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he developed a competent face up game and functioned as a strong pivot passer and glass cleaner.

Doubt he'd develop anything outside of short midrange shot, but even that would be very helpful in high post actions.

Yea I'd imagine an AD-level faceup game would be enough with his stature. He should be money for that push shot range

[Elpolo_14]

Let start with : In this Hypothetical question do he have the knowledge of the game as rules and game plan at the start or do he need to learn everything first?

I will assume that he know all the basic rules and game plan we play in today league

I will play him at the Center ( obviously ) around 36-38 minutes per game ( so we have the ability to counter opponent scheme and it also help Wilt to rest more ). I will run him as the Anchor of our defense with his quickness to switch and his ability to be a help side defender also he's a ATG interior + roaming defense ( his defense will be similar to what wemby does but much more physical ). And for the offense he will operate the post + the elbow of the floor ( because his lack of shooting ) he will post up to create separation for himself to score or mismatch to collapse the defense so it will easy for him to make pass to open teammates. Also he will be a great transition offense because of his physicality and speed to run up/down the court better than most player

[tsherkin]

I will play him at the Center ( obviously ) around 36-38 minutes per game

36 makes some sense. 38 is probably pushing it in this environment. We've seen like 2 player-seasons of 38+ mpg in the past decade. Wilt was more than willing to crush minutes in his day, but the nature of the game is a little different now with the increased requirements on lateral mobility, so I'd lean away from really pushing his minutes.

[Warspite]

I would play him anyway he wants to play. The guy was a prima donna in the 60s. Imagine how spoiled, demanding and disruptive he would be today. He would be the biggest athlete on twitter, Flying to games on his own plane, oh and he is the highest paid player in the league who always complaining about being underpaid.

You let him do whatever he wants or you are trading him to the Lakers for peanuts.

[tsherkin]

I would play him anyway he wants to play. The guy was a prima donna in the 60s. Imagine how spoiled, demanding and disruptive he would be today. He would be the biggest athlete on twitter, Flying to games on his own plane, oh and he is the highest paid player in the league who always complaining about being underpaid.

You let him do whatever he wants or you are trading him to the Lakers for peanuts.

Fair point.

[D.Brasco]

I would play him anyway he wants to play. The guy was a prima donna in the 60s. Imagine how spoiled, demanding and disruptive he would be today. He would be the biggest athlete on twitter, Flying to games on his own plane, oh and he is the highest paid player in the league who always complaining about being underpaid.

You let him do whatever he wants or you are trading him to the Lakers for peanuts.

Fair point.

Is it though? Didn't Wilt very much tailor his game to the will of his coaches. When he got to LA I don't believe it was his decision to defer to becoming a secondary or third scorer but the coaches, who already had West and Elgin as the volume scorers. So he accepted quite gracefully becoming a primarily defensive player.

[penbeast0]

Wilt changed his game because he trusted Alex Hannah, being 5th on the team in shots/minute out of the top 6 in 67. He then won and starting pushing that further and further, trying to lead the league in assists and making himself less and less of a scorer because he thought that would bring him more positive press (he was someone who cared what other people thought, though certainly arrogant).

He had a lot of other coaches that he didn't trust and probably wouldn't have changed for. I think McGuire and Sharman are the only other coaches he ever seemed to trust much. McGuire pushed him to score 50 a game and Sharman had him shooting almost nothing but putbacks and gimmes so it wasn't about playstyle as much as personality I would guess.

[Warspite]

I would play him anyway he wants to play. The guy was a prima donna in the 60s. Imagine how spoiled, demanding and disruptive he would be today. He would be the biggest athlete on twitter, Flying to games on his own plane, oh and he is the highest paid player in the league who always complaining about being underpaid.

You let him do whatever he wants or you are trading him to the Lakers for peanuts.

Fair point.

Is it though? Didn't Wilt very much tailor his game to the will of his coaches. When he got to LA I don't believe it was his decision to defer to becoming a secondary or third scorer but the coaches, who already had West and Elgin as the volume scorers. So he accepted quite gracefully becoming a primarily defensive player.

I think you have valid points on the court but off the court in todays world he is going to be a huge headache. When he was a sixer he lived in NYC and took the train to philly every day. The team had to move practice and shoot around times because of his commute. Sure Wilt will do what you ask of him if the team wins but he is going to be a huge disruption. Furthermore there are few coaches today that would demand or earn Wilts respect and they arent cheap. Todays players simply cant bend over backwards for Wilt and put up with him.

[Warspite]

I would play him anyway he wants to play. The guy was a prima donna in the 60s. Imagine how spoiled, demanding and disruptive he would be today. He would be the biggest athlete on twitter, Flying to games on his own plane, oh and he is the highest paid player in the league who always complaining about being underpaid.

You let him do whatever he wants or you are trading him to the Lakers for peanuts.

Fair point.

Is it though? Didn't Wilt very much tailor his game to the will of his coaches. When he got to LA I don't believe it was his decision to defer to becoming a secondary or third scorer but the coaches, who already had West and Elgin as the volume scorers. So he accepted quite gracefully becoming a primarily defensive player.

I think you have valid points on the court but off the court in todays world he is going to be a huge headache. When he was a sixer he lived in NYC and took the train to philly every day. The team had to move practice and shoot around times because of his commute. Sure Wilt will do what you ask of him if the team wins but he is going to be a huge disruption. Furthermore there are few coaches today that would demand or earn Wilts respect and they arent cheap. Todays players simply cant bend over backwards for Wilt and put up with him.