Oh, is that another Chamberlain I see?: LBJ23's dominance

NeilsCeltics · Post #1 » by **NeilsCeltics** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:14 pm

Is LeBron James the Wilt Chamberlain of this era, in terms of the stats he puts up and in statistical dominance, and if so, how do you feel about how his stats translate into winning? Is he actually Wilt Chamberlain of the Small Forwards with Bill Russell's winning ways? What do you think about this?

Post #2 » by **Devin 1L** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 10:09 pm

NeilsCeltics wrote:Is LeBron James the Wilt Chamberlain of this era, in terms of the stats he puts up and in statistical dominance, and if so, how do you feel about how his stats translate into winning? Is he actually Wilt Chamberlain of the Small Forwards with Bill Russell's winning ways? What do you think about this?

I think he'd have to have an Oscar Robertson season to compare to Chamberlain's in terms of statistical dominance.

Frankly, as amazing as he is overall (and I'm not trying to diminish him in any way), he's only lead the league in a major category like once, whereas Chamberlain led in many things, many times.

Like I said above, I think it'd take the Robertson scenario, or he'd have to regularly win the scoring title to put him up in Chamberlain statistical dominance range. To be honest though, I don't think anyone will ever really match that, so it's not like it's a knock on LeBron.

As for the Bill Russell winning ways comparison... Seriously? He hasn't won anything yet.

RockTHECasbah · Post #3 » by **RockTHECasbah** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 11:39 pm

he's already had an Oscar Robertson-like season; in fact, he's had 2 or 3

you have to adjust for pace to compare the two

Post #4 » by **Devin 1L** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:50 am

RockTHECasbah wrote:he's already had an Oscar Robertson-like season; in fact, he's had 2 or 3

you have to adjust for pace to compare the two

I was referring to averaging a triple double for an entire season.

RockTHECasbah · Post #5 » by **RockTHECasbah** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:14 am

yep, adjust for pace and he's made it or come close a few times and puts up better numbers

if you want to adjust for stamina, then they are still close

Post #6 » by **Devin 1L** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:09 pm

RockTHECasbah wrote:yep, adjust for pace and he's made it or come close a few times and puts up better numbers

if you want to adjust for stamina, then they are still close

Ok, great, but I'm not talking about adjusting for pace -- I'm talking about him averaging a triple double.

If he's going to get up into the Chamberlain stratosphere of statistical domination, as I've said, I think he's going to have to regularly win the scoring title, or average a triple double.

Even then though, I'm not sure it's Chamberlain level. Like I said, I don't think anyone will ever really match that.

RockTHECasbah · Post #7 » by **RockTHECasbah** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:12 am

absolute numbers are often distorted in different eras; just for knowledge purposes, LeBron is slight behind Robertson in terms of assists and rebounds, but ahead in points

furthermore, the fascination with metrics directly tied to the decimal and metric systems, makes a triple double very arbitrary

But I agree, Chamberlain will probably own the category of "most statistically dominant" forever