Is Shaq the strongest in the NBA, history?

[HotRocks34]

Wilt, by far. And I like Shaq.

Heard a story that Wilt was benching upper 500's into his late 50's. That is insane.

[EDIT -- Corrected 2 posts down from this. Number was supposedly 465 when Wilt was 59 years old]

[FlipTSO]

damn they just dwarf the Terminator.

I knew Wilt was big, but always pictured Andre to be much bigger. Even though Andre is much bulkier, they both look equally Giant.

Does anyone know, did Wilt have that Giant mutation gene too, like Andre?

[HotRocks34]

Correction: Wilt was said to have benched 465 at age 59. So, it wasn't high 500's, it was high 400's. Still, absurd.

He is said to have bench pressed 550 while in college at Kansas. That is ridiculous for a guy that young and with such long arms.

[TripleC]

Correction: Wilt was said to have benched 465 at age 59. So, it wasn't high 500's, it was high 400's. Still, absurd.

He is said to have bench pressed 550 while in college at Kansas. That is ridiculous for a guy that young and with such long arms.

Doubt it, no proof.. people can make anything up. I do believe when he was younger though.

[USA]

It is impossible for anyone to say who was the strongest in NBA history but I would am confident that Shaq was in the top 5 as far as post strength. Lifting weights is a different story.

[HotRocks34]

Correction: Wilt was said to have benched 465 at age 59. So, it wasn't high 500's, it was high 400's. Still, absurd.

He is said to have bench pressed 550 while in college at Kansas. That is ridiculous for a guy that young and with such long arms.

Doubt it, no proof.. people can make anything up. I do believe when he was younger though.

It could be. I think the 550 was supposedly witnessed by others.

The "465 at 59" is from a chat Wilt did in 1997:

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showth ... 402&page=6

Guy says he saw Wilt lifting 465 like it was nothing, and Wilt says he could probably lift more than that now (age 59).

He was freakishly strong, even for his size. I remember reading some of his biography (or one of them), and there was some anecdote about him helping two steelworkers with a beam.

I think Wilt and Shaq are the two most dominant bigs ever. Maybe not the best, but the most dominant. I put them, Jordan and LeBron on the highest level of statistical dominance in the history of the NBA, based upon peak PER seasons.

[djay]

Only a few of us on this board have seen Wilt play, and there isn't a ton of video on youtube, so poster's views will be skewed. So I would like to address some of the points here.

First, I just love the statement that Wilt played against "white stiffs" and Shaq didn't. Well if you count Bill Russel and Kareem as stiffs, you just might be a redneck.

Next, Wilt is overrated. Really? Check out the records he holds and then get back to me.

Shaq is the strongest because he dunked on everybody! Really? Shaq dunked because of two things. !. Shaq couldn't shoot, and 2. the refs let Shaq charge his way to the basket.

Now, who are these top centers that Shaq played against? Vlade? Old centers like Hakeem or Robinson?

What rule changes did the NBA institute because of Shaq? They changed a lot of them to curtail Wilt. And to add to this, since MJ led the league, the NBA has changed more rules to give players even more advantages on offense.

Now that we've cleared a few things up, let's transport Shaq back to when Wilt played. Would he dominate? Probably would. But without working on his offensive game, the refs wouldn't let him run over people back then. And that dunk he pulled on Chris Dudley would have dire consequences in Wilt's era. They had enforcers back then and you didn't want to show up your opponent.

Finally, about strength. If Arnold works out with Wilt and proclaims that Wilt is super strong, who are we to debate this? Arnold was there we weren't. But he didn't work out with Shaq so he only can comment on Wilt.

Tell me this is ajust a joke?

I want to REMIND you, the game back then is a joke. That's why you have guys ahead of time can dominate the league so easily like Oscar, Wilt, Russel, and even the freaking 6'5 Elgin Baylor can average 38/18reb. It's just a joke league, that's it. Please Shaq in WIlt era, he would simply DESTROY his competition. Nobody ever seen a bulky guy like Shaq can move the way he does. This mythical story is good to listen but most of it are an exaggeration. I can't believe some folk believe in this. Watch the tape. It's hilarious.

[Scubetrolis]

Wilt Chamberlain is a known liar...

[hugolizard]

Players eat healthier now, spend more time at the gym, have tons of guys helping them out on their conditioning etc. I would have a hard time imaging Wilt being the strongest ever.

[druggas]

Only a few of us on this board have seen Wilt play, and there isn't a ton of video on youtube, so poster's views will be skewed. So I would like to address some of the points here.

First, I just love the statement that Wilt played against "white stiffs" and Shaq didn't. Well if you count Bill Russel and Kareem as stiffs, you just might be a redneck.

Next, Wilt is overrated. Really? Check out the records he holds and then get back to me.

Shaq is the strongest because he dunked on everybody! Really? Shaq dunked because of two things. !. Shaq couldn't shoot, and 2. the refs let Shaq charge his way to the basket.

Now, who are these top centers that Shaq played against? Vlade? Old centers like Hakeem or Robinson?

What rule changes did the NBA institute because of Shaq? They changed a lot of them to curtail Wilt. And to add to this, since MJ led the league, the NBA has changed more rules to give players even more advantages on offense.

Now that we've cleared a few things up, let's transport Shaq back to when Wilt played. Would he dominate? Probably would. But without working on his offensive game, the refs wouldn't let him run over people back then. And that dunk he pulled on Chris Dudley would have dire consequences in Wilt's era. They had enforcers back then and you didn't want to show up your opponent.

Finally, about strength. If Arnold works out with Wilt and proclaims that Wilt is super strong, who are we to debate this? Arnold was there we weren't. But he didn't work out with Shaq so he only can comment on Wilt.

Tell me this is ajust a joke?

I want to REMIND you, the game back then is a joke. That's why you have guys ahead of time can dominate the league so easily like Oscar, Wilt, Russel, and even the freaking 6'5 Elgin Baylor can average 38/18reb. It's just a joke league, that's it. Please Shaq in WIlt era, he would simply DESTROY his competition. Nobody ever seen a bulky guy like Shaq can move the way he does. This mythical story is good to listen but most of it are an exaggeration. I can't believe some folk believe in this. Watch the tape. It's hilarious.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

[neiiru_3]

Wilt is the strongest. You don't really see it in his game because he had a finesse game. Unlike Shaq, Wilt was extremely skilled. He had a back to the basket game, jumper, great foot work, etc. He didn't have to plow people down.

[kooldude]

WIlt may be the strongest but Shaq was easily the most powerful and that's what matters more.

[therealbig3]

Wilt is the strongest. You don't really see it in his game because he had a finesse game. Unlike Shaq, Wilt was extremely skilled. He had a back to the basket game, jumper, great foot work, etc. He didn't have to plow people down.

And in the end, Shaq was better, so Shaq plowing people down ended up working pretty well for him.

Don't understand why people criticize him for that...if you have a physical advantage, don't you use it? Magic had a huge physical advantage against opposing PGs...don't see people knocking his game down a peg. Jordan was a very skilled player...but a huge reason why he was better than someone like Larry Bird, who was more skilled, is that Jordan was a freak physical specimen. Being physically superior to other players is an advantage that should be used at the NBA level, and that's all that Shaq did. Crazy that he gets knocked for it.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Charles Oakley, Maurice Lucas, Darryl Dawkins, and yes, even Kwame Brown deserve a mention. Yes, Kwame is subpar as a player, but he is very strong. In a game years ago, I remember watching Shaq try to back down Kwame and he couldn't move Kwame. Kwame is very strong.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Wilt is the strongest. You don't really see it in his game because he had a finesse game. Unlike Shaq, Wilt was extremely skilled. He had a back to the basket game, jumper, great foot work, etc. He didn't have to plow people down.

And in the end, Shaq was better, so Shaq plowing people down ended up working pretty well for him.

Don't understand why people criticize him for that...if you have a physical advantage, don't you use it? Magic had a huge physical advantage against opposing PGs...don't see people knocking his game down a peg. Jordan was a very skilled player...but a huge reason why he was better than someone like Larry Bird, who was more skilled, is that Jordan was a freak physical specimen. Being physically superior to other players is an advantage that should be used at the NBA level, and that's all that Shaq did. Crazy that he gets knocked for it.

Shaq got away with more offensive fouls than any player in NBA history. I remember Sabonis practically being knocked out cold into the front row and somehow the foul would still be on him. Just terrible.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Only a few of us on this board have seen Wilt play, and there isn't a ton of video on youtube, so poster's views will be skewed. So I would like to address some of the points here.

First, I just love the statement that Wilt played against "white stiffs" and Shaq didn't. Well if you count Bill Russel and Kareem as stiffs, you just might be a redneck.

Next, Wilt is overrated. Really? Check out the records he holds and then get back to me.

Shaq is the strongest because he dunked on everybody! Really? Shaq dunked because of two things. !. Shaq couldn't shoot, and 2. the refs let Shaq charge his way to the basket.

Now, who are these top centers that Shaq played against? Vlade? Old centers like Hakeem or Robinson?

What rule changes did the NBA institute because of Shaq? They changed a lot of them to curtail Wilt. And to add to this, since MJ led the league, the NBA has changed more rules to give players even more advantages on offense.

Now that we've cleared a few things up, let's transport Shaq back to when Wilt played. Would he dominate? Probably would. But without working on his offensive game, the refs wouldn't let him run over people back then. And that dunk he pulled on Chris Dudley would have dire consequences in Wilt's era. They had enforcers back then and you didn't want to show up your opponent.

Finally, about strength. If Arnold works out with Wilt and proclaims that Wilt is super strong, who are we to debate this? Arnold was there we weren't. But he didn't work out with Shaq so he only can comment on Wilt.

Tell me this is ajust a joke?

I want to REMIND you, the game back then is a joke. That's why you have guys ahead of time can dominate the league so easily like Oscar, Wilt, Russel, and even the freaking 6'5 Elgin Baylor can average 38/18reb. It's just a joke league, that's it. Please Shaq in WIlt era, he would simply DESTROY his competition. Nobody ever seen a bulky guy like Shaq can move the way he does. This mythical story is good to listen but most of it are an exaggeration. I can't believe some folk believe in this. Watch the tape. It's hilarious.

Wilt was far more athletic than Shaq. Just because something happened in the past doesn't mean it's inferior. 30 years from now people will be saying the Magic, Bird, and Jordan were over-rated and would ride the pine in the current era.

[Roscoe Sheed]

damn they just dwarf the Terminator.

I knew Wilt was big, but always pictured Andre to be much bigger. Even though Andre is much bulkier, they both look equally Giant.

Does anyone know, did Wilt have that Giant mutation gene too, like Andre?

Andre's size was exaggerated by McMahon to sell more tickets.

[Dipper 13]

Another Wilt story noting tremendous power by Lynda Huey. The final paragraph.


http://completept.com/blog/

Wilton Norman Chamberlain was born on August 21, 1936. It’s been thirteen years since we lost him suddenly, and since “13” was both his and my lucky number, it seems right to remember him today on what would have been his 76th birthday. Seventy-six doesn’t seem old anymore and yet we lost him when he was oh so young at 63.



My choice is to count from his birthday rather than from the day he died, October 12, 1999. I was the last person to see him alive – we were very close at the end of his life. That closeness was a long time in coming, 28 years to be exact.

He was at the peak of his athletic prime when I met him in August, 1971, and I was closing out my athletic career as a sprinter for various track clubs while at the same time crossing over into beach volleyball. That’s where I met Wilt, at State Beach. (For the uninitiated, that’s the volleyball beach where Chautauqua and West Channel Drive meet Pacific Coast Highway known as PCH.) Wilt was a self-indulgent 35 and I was a feisty 24. That was recipe for combustion.

Gene Selznick, “Mr. Volleyball” of that time period had told me that Wilt didn’t have a partner for the mixed-doubles tournament that week-end, so I showed up simply knowing I would play with Wilt. I got there early, sat in my beach chair and waited. In a bit, I heard a ruckus behind me and a low, booming voice surrounded by lots of giggles. I got up to walk around the site to plan my approach. I didn’t get a chance. Wilt he spotted me instantly and bellowed, “Hey, San Jose!” I was wearing my San Jose T-shirt over my bikini, and not knowing that Wilt loved track, didn’t realize he would recognize my sprinters legs as something he appreciated. At any rate, that was my entrée and I walked over to the parking lot railings where Wilt sat swinging his long legs. I saw the horizontal scar across his knee and boldly grabbed hold of it.

“Does this still work? You’re going to be my partner today.”

“Hey – hey – hey!” he objected. He was used to being in charge. He patted the railing. “Sit here,” he ordered. “Who are you?” I heard the words as well as the implication: why are you talking to me like that?

I told him my San Jose State track teammate, gold medalist Tommie Smith, had introduced us one day in the airport. Wilt knew that for the lie it was but he pressed forward — he had heard in my lie the fact that here was one white girl who knew the black culture and black language at a time when almost none did.

We played in the tournament together and played badly together. His passes were erratic and all over the place. I was used to playing with men whose passes were perfect and made my job of setting the ball so very easy. I would scramble for his bad pass and if my set wasn’t perfect, high over the net, Wilt would say, “what kind of sprinter are you, anyway?” Or “terrible set.” I’d never played with a man who didn’t encourage me toward better performance. I crumpled under his criticism and played even worse. He shocked me when he called a ball that fell clearly on the line “out!” Now he was cheating! (Ask anyone who played any game with Wilt at any point in his life if he cheated or not. It’s a standard Wilt joke.) We lost that first game and I stalked off to get away from that ruthless man.

I wondered why I’d ever wanted to meet and be with Wilt. Then I remembered the strong urge I had to reach out to him, something I’d felt since the first time I’d seen him play volleyball in Santa Cruz – I simply knew that he and I had been connected for eons and eons.

Somehow we both made it through the second losing game in the double elimination tournament and we were free of each other. I quickly picked up my folding chair, book, beach bag, and started walking up Temescal Canyon Road to where I’d parked my car. Before I was 200 yards up the road, there was Wilt in his white Bentley convertible driving along side of me, trying to coax me into the car. I was so angry at him for being so rude to me in public that I wouldn’t speak to him for at least 100 yards.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Going to get a real workout on the track up there,” I said meaning the Pacific Palisades High School track.

He drove off. I felt a huge relief and gladly went over to the track to run some sprints and blow off all the upset. I had just started my warm-up when I saw Wilt’s huge smile from under the goal post. He was lying on his side, hand holding up his head, watching me run. He let me ignore him for a lap then he joined me.

“What are you going to run?” he said.

“Oh, some sprint drills and maybe some straight-aways.”

“Want to see a beautiful runner?” Wilt asked.

“Don’t forget I’ve run next to the most beautiful runner of all time.” That was my reference to teammate Tommie Smith who was known for his cat-like graceful long stride.

Whenever I ran and breathed fiercely next to someone, I began to like that person. Wilt was no exception. Since he was barefooted and hadn’t brought shoes, I made the concession of moving onto the cool grass to stride beside him. I’d never seen knees come up to my eye level before. That was a first! But I was determined not to let him know how his size was taking me aback. After about an hour, we’d lost the animosity from the V-ball tourney and had become track cohorts.

Wilt invited me back to his house he was building and all I got to see was the land and the foundation. He was living in a small trailer on the property overseeing the building of his dream home. He couldn’t even stand up. He had to walk around bent over from sitting in one place to another.

We spent that night together. Then to get Wilt’s attention, I left town for the next week. When I returned, there was a message from “Norman” waiting for me. Somehow I knew that was Wilt. He and I got together four or five times on and off the beach before I moved to Washington, D.C. for my first teaching job. When I returned in 1972, the house was built and I brought a few friends to visit.



He invited us to go water skiing at Lake Lopez with him and some of his long-time friends, Vince Miller and Bob “Vogie” Vogelsang. Vogie and Vince called Wilt “Big Fellah” and “Wiltie” all day so that the Wiltie began to stick in my mind. Soon I was calling him that.



It was a long day of driving and boating and skiing, and when we got back to the house, Wilt totally took my breath away with an incredible feat of strength. Instead of going through the difficult maneuver of backing the boat trailer into the carport, Wilt simply unhitched the boat from his station wagon and single-handedly pushed that heavy boat and trailer into place.

Everyone has their Strong Wilt story. That’s mine.

[USA]

Former Celtics guard K.C. Jones remembered his casual run-in with Wilt. "He stopped me dead in my tracks with his arm, hugged me and lifted me off the floor with my feet dangling," Jones said. "It scared the hell out of me. When I went to the free-throw line, my legs were still shaking. Wilt was the strongest guy and best athlete ever to play the game. [Source: Goliath's Wonderful Life, Hoop Magazine; May 1999; Chris Ekstrand]

[old skool]

Wilt was the most dominant player in NBA history.

He was so dominant that the NBA, as was previously mentioned, changed more rules because of him than because of any other player - or any other ten players - before or since.

If Wilt played in today's NBA under today's rules, he could score almost every time down the court. Too big, too strong, too tireless, too fast.

Wilt was so strong, that public opinion held that it was unfair of him to use his size and strength to an advantage - which is why he developed the fade away shot and finger roll.

Wilt was the fastest runner on every basketball team that he ever played on - NCAA and NBA. End line to end line, he won every race he ever ran. Every race. At every weight. At every age.

Wilt was All-Big 8 in track. Long jump, high jump and hurdles.

Wilt averaged more than 48-minutes per game one season.

Wilt never fouled out of an NBA game.

Shaq used his strength because he had to.

Wilt did not use his strength because he did not have to. When you are the quickest and fastest player, there is not much reason to overpower an opponent with strength.