RayBan-Sematra wrote:I can believe that Wilt faced swarming defenses in the early 60's but in all honesty so did guys like Jordan, Shaq & even Kareem over more of their careers.
Those guys also had to deal with constant double & triple teams and were still expected to remain efficient offensively.
I agree that those guys saw plenty of double-/triple-teams, so did Wilt over the course of his career. I really desperately wish I had a good file full of quotes on Wilt (don't have all that much on him yet), but I've seen sentiments reflected on the matter numerous times.
The thing is though, shooters with any legitimate range simply seemed not to exist back then. You had a few guys like Dolph Schayes and I believe Arizin, at the beginning of Wilt's career, but by and large players back then seemed not to have any range. This was particularly bad when Wilt played in San Francisco (though it was the case in Philly outside of Arizin as well), and it was a huge problem, especially in the playoffs when you have a guy (Russell) taking away the dunk/layup from your teammates. A complete lack of spacing to this degree wasn't an issue for Jordan/Shaq/Kareem.
Jordan and Kareem could both convert from outside of the paint. Obviously they were both tremendous finishers, but each was extremely effective from midrange. MJ because of his jumper, Kareem because of his skyhook. Shaq faced a ton of coverage and still converted because of his commitment to the power game. One of my main criticisms of Wilt, as I've said numerous times in this thread, is that his fadeaway and finger roll were lousy shots. I don't think he'd shy away from them even in today's game, and that's part of the reason why MJ and Kareem are superior offensive players in my opinion.
I am sure they also had years and I know they had playoff series where their shooters weren't showing up but it didn't prevent them from remaining efficient and effective individually.
As Mr. Westside noted earlier in the thread, a lot of this is evident in the tape. I understand completely where you're coming from, and the same thing happened to Wilt in 66. His teammates couldn't buy a shot.
Plus Wilt's average offensive efficiency even in the late 60's/early 70's (when he had good teams/shooters) wasn't exactly stellar considering the average volume at which he was scoring.
This consistent trend of Wilt not consistently being efficient at various points of his career and in different roles leads me to believe that his halfcourt offense wasn't exactly on the GOAT level.
I'm not sure if his halfcourt offense was on a GOAT level, but I think we have to be careful here in order to remain consistent. Is the issue with Wilt's FG% or TS% numbers in the halfcourt? If it's the former, I'd have to see the numbers (again though, I'm forming my opinion on him largely based on his play from 63-64 through 68-69). If it's TS%, I don't have a problem either, but I don't think we can attribute that his halfcourt offense. Maybe scoring efficiency overall, but not halfcourt offense.
Also even assuming defenses could swarm Wilt more easily back then due to a lack of spacing/shooters there are also other factors in his favor.
The lanes weren't widened until the mid 60's (this is a plus for post scorers)
The lanes were widened prior to 64-65, which was also his first season with great shooters. It would be a plus, but if you're being swarmed prior to the attempt, it's going to be a problem whether you're 6 feet (prior to the move) or 8 feet (after the move) from the basket.
defensive schemes were less advanced, C competition wasn't very good in the early 60's and wings/guards were less athletic back then presumably making them less effective at help defense in comparison to future guards.
Defensive schemes being less advanced isn't a huge deal to me with regards to this situation because a low-post isolation-heavy offense is predictable. If the ball is going inside, regardless of whether schemes have been more sophisticated defensively, if your supporting cast can't hit shots, they're going to swarm you. Disagree about C competition, since I'm talking about the playoffs for the most part (where he'd face Russell 8 out of 10 years in his prime). Less athletic wings/guards would be a big deal, but again, a low post isolation-heavy offense is very predictable. As long as you have bodies swarming the guy, athleticism isn't a huge deal. Since there was no thread of a three anyway, defenders had less distance to cover to reach the block where Wilt was set up, since they wouldn't be defending players camping beyond the arc.
Now that's the difference between first and last place.
:grin::grin:
