euroleague wrote:1. Wilt 62 - Wilt in 62 was quite obviously the greatest regular season scoring clinic ever put on in terms of volume. His eFG% was also elite. Often times scoring is a key factor in our rankings, and we value players who can maintain efficiency or score just slightly higher than average efficiency while scoring at double the average starter’s volume and rank them as elite scorers. Wilt in 62 isn't one of those cases. He scored 50ppg on 50.6% EFG when the league average was 42.6%. That’s roughly equivalent to 45ppg today on 60% eFG. Think about that for a minute.
While that efficiency isn't Wilt's best year, it should be noted he was only 9% and 5% below LBJ's and MJ's best years (2013 and 1991) while the league average was 7% and 6% higher. To state that more clearly - Wilt scored 50.4 ppg at about 2% lower relative EFG than LBJ scored 26.8 ppg, except Wilt did it without any prime all-stars on a team that wasn't strong compared to the league average. Off-ball impact? Wilt was one of the greatest defensive forces in the league, and averaged 26rpg while being unstoppable on the glass offensively and defensively. He doesn't have the playmaking of MJ or LBJ, but his other strengths (rebounding, rim protection, physically unstoppable) are greater than theirs. His volume is also so absurd at 40% of his team's total, that nobody since then has come even close to touching that - KD was an MVP based almost solely on his scoring, but he was nothing in volume or efficiency compared to Wilt. Wilt scored on a volume and efficiency that makes it almost unfair to compare others to him in the regular season.
The only reason there is even some debate over the top season is because of Wilt's playoffs. He is often criticized as not enough of a 'team player' to beat Russell. They note Russell's team impact. While I don't want to make this post too much about Russell, I will mention that the 6th best player on the Celtics was arguably better than the 3rd best on the Philadelphia Warriors, and they still went to 7 games and lost by 2 points in the decider.
On him "choking".
LBJ 13 playoff average 53% eFG, LBJ 13 Regular season average 60% eFG
MJ 91 playoff average 54% eFG, MJ 91 regular season average 55% eFG
Wilt 62 playoff average 47% eFG, Wilt 62 regular season average 50% eFG
To put that into perspective, Wilt's average in efficiency dropped less than LBJ's and the same amount as MJ's in their peak. The main difference is Wilt was defended by Bill Russell during more than half of his playoff games.
Furthermore, he's criticized about volume - however, his team's ppg dropped from 125 to 105 in the playoffs because of a pace decrease. So, while his points did drop off slightly from 50ppg/125ppg to 35ppg/105ppg, from 40% of his team to 33% of his team, that argument doesn't hold up - LBJ's and MJ's scoring never even reached 30%.
To finish this playoff summary off, he increased his rebounding average greatly despite the pace going down. His rebounding this series was, while not his best series, still one of the greatest rebounding series ever considering the competition.
To summarize what I've stated so far: Wilt scored on far greater volume, had a greater scoring %, and for the most part had better scoring outside of FTs than MJ/LBJ.
TS% - FT Shooting: FT shooting has become the darling of advanced analytics, and is often used by many great scorers to get to the line and effectively lead their teams. On the flipside, many players are fouled to go to the line intentionally because their FT shooting isn't as dangerous as their scoring in the flow of the game.
I would argue that these analytics don't due justice to great scorers who can't shoot the FT well - by deflating their TS% and increasing their scoring volume, while simultaneously fouling out opposing teams best players or taking out the opposing teams best player because of foul trouble. These players still score at percentages higher than almost any of their competitor's TS%, but often have weaker TS% because of their low FT% and the fact that they are often at the line. High TS% is good, but getting to the line is almost always better than making the 2 pointer - because it puts other teams over the foul limit, hurts who they can have on the floor, and saves your team energy in scoring that they can put into defense.
Because of this flaw in the analytics system, many rankings systems value points over getting to the line and drawing fouls, and effectively "punishes" players who shoot slightly above the league average TS% at the FT line despite this being a net positive for the team.
If we take FTs out of the equation, it's obvious Wilt was a greatly superior scorer to any of the others in this debate. I argue that FTs drawn that are completed at the league TS% level are in fact a net positive greater than scoring, regardless of whether it lower's that individual's TS%, because of the team-wide benefits it has in reaching the foul limit and effecting the players the other team can put on the court because of foul trouble.
That being said, if we discount the seemingly flawed criticism over FTs and playoff scoring, Wilt in 62 had superior scoring, rebounding, and defense to any of the other contestants except Hakeem Olajuwon's Defense. Thus, I vote the "Greatest and Most Dominant Season in the NBA since 1960" should go to Wilt.
2. Shaq 00 - Perhaps the most unstoppable scoring machine of all time. Many have much of the same arguments over FTs as they did with Wilt, and I've already established why him drawing fouls should be considered a positive. The most compelling aspect of his scoring isn't his volume, however - the way he completely warps defenses to help his team without even touching the ball that makes him such a great offensive player. When LBJ goes to the hoop, he can often draw a second defender and give a few seconds opening to a teammate. Shaq on the floor has the same effect, except he has it every time he touches the ball up until he passes it and oftentimes when he doesn't have the ball but is in position because of his proximity to the hoop. He creates a system where his teammates will almost always get easy shots - not just for a few seconds while he is driving, but for the entirety of the time he is on the floor. On top of that, he's obviously an elite scorer, he was an elite rebounder and defender this year, and lastly his passing was very solid and he excelled in finding the open guy for dish-outs. His 'off-ball' impact is easily the greatest I've ever viewed, because of how he warps defenses simply by establishing his presence in the post. Even Hakeem Olajuwon double teamed him in 95, before he reached his peak.
Ditto my criticism of using FTs (and via FTs, TS%) as an extremely important deciding factor, for rankings at this tier.
Colbinii wrote:Ultimately there will be people who don't see eye to eye with you on LeBron, don't see eye to eye with BallHogger on Kobe and don't see eye to eye with Euroleague on Wilt.
I don't see any reason to single me out, as Wilt is quite an easy GOAT peak by any stretch, and I stated plan to back up my opinion with statistics.
