How in the hell did Wilt get so many damn rebounds?

[Big J]

This man was absolutely unreal, but the rebounds especially seem nuts. How the hell did he get so many freaking boards? The man was getting 40 boards left & right. Teams only miss 40 shots per game nowadays.

[TheBobster]

He was big, he was athletic and it took it personally when anybody else invaded his domain around the basket.

And he played A LOT of minutes.

[TheBobster]

And there were more rebounds available because of the faster pace.

[giberish]

The pace was crazy in the early-60's. Especially in 1961-2 when all the records were broken. So more of everything.

Teams shot much worse at the time, so even more rebounds to be had.

Rebounds tended to be much more concentrated to centers than now. Wilt wasn't the only center of the era with huge rebound numbers.

Wilt played huge minutes. 48.5 mpg in 1961-2.

[Lockdown504090]

man said he slept with 20k women, yet still managed to get more rebounds than that.

[RoxSteady]

Boxing out.

[TheBobster]

The pace was crazy in the early-60's. Especially in 1961-2 when all the records were broken. So more of everything.

Teams shot much worse at the time, so even more rebounds to be had.

Rebounds tended to be much more concentrated to centers than now. Wilt wasn't the only center of the era with huge rebound numbers.

Wilt played huge minutes. 48.5 mpg in 1961-2.

He missed 8 minutes all season when he was thrown out in the fourth quarter of one game for fighting.

Who the hell wanted to fight Wilt??

[Calvin Klein]

Faster pace, low fg%; he was huge and played the whole game

[cupcakesnake]

In the 60s, it wasn't rare for a team to average over 130 possessions in a game.
The average FG% for a team was 41-43% most of those years.

Today, the average number of possessions is under 100.
and the average FG% is over 45% (despite 3-pointers existing and being prevalent).

Having 30 extra possessions on worse FG% creates a **** ton more rebounding opportunities.
The average number of rebounds a team gets today is 44. In the 1960s it was over 65.

[hippesthippo]

In the 60s, it wasn't rare for a team to average over 130 possessions in a game.
The average FG% for a team was 41-43% most of those years.

Today, the average number of possessions is under 100.
and the average FG% is over 45% (despite 3-pointers existing and being prevalent).

Having 30 extra possessions on worse FG% creates a **** ton more rebounding opportunities.
The average number of rebounds a team gets today is 44. In the 1960s it was over 65.

Yup. When you make the adjustment, he's basically rebounding at Andre Drummond rate. Still really good, obv, but the stats are just different throughout the decades as different parts of the game were emphasized/changed.

[TheBobster]

In the 60s, it wasn't rare for a team to average over 130 possessions in a game.
The average FG% for a team was 41-43% most of those years.

Today, the average number of possessions is under 100.
and the average FG% is over 45% (despite 3-pointers existing and being prevalent).

Having 30 extra possessions on worse FG% creates a **** ton more rebounding opportunities.
The average number of rebounds a team gets today is 44. In the 1960s it was over 65.

Yup. When you make the adjustment, he's basically rebounding at Andre Drummond rate. Still really good, obv, but the stats are just different throughout the decades as different parts of the game were emphasized/changed.

The thing is, not only was he expending that energy rebounding, he was also expending it offensively and defensively.

[pwayknicks]

Have to give the man credit for paying every minute in a faster pace. Today’s players with today’s medicine are soo revered when they play 40+ minutes at a slower pace in a playoff series Yet wilt with no modern medicine in a faster pace dud of for an entire season!!!


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[TheBobster]

Have to give the man credit for paying every minute in a faster pace. Today’s players with today’s medicine are soo revered when they play 40+ minutes at a slower pace in a playoff series Yet wilt with no modern medicine in a faster pace dud of for an entire season!!!


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And much worse travel conditions.

[whitehops]

Yup. When you make the adjustment, he's basically rebounding at Andre Drummond rate. Still really good, obv, but the stats are just different throughout the decades as different parts of the game were emphasized/changed.

him and bill russell were actually rebounding at a lower rate than drummond (and rodman).

both the pace and the minutes wilt played allowed him to get the crazy amount of rebounds he did, but his rebound percentage was around 20% whereas drummond's career rebound percentage is 24%. so he was obviously still in the elite category, but more on valanciunas/dwight's level (7th/8th in nba history) than drummond or rodman's level (1st/2nd).

[GeorgeMarcus]

He's on the top tier with Shaq/LeBron as the most imposing physical specimens of all time. A man as big as he was should not have been able to move the way he did.

[dlts20]

He is one of the greatest athletes of all time. Maybe the best in NBA history, including MJ

[Golden Knight]

The pace was crazy in the early-60's. Especially in 1961-2 when all the records were broken. So more of everything.

Teams shot much worse at the time, so even more rebounds to be had.

Rebounds tended to be much more concentrated to centers than now. Wilt wasn't the only center of the era with huge rebound numbers.

Wilt played huge minutes. 48.5 mpg in 1961-2.

Lots of free throw attempts too at worse % so more FT rebounds both on offense and defense. I would love to see FT rebounding stats but can't seem to find any.

2020-21 - 88.4 FGA (.466), 21.8 FTA (.778), 44.3 rebounds per game

1961-62 - 107.7 FGA (.426), 37.1 FTA (.727), 71.4 rebounds per game

[og15]

Others have basically mentioned it

Great stamina, great rebounding ability then add that to played in an era where everyone played a lot of minutes, every team took a lot of shots, every team missed a lot of shots (and missed more FT's) and there were a lot of rebounds to be grabbed.

You can do simple math. If you average 15 rebounds in a league with an average of 44 rebounds, how many would you average in a league with an average of 65 rebounds? The answer is 22 rebounds.

So how did Wilt average so many rebounds? He was a great rebounder in a league with a lot of rebounds to grab.

[og15]

Have to give the man credit for paying every minute in a faster pace. Today’s players with today’s medicine are soo revered when they play 40+ minutes at a slower pace in a playoff series Yet wilt with no modern medicine in a faster pace dud of for an entire season!!!


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For sure, insane stamina because even though everyone played a lot of minutes, he played more than everyone else.

The thing to balance out is that even though the pace was faster, players covered less ground in the half court. Bigs essentially mainly camped in the paint and didn't have to travel too far defensively.

[TheBobster]

Wilt Chamberlain played 13 full seasons (he played only 12 games in 1969-70 because of a knee injury)

He led the league in total points scored 7 times
He led the league in total rebounds 11 times
He led the league in total assists 1 time
He led the league in total minutes played 8 times
He led the league in field goal percentage 9 times