Wilt Chamberlain steals per game data with additional film breakdown.

[coastalmarker99]

I’ve examined all of Wilt's footage that is available to the general public at the moment and collected data as well as numerous clips that showcase what I believe to be a very underrated aspect of his game on the defensive end








Games I tracked:

1 steal - 76ers vs Celtics ‘67 EDF Game 3 (2nd half)

0 steals - Lakers vs Knicks ‘70 Finals Game 7

1 steal - Lakers vs Bulls ‘71 WCS Game 6

3 steals - Lakers vs Bucks ‘72 Reg season

1 steal - Lakers vs Bucks ‘72 WCF Game 3 (part)

Cont.


3 steals - Lakers vs Bucks ‘72 WCF Game 4

3 steals - Lakers vs Bucks ‘72 WCF Game 6 (part)

1 steal - Lakers vs Knicks ‘72 Finals Game 5

3 steals - Lakers vs Knicks ‘73 Finals Game 5



Total:

2.13 steals per game in 7.5 games

3.33 steals per game vs. Kareem in 3.0 games

Keep in mind, a bulk of these games are from the later rounds of the playoffs.

Film Breakdown:

The first thing that jumps out immediately is Wilt’s ability to deny the post entry pass.

Post Entry Steal #1:

https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37281479139334

https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37314924474370


https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37346641813505

https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37380640841738


Wilt displays active, quick hands and good anticipation. He would have a lot more steals if every opposing big took the challenge of playing him 1 on 1 as Kareem does here:

Strips Kareem #1:

https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37412291084288


Strips Kareem #2:

https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37446818594825


Pokes ball from Kareem + steals Oscar’s pass attempt

https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37502430830595


Deflection Steal #1: (Kareem)


https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37548207480836


Deflection Steal #2: (Phil Jackson)
https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37597045944322


Deflection Steal #3: (Sam Jones)

https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat...37633913921536

[coastalmarker99]

This data along with some other defensive data of 72 Wilt and Nba archives footage that I have seen of him throughout that legendary season




Is why I believe that 72 Wilt peaked higher defensively than Russell ever did and why he could flat out copy Russell's role on the stacked 1960's Celtics with ease which is scary to think about.







We have Russell even admitting it at the time that a 35-year-old post knee injury Wilt was playing better than he ever did in his prime and it should be that noted that he was in the mix of a bitter personal dispute with Wilt that lasted for 20 years.



We also have Tommy Heinsohn and Kc Jones along with Bill Sharman three ex Celtics players that played alongside a prime Russell mind you praising 72 Wilt's defence as utterly outstanding.




Heinsohn the coach of the Celtics at the time said that the way Wilt was playing defence throughout that 1971 -1972 season it looked as if he in his eyes could easily play another ten years in the Nba if he wanted to.





Kc Jones the assistant coach of the 72 Lakers publicly said to the media that he was utterly wrong in his thought about Wilt as a defensive player and also as a human being and in fact he even said it was the fault of Wilt's teammates as to why Wilt couldn't beat Russell and the Celtics.

[penbeast0]

The guy I've noticed getting a lot of poke aways and steals was actually Russell. He looks Hakeem level at it in the clips I've seen which isn't surprising as Hakeem is the closest modern player to Russell defensively.

[coastalmarker99]

The guy I've noticed getting a lot of poke aways and steals was actually Russell. He looks Hakeem level at it in the clips I've seen which isn't surprising as Hakeem is the closest modern player to Russell defensively.

I think you'll find it the exact opposite in due respect Penbeast.









Wilt was clearly both a better offensive and defensive player than Russell. What more is there to say when Russell himself said it in 1972?

In most of their matchups that we have footage of we clearly see that Wilt played better on both the defensive and offensive end for his teams and did the things, Russell was praised upon as great at better than he did.

I constantly hear all this "Wilt was a better individual player, though Russell was a better team player", which I think again is completely false. If you give Wilt those stacked Celtic teams that Russell had around him, those Celtic teams would have gone on to win 13 or 14 titles let alone 11 in my opinion with Wilt.




And as history shows us, when Wilt finally did get some talent around himself (still not to the level of Russell's teams IMHO) he was able to lead them to two dominant championships.

[penbeast0]

(a) I'd like to see data, not opinions
(b) I think you grossly overestimate Boston's talent due to all the HOF spots (which were mainly for playing with Russell) and the superfast pace which made decent scorers look like more (though it probably increased their inefficiency).

Boston was a consistently terrible offensive team throughout the Russell years. Part of that was Russell, he was not a good offensive player and his passing didn't make up for his lack of shooting. Part of that was the system. But also, only possibly early Bill Sharman, Sam Jones, and late Bailey Howell were actually strong offensive players. The likes of Cousy, Heinsohn, and Havlicek were more Allen Iverson type, "I score a lot because I shoot a lot" type players, and KC Jones and Satch Sanders were defensive specialists with appreciably less offensive game than Russell. Cousy and Sharman were legit HOF players in the 50s, pre-Russell, but the game is changing faster than they can adapt by the beginning of the 60s. Sam Jones was a marginal HOF player, a good not great scorer like Klay Thompson without a 3 ball. Havlicek was a legit HOF player in the 70s, in the 60s he was also marginal (and probably less valuable to the team than Sam Jones) with good defense, great motor, iffy catch and shoot skills after he worked himself open. Add great benches (Red was my GOAT GM) and you get a very good team, but not more talented than the 66-68 Celtics or the 69-72 Lakers.

Not to take anything away from Wilt, but Russell is the one that singlehandedly dominated the NBA's top defenses for more than a decade (with a Celtic team that was good offense/mediocre defense before him). People say nice things about other people, they aren't necessarily correct.

[ty 4191]

(a) I'd like to see data, not opinions

1963-1969 Defensive Win Shares
1. Russell 81.3
2. Chamberlain 52.6
3. Havlicek 35.0
4. Sanders 29.4
5. Sam Jones 28.4

1967-73 Defensive Win Shares
1. Chamberlain 43.9
2. Halicek 39.2
3. DeBusschere 33.1
4. Silas 26.3
5. Sloan 25.9

[feyki]

The owner of Wilt Chamberlain Archieve channell, don't remember his realgm nname, has large sample size of data about this. It was Russell with around 3.5 steals and Wilt with 1.5 steals on around 100 games. This is seems like abritrary.

[70sFan]

I don't have steal numbers from available footage (yet) but I'm almost sure that Russell averaged more steals per game - he was Hakeem-esque in terms of disruption both down low and on perimeter. I've never seen Wilt stealing the ball from ball-handling guard and I've seen Bill doing that quite a few times.

[feyki]

Let it Disturbing perimeter, on ball defence; Wilt was a rim standing guy like Eaton,Mutombo or Shaq. This is constrained.

[BullsFan45]

I don't have steal numbers from available footage (yet) but I'm almost sure that Russell averaged more steals per game - he was Hakeem-esque in terms of disruption both down low and on perimeter. I've never seen Wilt stealing the ball from ball-handling guard and I've seen Bill doing that quite a few times.

FWIW, I've tracked a bit of data for Russell's games, and currently have him at:

0.4 steals per game in roughly 4.7 games.

[DCasey91]

Cousy, Jones, Young to stud Havlicek, Heinsohn for a run is an ATG cast imo I don’t think it’s overrated at all. Let alone the best depth too. All 4 are legit hall of fame players and are well deserving.

Don’t think Wilt would have had the the same results in terms of championships as Bill (Bill is the better leader) but I have no doubt Wilt would be more dominate at very least a clear big gap offensively.

Looking back it was a bigger than average dose of luck/smaller pool (though the 60’s had some great top end talent on teams imo) and the biggest one much less games to win the thing. That’s the biggest one for me.

[70sFan]

I don't have steal numbers from available footage (yet) but I'm almost sure that Russell averaged more steals per game - he was Hakeem-esque in terms of disruption both down low and on perimeter. I've never seen Wilt stealing the ball from ball-handling guard and I've seen Bill doing that quite a few times.

FWIW, I've tracked a bit of data for Russell's games, and currently have him at:

0.4 steals per game in roughly 4.7 games.

Yeah, games we have didn't show him stealing the ball that much, but in other material I have from 1964 finals, 1965 ECF and 1966 ECSF he deflected a lot of passes. My point is that Wilt had quite different style of play on defensive end.