Shaq v. Wilt

June 02, 2011

Now that Shaq has finally retired, there's going to be thousands of articles, blog posts, and stories memorializing his 19-year career.  And rightfully so.  Shaq was one of the most dominant players in the history of the NBA, period.  But, was he THE most dominating player ever?  PSH doesn't think so.  With our Philadelphia-centric slant, let's take a look at how O'Neal's career numbers stack up against Philly's own Wilt Chamberlain.

	Shaquille O’Neal	Wilt Chamberlain
Seasons	19	14
Total Points	28,596	31,419
Total Rebounds	13,099	23,924
Points Per Game	23.7	30.1
Rebounds Per Game	10.9	22.9
Best Statistical Season	Los Angeles Lakers '99-'00: 29.7 ppg/13.7 rpg	Philadelphia Warriors '61-'62: 50.4 ppg/25.7 rpg
MVP Awards	1	4
Championships	4	2
All-Star Selections	15	13
Scoring Titles	2	7 (consecutive)

If that table isn't enough, here are some other things to think about:

• Wilt has 4 of the 5 most prolific scoring games in NBA history: 100 on 3/2/62; 78 on 12/8/61; 73 on 1/13/62 and 11/16/62.  Shaq's highest output was 61 on 3/6/00. That was Shaq's only 60+ point game; Wilt dropped in more than 60 points 15 times.
• If you look at the top 7 seasons for total rebounds, you'll see Wilt's name next to all of them.  He led the league a total of 11 times.  Shaq did not lead the league once in rebounds. Wilt's best rebounding game was one in which he amassed 55...and he did it against Bill Russell. In Shaq's best rebounding single game, he grabbed 28 rebounds against P.J. Brown and Armen Gilliam.
• In the '67-'68 season, Wilt led the NBA in assists with 8.6 per game. He is the only center in history to lead the league in assists. Shaq's highest season APG average is less than 4.
• Wilt shot 73% from the field in his last season, '72-'73. Shaq's best shooting percentage over the course of a season was 61%.
• Wilt averaged 45.8 minutes per game and he did not foul out once in the course of his career.
• Wilt scored 30+ points in 65 consecutive games during the '61-'62 season, including 7 straight 50+ point games.

The NBA didn't keep statistics on blocks or steals during Chamberlain's career, but if it had we can all be sure Wilt's numbers would dwarf Shaq's. The Big Dipper was a bona fide game-changer: the guy was responsible for more rules changes than anyone else in the history of the game. Like I said, Shaq is one of the most dominant players in NBA history and comparing his numbers to Wilt's shows just how special a player Chamberlain was. Shaq apologists always raise the competition each player faced as a reason for Chamberlain's astronomical numbers. I don't buy it. Sure, the average size of Chamberlain's opponents was smaller than those of O'Neals, but Chamberlain dominated because of his own size, speed, skill and strength. And since when does height compare to scoring dominance? (See: Shawn Bradley, Manute Bol, and George Muresan). Chamberlain played against 6'10" Bill Russell 142 times, which is a large enough sample size for his stats to mean something. During those games, Wilt had matching averages of 28.7 ppg and 28.7 rpg while Russell averaged 23.7 ppg and 14.5 rpg. And don't assume that in their primes, Shaq was stronger than Wilt.  The 7'1" 275 lbs. Chamberlain was a track star and devoted gym rat at Kansas.  He even worked out with Arnold Schwarzenegger in California.  He bench pressed 465 lbs. in college while Shaq could put up 450 lbs.  People talked about Wilt's strength more than anything:

The greatest play I’ve ever seen was one of the last games of the 1966—67 season and we were playing Baltimore. We were going for the best record in NBA history. There was a play earlier in the game where Gus Johnson had dunked one over Wilt. Gus was a very strong player. I weighed 220 pounds, and with one hand Gus could push me out of the lane. The man was a physical specimen 6-foot-6, 230 pounds all muscle. He loved to dunk and was a very colorful player. When he slammed it on Wilt, he really threw it down, and you could tell that Wilt didn’t like it one bit. Later in the game, Gus was out on the fast break, and the only man between him and the basket was Wilt. He was going to dunk on Wilt— again. Gus cupped the ball and took off—he had a perfect angle for a slam. Wilt went up and with one hand he grabbed the ball—cleanly! Then he took the ball and shoved it right back into Gus, drilling Gus into the floor with the basketball. Gus was flattened and they carried him out. It turned out that Gus Johnson was the only player in NBA history to suffer adislocated shoulder from a blocked shot.    --- Billy Cunningham Once Wilt got upset with me and dunked the ball so hard that it went through the rim with such force. that it broke my toe as it hit the floor.  --- Johnny Kerr In my rookie year, Wilt was involved in a pick-and- roll play and suddenly Bill Russell was off Wilt and guarding someone else, and I had Chamberlain. Wilt took me down near the basket and caught a pass. Being the bright kid out of Ohio State I thought I was, a I figured, “No problem. Wilt isn’t a good foul shooter.  I’ll grab him.”  Well, Wilt didn’t like being held. I reached around from behind and held both of his arms. He wasn’t going to let some rookie stop him, So Wilt took the ball—and me—up. He dunked the ball and I hung there on his arms, both of my feet off the ground and hanging on to Wilt’s arms for dear life until he put me down.  --- John Havlicek

Shaq's numbers clearly don't stand up to Wilt's.  And those who think Wilt dominated only because his competition was weak are painfully mistaken.  Shaq was great, but Wilt was the best: the most athletic and dominant big man in the history of the NBA.

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