Wilt Chamberlain's unstoppable fadeaway

We had a long discussion/argument about Wilt recently in relation to his athleticism and ball-skills compared to Anthony Davis. The guy was an absolute freak.

His skill often goes undersung. Just to put it into perspective, if I were playing a 5-on-5 48-minute game with nine 12-year-old girls, I'd be the best player on the court, but I probably still wouldn't score 100 points. Meaning, the difference between me and the average 12-year-old girls' basketball player is not as big as the difference between Wilt and his average contemporaneous NBA peer. It's amazing.

He had a really odd shooting motion. Half the time it looks like he was shooting with one hand.

Also noticed at the beginning that a lot of people didn't challenge the shot. It was weird. Not taking anything away, it was a different game, but some of those guys in the first minute or two were putting on a James Harden defensive highlight reel.

I've been subscribed to that guy's station for a long time and I love all of his stuff.

My favorite video of his because this guy NEVER gets talked about:

Gus "Honeycomb" Johnson

And yet he couldn't hit a free throw to save his life.

Obviously, that is an edited highlight video.

He wasn't someone who could hit fadeaway jumpers on a regular basis.

And I know the guy who puts out these Wilt Chamberlain videos on Youtube. He's obsessed with Wilt Chamberlain and does everything he can to make him larger than life. He posts on different message boards to talk about how great Wilt is almost like he's spreading propaganda.

Wilt was a great player, but this guy has edited videos with some kind of video editing software to make him appear larger to win arguments with people on the internet that he was bigger than Shaq. Not just taller, but more muscular.

He also likes to pump up Bill Russell. But not because he cares about the legend of Bill Russell... but it makes Wilt look better if he was doing so well against a worthy opponent.

Like I said, Wilt was a great player, but don't think he was like Dirk Nowitzki or Hakeem Olajuwon shooting the fadeaway. It wasn't the case.

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He had a really odd shooting motion.

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That's because he couldn't shoot.

He's a career 51% free throw shooter.

To put that in perspective, Shaq was a career 52.7% free throw shooter. Dwight Howard is a career 57% free throw shooter.

Nothing wrong with marveling over great players from the past.

But these kinds of videos give people an inflated sense of a player's actual skill... which is what the guy who edited the video was going for.


If it was a highlight video highlighting Michael Jordan or Hakeem Olajuwon's fadeaway skill, then that is fine since it is known that they were both skilled in that department.

But to put together a video of Wilt shooting fadeaways is like someone putting together a video of Dwight Howard sinking free throws.

Many of the players of the past were better all around athletes, not the same thing as physically gifted, than the players of today. They played basketball during basketball season, and they played other sports other seasons. Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, who were a physically gifted as any basketball players, were standouts in track and field. How many of today's big men would be competitive in running and jumping events?

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Shaq playing back those days would have been able to do whatever he wanted basically........

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He was able to do it when he actually played, and he would be able to do it today. So it is not a stretch to say he could have done it in the past as well. The same applies to all of the greats. Abdul-Jabbar would be a dominant player in any era. The same for Chamberlain and Russell who would have learned the game differently, and developed their skills more appropriate for today's game style.

People on this site laud Deandre Jordan as one of the best centers in the game. Jordan can't do any of the things that Chamberlain or Russell did nearly as well as either of them.

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Help defenses were pathetic back then.

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Help defenses were illegal back then. You would be called for a technical foul if you strayed too far from the man you were guarding. I know it is hard to believe, but watch how defenders of the past stuck with guys while they were out where the 3 point line is today, even if the offensive guy was not a threat to shoot from that distance.

Rather than change the no help defensive rules the NBA tried to neutralize Chamberlain by widening the lane to make him set up on the low post farther from the basket.

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Rather than change the no help defensive rules the NBA tried to neutralize Chamberlain by widening the lane to make him set up on the low post farther from the basket.

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Watching the video it was funny how little attempt there was by defenders to push him out of that position prior to catching.

I've never argued there weren't great players in the past. I will argue that there was limited defensive emphasis, the Celtics excluded.