 Welcome, to the Complete Collection series. Today we'll be looking at Wilt Chamberlain's great stories, told by NBA players and legends. If you have missed any of the other episodes in this series, there is a playlist link in the description box down below and on the top right corner of your screen. Thank you to everybody who recommended that I make a video on Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt has so many stories that there definitely could be a part 2 and even part 3 in this series. If you would like to be featured on the next episode, let me know which player I should do for the next episode in this series. These videos and this series takes me a long time to edit and produce, so all I ask is that you hit that like button, it would really help me out. If you are new around here and you enjoy these types of videos, be sure to hit that subscribe button and turn the notification bell on so you don't miss an episode in this series in the future. Without further ado, here is the Complete Collection of Wilt Chamberlain's greatest stories. Why is it that we don't recognize Wilt Chamberlain? You played against him. For those of us who never saw him live, what should people know about Wilt as a player? Wilt average 50 in one season. Good day. He average 50 in one season. But it feels like Wilt Chamberlain, we look at it and go, you know, he played in a differently, but I think we view it as, you know, that Wilt Chamberlain guy, he scored 100 in a game, like he was an alien. If you have one player in NBA history that you could start a team around, who would it be? I don't need questions like that, it would be Wilt Chamberlain. Why? He's the greatest big man in the history of the game. To say who is the greatest, we would never know that. I mean, in my eye, Wilt Chamberlain is the greatest basketball player. Who do you think is the greatest of all time, Wilt Chamberlain? But we don't acknowledge, when the topic comes up, greatest players of all time, Wilt Chamberlain's name never comes up. I think when you can see the similarities and you understand, this is one way you can judge to me how much impact did each change or evolved again? With all the technology we have today, they didn't have the ankles, the MRI, all the stuff we have now, they didn't have back then. It's literally the word unbelievable, it's very appropriate for him. I would love to see him play against some of these centers today, it would be pretty embarrassing for them to be candid with you. One of the greatest scores we've ever done, I might have never seen someone like that in that era. We talk about these great performances and we show you stats and we show you clips and we compare these people to Wilt Chamberlain because that's basically who set the bar so high. For a younger generation of basketball fans and people that watch and listen to our show, they think of Wilt Chamberlain as the guy who scored 100 points in a game. Or they see two or three clips of him dunking. Explain to everyone just how versatile Wilt was. Gather around boys and girls, let me teach you who the big dipper is. Let me teach you who Wilt the still is. Lawyer. First of all, we can't compare that, he's on another level. This is a guy during a basketball season, average 50 points. Wilt's 50, did you feel like that's something he could have done every year? No, that's special, that's once in a lifetime. It seems incredible now to think he averaged 50 points. Yeah, 25 rebounds, I mean that's amazing. At 25 rebounds, 50 points and 25 rebounds. You sort of look back, he averaged 50.4 points a game in a season. We got 50 every single night. It was a different game. It was a different game. It was a different game still, 50 points, 25 rebounds, it's 50 points and 25 rebounds. It's a credit to what a physical specimen was and how talented he was. Was a seven footer who literally should have his own record book. This is why a 6-3 guard like Russell Westbrook is being compared to him for triple doubles. A 6-5 guard like James Harden is being compared to him for the way he scores. And a seven foot player like Jokic is being compared to him for having triple doubles. Because he's the unstoppable force in the history of basketball. And it's not just dunks, look at that step back one leg jump shot. People saw Michael Jordan dominate people with the fade away jumper, unstoppable shot. Will Chamberlain invented the fade away. People act like Dirk invented that. Will was doing that there. Finger rolls. Finger rolls, dunks, he could put up video game numbers. Who do you think is the greatest of all time? Will Chamberlain. You think Will Chamberlain is the greatest of all time. So that's the one of the people I am so curious about because when you read about him, you know, you read about how he jumped, you read about what he bench press, you read about his quickness, you know, track, it's just almost, it's almost like, you know, the Bo Jackson, you hear about Bo was a mid, Dion Sanders was a mid, Wilk is in that category to me of Bo, Dion and Wilk. You played against him, right? What was he like when you played against him? Well, you know, there was the two Wilks. There was a Wilk that dominated early on in his career. Then when they said that he, you know, shot too much. People said that he was selfish. So you know what he did? Went back and led the league in assists. He led the league in assists one year. Actually, they played in a triangle offense. A center led the league in assists. Yeah, 1967, 68. I think it was eight and a half. It was the leading number. Chamberlain, back pass for Goodwin. Good! Chamberlain, one of the best in the game and handing off to the cutter. Wilk stopped shooting in his sixth year, sixth or seventh year in the league and became an assist guy and whatnot. So Andy didn't play, he only played 13 years and he played part of one year of that. So he played like 12 years, 12 and a half years, let's say. And he was the all-time leading scorer before everybody else started. He still has 72 records on the books. He's got 68 records by himself. So he's got his, you know, he's tied with four people in another average. I mean, and this has been, what, 40-something years ago. Just numbers in itself tell 50 points a game, 20 average, 20-something rebounds a game. The average for almost 48 minutes a game. I mean, you know. Led the league in assists once, which is unheard of as a center. Exactly. Whatever they said he couldn't do, he did. And now, and that was always what I put my elbow into a solar plexus and I heard him run. And as I was coming back on the court, he was coming after me with his left hand. And I knew that was not to shake my hand because he's right handed. And I knocked this photographer off his stool. I picked up the stool and I reached back to hit Wilk. And by that time, the whole bench on both teams had emptied and Russell was in front of Wilk. Wilk was looking over his shoulders, pointing at me and saying, Sam Jones, I'm going to make you eat the stool. And I was saying, Wilk Chamberlain, I'm going to crack your kneecaps. Well, anyway, that got over. The next night we played in Philadelphia. And so Wilk Chamberlain told me, he said, don't come into the paint tonight. And, you know, being a smarter, like I said, well, I'm going to come in there. The first time I got the ball, I went in for a layup. He did not try to block the ball at all. He blocked my body. He put me flat on my back and I remember him coming and getting close to me and saying, the next time you come in here, I'll knock. He fell on your butt again as he was picking me up. And I says, I won't be back. And that all night I did not come back into the paint. You talk about in your prime how you think you would have maybe stacked up against Shaquille O'Neal or, you know, what do you think might would have happened you versus Shaquille O'Neal today? Because people sometimes lump the two of you together. Probably more qualified than anybody for this one. You played, you were contemporary, I believe, for some period of time with Will Chamberlain. You obviously coached Shaquille O'Neal strengths and weaknesses of each. And if you have to rank them, who's number one? Who's number two on that list of two centers? Will Chamberlain was indeed the most dominant player ever. Well, you know, it's as formidable as Shaq was physically. Just stalwart, 300 pounds of steel and agility and athleticism. What was all of that? One of the most dominant forces we ever had in our game along with Shaq. You had more championships than what? Yeah, I got more championships. But, you know, they like I'm very when it comes to basketball conversations, I'm very arrogant. Only want to hear my name. So when they say who's the most dominant player ever, I want them to say my name. I don't want them to be like, ah, maybe Will, maybe Shaq. That's that don't fly with me. I want them to say Shaq. Does that really bother you? Yeah, it does. Because that was my niche. I wasn't going for the greatest player niche. I wasn't going for, you know, the best. I wasn't going for that because those words are those words are just thrown out, you know, words like most dominant. You got to earn that. So Will averaged 50 in one season. He did. He averaged 50 in one season. So I'm mad because I wanted to pass him up in points. Now, if I had to pass him up, I would have arrogantly said Shaquille and it was the most dominant player ever. Don't ever ask me the question again. Yeah, I got more rings in him, but he got more 50 point games. He got more rebounds and he has more points. Shaquille didn't have quite the same athleticism the will had. He had the bounce and he had the the speed. But he didn't have the endurance that obviously by the 48 minutes a night that we talked about. He had a jump hook, whereas, you know, Will didn't have a jump hook. He had a ray of shots. He had a hook, he had a finger roll, he had a turnaround jump shot. And Shaquille was a post sprinter. Shaquille gets away with what I would consider murder. So they let him go. Yeah, I mean, I would think that when you dip your shoulder and you're on the top of a guy in the fouls, calling the guy laying on the floor, you know, you're getting away with something. So so Shaquille is allowed maybe to score some points that maybe he wouldn't get. Well, he got that some deepest in his favor, though, right? There's gonna be a little bit of a drop between four or five guys on. Like, you're my... Where he'd go down and get in the lane ahead of the crowd. And, Will, it was never, you know, much of a post sprinter. He used to take his time. In fact, when he rebounded, a lot of times he'd bank the guards come back to him to get the ball. So he'd be down there when the ball got to the other end of the court. I think that free throw shooting, big weakness on both spots, it really was. Because we're both terrible foul shooters. But other than that, he plays an entirely different type of basketball game. He uses his physicality. He's a big strong young man. And that works well in today's game. If he was facing me and other guys of my time, not so, not so good. I mean, I'm a guy bench pressing around 600 pounds. 600 pounds? Yeah, right. One night, we were in a playoffs against Philadelphia when he was still with Philadelphia. And they fouled out both Walt Bellamy and Willis Reed and I ended up having to be the third center to go in and play Will to double overtime game. So it was one of those things. But the thing with Will is he would, he took me up with him when he went up to shoot a shot. He was that strong. He was very strong. Thank you for your question. First of all, you're never gonna say who's the greatest of all time. To me, I think that's more for PR and more for selling stories and getting hype. Jack and Tiger never played against each other. They never played in the same tournament. They never played with the same equipment. They never played with the same, you know, length of golf course. I never played against Will Chamberlain. To say who is the greatest, we will never know that. I mean, in my eye, Will Chamberlain is the greatest basketball player. To now say that one's greater than the other is being a little bit unfair. Everybody always points to Michael in making all these changes or things. But Will Chamberlain was the first one that really made changes. He was the first dominant person of basketball. How much impact did each change or evolved again? Let's talk about, well, Michael Jordan. I'm curious. Michael Jordan, say we had a time machine here. What if we could send Michael Jordan back to playing basketball with you in your prime? When you see Michael Jordan, I'm a product of modern basketball, modern technology. With all the technology we have today, they didn't have the ankles, the MRI, all the stuff we have now. They didn't have back then. But all the great achievements comes from Oscar Robinson, Rima Dujibar, Will Chamberlain. So all the basketball players, way before Michael Jordan, I just got the food of the labor, I guess. I learned so much from these guys watching them and I've kind of gained more of the publicity and more of the notoriety because of me learning from what they have done years way before me. A few months ago, they said, Michael, now don't be shy and don't be this and don't be that. Are you the best basketball player that ever played? And Michael said, yes, I am. We're at the NBA's all-time team celebration, Cleveland, 1997. When they announced the top 50 players, right? Which you were on that list, right, when they announced them. I heard when they were bringing everybody up at the end of the row is Will and Michael Jordan and they're sitting at a table arguing vociferously as to who the greatest player of all time was and they're really looking for it and just, it's just intense as can be. Jordan and Will were debating on who's the greatest and Stern had to say, come on up here. We're going really at it and one's saying I am, the other one's saying I am, they're going, but you couldn't do this and Meyer, I did this and I was doing this and I changed the game with this. It bothers you when people talk about him as being the greatest player of all time. Well, it bothers me because we all have our opinions. I contend Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player I've ever lived. I would put you number two only because you only won two championships. Now people are gonna say, well, you know what? He had a lot of stats in this and that. You won two world championships, okay? I have a friend of mine who I talked to about once a week. You know what he says about Michael's four championships? Mm-hmm. He doesn't say anything about it. Because he has 11, Bill Russell. I don't think, you know, you can predicate how great a guy really is or because he has championships. A lot of guys on those championship teams have done nothing. I won six championship. Bill Russell won 11. Does that make Bill Russell better than me and make me better than him? No, because we play at different eras. So when you try to equate who's the greatest of all time, it's an unfair parallel. It's an unfair choice. Michael Jordan is one of those rare specimens that could have played at any particular time and is a gift that athlete who is using those gifts in basketball incredibly so. I think that almost every man in the NBA should give him 10% of their checks. Now what would his playing style, how would that have translated back then? Well, his playing style is he's six foot seven and he's like 197 pounds. Coming into what we call our domain, the pivot for us big guys, we've not been very wise of Michael. To me, there's no real debate, you know, as far as I was concerned. I mean, we've had great players as far as, you know, with Michael and of course, the Bron. You know, everybody, Michael set a tone for the guys from the eighties up. I know that basketball is a team game. Right. And you've already made Michael number one. So if you had to have willed against Michael, my prime and his prime, how much money would you be rolled with that? Close or not even close? Oh, everybody's close, but you know, well, just did things. I mean, you talk in terms of, you said don't, you know, from the free throw line, free throws. I actually saw this and I think to this day, people don't believe it, but he wasn't at the top of the circle, but he was about three steps behind it on a free throw and he ran to the free throw line, took off and dunked the ball. And in the rules at that time, you could. I think I could have been very definitely instrumental because I was chairman of the basketball coaches rules recommendation committee. And I explained to the coaches at the convention what I saw and said that, you know, something's gonna have to be done so that we don't have guys that can dunk the ball on the free throw line and they changed that rule. The rule because you have to stay behind the free throw line until the ball hits the back. You had a little 13 foot lanes. That got expanded. I mean, he did things that into today's is still a part of the game what's made the game what it is today. Revolutionary type of guy. I'll tell you a great magic story. I'm a coach at UCLA and he used to come to the men's gym and organize games. There were a lot of pickup games all the time and he used to make the sides and stack them. So one night I'm watching and Kevin O'Connor in the stands, Will Chamberlain's playing with four of my freshmen against Magic, Bernard King, James Worthy, Byron Scott, and Green. AC Green, AC Green. And it's game point. Magic throws a skyhook. Will blocks it. Magic calls game. And Will says, that wasn't gold tendon. That was a clean block. And Magic took the ball. He said, game over next. And Will said, hey coach, was that gold tendon? And I said, no, that was a clean block. Magic says, what do you think he's gonna say? They're his kids. And Will says, all right, look, we're gonna play a game till 12. We'll do it again, winner stays and there'll be no more shots made at this basket. He blocked every shot, 43 years old. He was blocking everything. It was unbelievable. Somebody used to play in those 80s games who I asked, who's the best player you ever played with or against told me it was about a 50 year old Will Chamberlain at those UCLA pickup games. He was that kind of physical presence. My friend, Will, Norman Chamberlain, was far away the best player I've ever played against. We cannot throw out what Will. Will is Will. I mean, obviously he didn't win championships, but I'm with Shaq, you go with winners because Bill Russell won so much, but when you start saying, which would you start a team with, it's hard to go against a big difference. It's hard to go against him. As far as basketball skills are concerned, there's never been anybody to accomplish what Will Chamberlain has accomplished. And he was an incredible human being, an incredible physical specimen and a great athlete. And I don't think anybody will come along who will be able to match the records that Will has accomplished. He just never had the personnel like Bill Russell had to go along with him. If Will had the good fortune of having as many great teammates as Bill Russell had, I think that his record of championships would have been phenomenal. Keep in mind that in his NBA career, Bill Russell has zero individual all-time records. Michael Jordan has three all-time NBA records. Will Chamberlain has 56 all-time NBA records. Now tell me who's the greatest player of all time. With all deference to Bill Russell and the winning, the men average, I don't care what era, he averaged 50 and 25 for it. He's got to be on Mount Rushmore. He didn't win enough, but he was going against the Celtics every single year. And you can't even argue by the numbers. Will Chamberlain, the most dominant player ever in this game. But we do not acknowledge Will Chamberlain. We have forgot about him. And he's one of the most athletic players who's ever played the game. He led the league in assists. He led the league in field goal percentage, led the league in block shots. He led, whatever you wanted him to do, he was gonna do. People seem to think that your friendship with him helped you a little bit competitively because he liked you so much. That's a crock. Do you know what the NBA rebound record is? It's 55 rebounds by Will Chamberlain. Do you know who the other center was that night? It was Bill Russell. Now, how's that taking easy? Yeah, he did that in November of 1960. So, you know, his second year in the league, 55 rebounds, that to me is incredible because, you know, against Bill Russell, they were the two great rebounders in the history of the game. He called me up one day. Swanson Illustrated had a cover and said, it's Dennis Rodman, the best rebounder ever. Oh, God. And Will was so annoyed. And I created up, so annoyed. So he called me up and he asked me, did I believe in this bleep? And so I said, well, I don't pay attention to that. He says, I had more rebounds a quarter than he had on the whole game. In the 60s, Will was just picked apart more than any athlete. Why doesn't he do this? Why does he only care about numbers? Did you think it was fair? Well, I'll tell you one thing. I never did it in that position. You never said one thing? He got to 100 points against my team, the Knicks. That was in Hershey, Pennsylvania, but I read about it immediately the next day. 50 years ago, please score 100 points. That's right, 100 points. 100 points in one game, which I believe was versus the Knicks, 1962. That's right. Is that right? It's a long, long time ago. Right here, right, right, right. Was there a point? 100 points in one game. The game was on TV, just some pictures remain, but you better believe that night lives on and the memories of those who saw it. He scored 100 points in a game in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Now you were in that game and the night that he got 100, were you cognizant of that? Did you talk about it at halftime or did you treat it like a no-hitter? When Dave Zinkoff, who you remember was doing the game, he started calling every point after that. And he would say, and that's 82, and that's 83. Oh, Zinkoff. Well, then we became cognizant that he had a chance. Get into the big guy. That was amazing. I believe that a great basketball player or a good night for him or a hot night for him can score 100 points. I believe that, sincerely. I'll be the other records I have that they may have a hard time ever taking a look at. They always said he was by far the strongest person who's ever played there. Absolutely, I mean, I remember he lifted me up to be one arm like nothing. Probably the greatest play I have ever seen in my life. Will Chamberlain was involved with, with Gus Johnson. Will was standing there. Gus goes up to Duncan. Will catches the ball, throws Gus to the floor, still holding the ball. They carry Gus off the court with a dislocated shoulder from bouncing off the floor. I don't see how anyone in the NBA will ever be as strong as he was. One time in a game, Casey Jones tied him up. He was really upset. And so, Will Chamberlain picked up the ball with Casey still attached. And he picked it up with his arms extended, brought it to his chest and threw a two-handed chest pass with Casey still on the ball. That's how strong he was. He came to the gym and he would do a tricep extension. That like the big guys, the strongest guys would do, let's say 120 pounds, let's say, tricep extension, putting down, right? He would come and he would do 150, 170 pounds with Chamberlain. That's how strong he was. When he made the moves with Arnold Schwarzenegger, they were at the weight room. And Will says, well, how do you do that? And Arnold goes, well, that's where you do it. You push up. So I go, Will lays down on the bench, gets up under it. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. And Schwarzenegger never came into the weight room with Will to get it. Now, when you're 32 years old, you know, you haven't quite checked your ego at the door yet. And I wasn't quite ready to, you know, to check my ego at the door. So Dick McGuire, who was a teammate of mine, and he said, well, the job is yours. So he offered me the job. I said, well, Dick, let me think about it. We played the exhibition game against the Philadelphia Warriors in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I saw Will for the first time. I said, it's time to go. I said, it's time. I told him, I said, you know what, man, you did me a great favor. He said, what do I do? I said, you know, you took a hand of ringing and gut wrenching decision and made it a no brainer. It's time. When the game ended, I was Dick's assistant coach. And I remember there was a game against Brooklyn. I played with Brooklyn and we'll play with the team from Philly. And we had this game against them and it was one of probably one of the best games you've ever seen, but everybody don't remember because it wasn't on video, it was just pre-video. So, I mean, it was a great game. And I think the, and we had a guy by the name of Jackie Jackson, who was like six foot four and actually touched the top of the backboard. I've heard people talk about guys touching the backboard, this guy can do it. And we ran a play and we used to shoot this fade away jump shot. He used to go up high and shoot it off the glass. So we had a play that we make whoop, shoot this jump shot and Jackie will come up and block it. And we had the play set up perfect. Whoop went in and turned, shot a jump shot. Jackie came from the weak side and quartered it right at the top of the backboard. And the crowd went crazy. People were running around the place and jumping off the fence and almost jumping off the ceilings and stuff. And it was just phenomenal. And we looked over at Wilton, what was staring at us and he will call time out, just call time out like that. And everybody was still running around and screaming and back then there wasn't high five. They were giving everybody low five and stuff. Everybody was clapping and carrying on. And then the next 15 plays were dunks by Wilk that I've never seen before in my life. He dunked every single way he can be imagined for it. And I hope you guys enjoyed the video. If you did, help me out by hitting that like button, subscribing if you're new for more NBA content just like this and hit that notification button so you never miss an episode in the series. Thank you for watching. Peace.