Oldheads doing what oldheads so.

This video is so weird for me.

Wilt looks insanely lively and happy here.

To know he’d die two years later just feels unreal.

20 years from now, Steph will say he can average 50 a game with the 4-point line and with the triple gather rule.

If I die and go to heaven I’m gonna be bugging God with so many dumbass hypotheticals imma treat it like ChatGPT.

“Yo can you put Daniel Gafford in the 60s rq im tryna see if he’d put up wilt numbers”

The only person who could be like I’d average 70 and then point to a stretch of games where he averaged 70

I think if you ask MJ which teams in the last 10-15 years would beat his best Bulls teams, he’s say the same.

No ideas original ain’t nothin new under the sun

Why is basketball the only sport that consistently has older players calling the new generation soft or easier. I’ve never seen Jerry Rice saying he could get 250 YPG today, or Pele saying he’d average a hat trick

Sure Wilt might be able to score a little easier since the rules are skewed towards the offense now, but how many 7 footers was he going up against in the 50s and 60s? How many times was he having to guard people at the 3 point line? How many times was he getting punished for not sprinting back on defense? He sure as hell ain’t playing 48 minutes in today’s game

This is why I just ignore any “Back in my day” talk, it’s always just based on nostalgia

I hope he haunts you in your dreams tonight, OP.

Teams wanted Wilt when he was 50 years old. Dude was a force of nature.

I don’t think Wilt is particularly out of pocket here.

Well Bill has a point, if they play by 60s rules

Modern NBA players probably couldn’t figure out how to dribble without traveling

Wilt was the original Wemby (with the weight of prime Hulk Hogan) Him playing today prob make even Wemby think twice whether he should continue playing in the league. And Bill was right since he famously said, “The way I play, my team wins ” which they did with the eleven rings with Bill as a player & a player coach. Can’t even go against the one who was dubbed Lord of the Rings. Not even Jordan.

Let greybeard and wrinkledick have their memories, they ain’t hurting anyone.

Russell’s point is probably true, due to league expansion. He was playing in a league with between 8-14 teams. You could remove the 5 starters from one of those ‘60s Celtics teams and still have a roster that would’ve made the playoffs in 1997.

I mean they right.

imagine Shaq with an outside shot but better footwork…actually everything better than Shaq. dude fucked around and got an assists title cause people said he was being selfish​

OP needs a snickers

Wilt might be the only person on the planet capable of saying this and giving me pause

Not that surprising. The game might have changed, but so have the medicals and conditioning.

FWIW, the league was pretty watered down and weak in the late 90s. By then the great teams of the 80s had aged out and it was just Jordan’s Bulls winning against whatever was left over. From 1988-1995, the league had added 6 expansion teams. I think the league was much stronger before (mid 80s) AND after (past 20 years). The league today is far better than it was in 1997.

Even so, this was still just oldheads exaggerating. The league and players are constantly evolving and getting stronger. The sport is infinitely more popular globally and the amateur development circuit is in a completely different stratosphere than it was when these guys were learning basketball in the 1950s. In the 1950s you’re talking about a game still somewhat in it’s infancy with 10-20 million people globally casually playing it, but barely knowing what they were doing. Today you’re talking about close to a billion people playing the sport, collectively on a far higher level. The infrastructure and the very nature of “casual” play in the 50s vs today are light-years different. In the 1950s you couldn’t just show up in any gym in any random suburb in America on a random Tuesday and have a high level pickup basketball game, for instance. You simply can’t understate what it means for someone like Payton Pritchard (an insanely skilled elite backup) to be a top 100 player in a today’s world. You stick him on one of those 8 teams in 1959’s NBA, he’s going to blow minds harder than Marty McFly playing Van Halen at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

The thing is, we want to embrace and revere the icons of the past and show them the upmost respect. I get it. I have an entire wall of autographs in my office of legendary Boston players like Satch Sanders, John Havlicek and Jo Jo White. However, I have this discussion with fellow Boston fans all the time that when you’re talking about “greatest Celtics of all time”, you have to separate accolades from abilities. If you’re talking awards, it’s hard to compete with the likes of Tom Heinsohn or Sam Jones. Dave Cowens was literally an MVP in 1973. How you gonna argue against that? But if we’re talking actual basketball ability like we’re doing a single season draft of every Celtic player in their prime, regardless of accolades, you have to acknowledge that the players are just getting more and more advanced. I might have 1986 Bird, 2024 Tatum and 2008 Garnett in my top 3. And I might even have someone like 2026 Jaylen Brown in my top 5. And as much as my fellow Celtic fans hate it, if I’m grabbing 2019 Kyrie Irving outside the top 10 picks, while you take (4x champ, 8x all-star, 7x all-nba) Bill Sharman over him, I’ll take my chances on the court with what is probably the steal of the draft.

I’m with wilt. I truly think the NBA helped MJ a ton by making zone defense illegal. He got to play 1 on 1 much more often then when Wilt played and the entire team was trying to guard him

A certain amount of confidence and self belief is probably necessary to be a great athlete. Maybe not to this degree, but it does kind of come with the territory. I’ve seen humility from Gretzky and some other sports legends, but that may be the exception rather than the rule.

The Russell claim is not too crazy. Those Celtics squads were right up there with the greatest ever. You give them proper sports medicine, training, etc., and they would adapt to the modern game.

Shaq really was the next Wilt, same hating.

Imagine how much more he would average back then if he travelled by first class jet, stayed at the highest end hotels and load managed.

He absolutely would not. Think - let’s take the middle of that number. 60ppg. For every game that he scores only 45, still a massive game, he would have to have a game where he scores 75. Not happening.

Yea, okay OG.

It’s the same mindset that a shocking number of people have when they think about players playing today. It’s silly.

96 Bulls sweep any Bill Russell led Boston team. MJ legit averages 45 a game

“The best athletes were the guys from the ’50’s and 60’s”

Old heads gonna old head

If there are any 2 players in history who are allowed to talk like this it’s bill and wilt. Truly peerless in their defensive and offensive impact, respectively.

You can’t rag on these dudes cause current NBA players are gonne be saying the same exact thing in 30 years.

They said this about the 90s

Prime shaq would be a rude awakening for both these guys.

Seems like some fun push back against the idea that modern players are just “better athletes” or “more skilled” than previous generations.

Players from different eras tuned their games to different rule sets and officiating styles.

Basketball fans would be better off if we talked more about greatness within eras than GOATs

Even today I have a hard time seeing even the greatest players being able to keep up with the raw physicality and athleticism of a prime Tommy Heinsohn, especially after a refreshing, energizing unfiltered Winston

Nostalgia is a helluva drug.

“Averaged 71”. He only (only) broke 70 three times that entire season (only).

There is a golden statue at the oldhead museum and buffet of fame for wilt.

I don’t think Wilt is wrong, frankly. Zone defense was illegal at the time, and double teams could only rotate to the player catching the ball or already with the ball. And only the George Karl’s Supersonics were actively rotating to the player before the ball was in their hands (his unique double-trap defense). One on one only Shaq was possibly stopping Wilt. Mutumbo would get his blocks but Wilt was much faster in his time so I expect he’d dribble or pivot around him quite frequently. I think he’d dismantle Ewing. I’d love to see him play Hakeem. I don’t think Mourning was big enough. I don’t think there were any other centers who could do anything against him.

Wilt probably really believed that, but he doesn’t account for the steady line of massive bodies he’d face every game. Prime Wilt could probably average 30 in every era, but no more than that.

This is prime Michael Jordan time too. Sounds like he was trying to stay relevant at the time.

If they played today they’d get demolished. Today’s players would be taking an extra step or two on every play, drawing contact and getting to the line. The spacing and pace would disrupt them.

They assume their physicality would over power todays teams when in reality they’d be too gassed.

Kwame brown would FRY him

What is it about basketball old heads that makes them always hate on the new gen

Like I follow football (soccer) and there is not a chance in hell you would see old players saying ‘I would score 60 goals today’, and if you do it’s very rare

If you take baby Wilt and raise him in the new era, his talent would obviously be generational still and his numbers would no doubt be crazy.

If you grown ass adult wilt and transport him into the new era he ain’t averaging shit.

If you put yester years players in today’s game that would get cooked. If you put today’s players in yester years games, today’s players would cook. Talent is overall just so much better now. Like any profession it evolves and skills evolve and improve.

Wilt’s an ass. Russell’s comments are reasonable, considering his teams had basically an entire rotation of Hall of Famers and modern (even at that time) roster rules stopped that from happening.