Wilt Chamberlain's resume

[King Taharqa]

[ZB1224]

Giving so much pie in this thread lol. Everyone is honestly doing a very good job of presenting their argument, as well as backing it up. I'm definitely gaining a lot of information. One of the better threads I've seen in the basketball section.

[RelaxImaPro]

Ain't Whiteville where Otis Nixon is from?

Here's a recent article on the great Sam Jones. He went to school at my alma mater...

http://www.newsobser...-sam-jones.html

Nah, he's from around the area though... Chris Wilcox, Patrick Lennon and Chester McGlockton are all from Whiteville though. You probably heard of Chester at least, he was a 3x All-Pro, 4x Pro-Bowler DT that played with the Raiders back in the 90s. He was a bit of a journeyman after that though and passed away about 2 years ago. May or may not have heard of Wilcox, idk, he hasn't really done too much in his time in the league, he's on the Celtics now though.

And I totally forgot Wilt played in Conan, though it's been a while since I saw any of those movies.

[King Taharqa]

Of all his memories of Wilt Chamberlain, the one that stood out for Larry Brown happened long after Chamberlain's professional career was over. On a summer day in the early 1980s at the Men's Gym on the UCLA campus, Chamberlain showed up to take part in one of the high-octane pickup games that the arena constantly attracted. Brown was the coach of the Bruins back then, and Chamberlain often drove to UCLA from his home in Bel Air, Calif. "Magic Johnson used to run the games," Brown recalled Tuesday after hearing that Chamberlain, his friend, had died at the age of 63, "and he called a couple of chintzy fouls and a goaltending on Wilt. "So Wilt said: 'There will be no more layups in this gym,' and he blocked every shot after that. That's the truth, I saw it. He didn't let one (of Johnson's) shots get to the rim." Chamberlain would have been in his mid-40s at the time, a decade removed from one of the greatest careers any basketball player ever produced. But the advancing years meant little to Chamberlain in terms of physical conditioning. Into his 50s and his 60s, Chamberlain remained an incredible specimen -- a mountain of a man who was as coordinated and talented athletically as he was imposing physically. The Cleveland Cavaliers called him in the early '80s and asked him if he'd still be interested in playing. Five or six years later, when Chamberlain was 50, the New Jersey Nets had the same idea. Neither of those potential comebacks ever came to pass, but the very idea of signing a player so old shows just how well Chamberlain kept himself in shape -- and how shocked people were when they heard he had died.

When word came that Chamberlain had died, Brown passed along the news to his team, the Philadelphia 76ers, and told them a story that tried to put one of Chamberlain's greatest accomplishments -- averaging more than 50 points in a season -- into perspective. "It was a night when someone, Bernard King or Adrian Dantley, scored 50 points," said Brown, who coached at Kansas and played at North Carolina -- the two schools that took part in one of the greatest college games ever, the 1957 NCAA championship game won by the Tar Heels against Chamberlain's Jayhawks. "It was the 257th time a player other than Wilt had scored 50 or more, but all that did was tie the number of times Wilt did it," Brown said.

http://static.espn.g...012/110842.html

A pic of old man Wiltie in his late 50s standing with Patrick Ewing and young Shaq in '92. Between the 3 of them, who looks more physically imposing to you?

[King Taharqa]

didn't he claim to have banged over 10,000 women?!!! that's a stat that won't be beat either!

from WILT: Just like any other 7-foot black millionaire who lives next door

"Probably the two questions I get asked the most about my house are 'Aren't you lonely in that big place all by yourself?' and 'Why would you build a house like that when you're not even married?'

In a way, I guess, the two questions are almost the same-and they're both stupid. In the first place, why would I be any more lonely in a big house than a small house? You can only be in one room at a time; what difference does it make if there are three other rooms or 23 other rooms in the house? Besides, you don't have to be alone to be lonely. Loneliness, is a state of mind, not a matter of numbers. I've been far lonelier, at times, in a huge crowd than I've ever been by myself-and I'll bet most people have had the same experience.

When I'm asked why a bachelor like me would build a house like mine, I tend to respond with a speech, rather than an answer. I will never understand why people think married men have some special stability and respectability and obligation that single men can't have. A single man might as well give up any hope of getting to the top-or even near the top-in business and politics in our society; why, do you know we've had only one bachelor among our (44) Presidents-and that was James Buchanan, who was inaugurated (156) years ago! I want a house-a home-for myself and to share with my friends. Why do I need a wife and children to share it, too?

'Will you ever get married and have kids?' people ask me. I'm not sure. But I do know I'll never father my own children; if I want children, I'll adopt them. As I've already said, I think the overpopulation problem is a big one, and I'm not about to contribute to it. That would be hypocritical. There are plenty of unwanted little kids in this world who could use a good home, and since I have no egotistical, masculine compulsion to produce a lot of little Wilties, I'd like to help them find one.

As for marriage, well, I've always thought that weddings-like funerals-are more for friends and families of the principals than for the principals themselves. None of the Chamberlain boys has exactly rushed into marriage. Oliver didn't get married until he was 28, and Wilbert-who's 40-isn't married yet. I may never have a wife either, in the legal and traditional sense. I can see no reason, in 1973, for the state to have anything to say about the status of two adults who choose to live together. If a man and woman-or two men or two women, for that matter-want to commemorate the beginning of their formal life together with a religious ceremony of some sort, that's entirely up to them. But I don't think the state should be in the business of selling marriage licenses. That's just none of their damn business. If this were the old days, when laws-and custom-prevented women from working, I could understand the need for the state to provide them with some measure of security and protection. But almost any woman who wants to work today can earn a livable wage. It may not always be as much as a man would be paid for the same job-which is absolutely wrong-but it's certainly enough, in most instances, to eliminate the need for the state to use marriage as a vehicle for the protection of women.

My strong feeling about this principle isn't the only reason I've never gotten married-or never even entered into a long-term common-law relationship with a woman. The most obvious reason is that I haven't found the right girl yet-and I may not know the right girl, even if I do find her.

I tend to be very fickle. I get tired of a girl fairly quickly, and when I do, I "fire" her. Who knows-I may already have fired one or two girls who would have made ideal wives for me if I'd kept them around long enough to really get to know them.

I have had girls living with me occasionally, but I think the longest relationship like that I've ever had was three weeks, back in 1967 or '68, with an Australian girl. Maybe I'm just afraid to commit myself fully to another person; maybe I'm afraid that in a long term relationship I'd be too vulnerable, my faults and shortcomings too evident. But I think the biggest reason I'm not married, legally or otherwise, is that I'm a gambler-and smart gamblers don't buck high house odds.

In my 14 years in the NBA, I've had almost 100 different teammates. I've probably also had pretty good relationships with almost as many players on other teams. Of all those players, there was only one-Paul Arizin-who really seemed content with his marriage, and didn't use our road trips to find new ways of cheating on his wife all the time. I'm sure a few of other guys have been happy, faithful husbands, too-but not many of them, judging by what I've seen. I'm not just talking about the guys with playboy reputations either; some of the most active philanderers in the NBA are players who have wholesome, all-American-boy reputations.

For all my image as a swinger-and my personal disdain for the institution of marriage-I take a dim view of infidelity. To my knowledge, I have never gone to be with another man's wife-and I never will. I think that once a person makes a commitment of love to another person-whether in legal marriage or not-that commitment should be fulfilled.

I'm not sure I could keep such a commitment myself; that's why I haven't made one. I've never actually told a girl 'I love you.' I guess I like variety and change too much. I think there are too many wonderful, beautiful women in this world to commit myself to just one. Maybe, as I grow older, I'll change. But in pro basketball, the separations from your loved ones can be too frequent-and the temptations on the road too overwhelming-for a man of my appetite to try and combine basketball and a one-man, one-woman relationship"

[King Taharqa]

LOOKING AT THE COMPETITION...

Here is another basketball card from the 1972 season. It is the league leader's in FG% (aka shooting efficiency). You will notice Wilt Chamberlain's name at the top at 64.9%. In the 41 years since only 3 players have shot better from the field than that, 1 of those players being Wilt himself in his final season the following year (72.7%) at age 36. The other 2 are HOF Center Artis Gilmore (31, 32 years old) in 1981 (67.0%) & 1982 (65.2%), and Tyson Chandler (29 years old) in 2012 (67.9%). Wilt was 35 in 1972, an old man by basketball standards, but he still shot better than all of the younger players in the league. Here's a little tidbit on those guys on the list.

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (7'2 225 lbs Center, 24 years old, Milwaukee Bucks)

When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left the game in 1989 at age 42, no NBA player had ever scored more points, blocked more shots, won more Most Valuable Player Awards, played in more All-Star Games or logged more seasons. His list of personal and team accomplishments is perhaps the most awesome in league history: Rookie of the Year, member of six NBA championship teams, six-time NBA MVP, two-time NBA Finals MVP, 19-time All-Star, two-time scoring champion, and a member of the NBA 35th and 50th Anniversary All-Time Teams. He also owned eight playoff records and seven All-Star records. No player achieved as much individual and team success as did Abdul-Jabbar.

3. Walt Bellamy (6'11 245 lbs Center, 32 years old, Atlanta Hawks)

Walt Bellamy's numbers are indisputable. He averaged 20.1 points and 13.7 rebounds over a career that lasted 13 seasons and one game of a 14th. He is one of only seven players to score more than 20,000 points and grab more than 14,000 rebounds, a group that includes Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elvin Hayes, Robert Parish, Moses Malone and Karl Malone. He played in four All-Star Games and he was the NBA's Rookie of the Year in 1962. He won a Gold medal as the starting Center for the US Olympic team in 1960. Bellamy was inducted into the Naismith HOF in 1993.

4. Dick Snyder (6'5 207 lbs Shooting Guard, 27 years old, Seattle Supersonics)

is an former player from North Canton, OH who played for the St. Louis Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics, and Cleveland Cavaliers. Snyder attended college at Davidson College (Davidson, NC), and was drafted by the Hawks in the second round of the 1966 NBA Draft. A solid shooting guard, Snyder achieved his greatest basketball successes with the SuperSonics franchise.

During the early 1970s, Snyder was often among the league leaders in field goal percentage. Perhaps his best season statistically was the 1970-71 season when he averaged 19.4 points per game and was fifth in the league in both field goal and free throw percentage. Traded to Cleveland after the 1974 season, Snyder returned to the SuperSonics in his final season in 1978-79 where he earned an NBA championship ring.

In 2011, Snyder was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame

5. Jerry Lucas (6'8 235 lbs Center, 31 years old, New York Knicks)

Jerry Lucas wasn't particularly tall or bruising, nor was he a great leaper, but his name can be found at the top of any list of great rebounding forwards in NBA history. The 6-8 Lucas hauled down 12,942 rebounds for an average of 15.6 per game, the fourth-best career mark in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Bob Pettit. Lucas is also one of only 5 players (Chamberlain, Russell, Thurmond, Pettit) in NBA history to average over 20 rebounds per game in a season. And he's only one of 3 (Chamberlain, Thurmond) to average "20 and 20" for a season.

In 1979, Lucas was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was an NBA All-Star seven times, a member of the All-NBA First Team three times, and a Second-Team selection twice. He won a Gold medal in 1960, an NBA Championship in 1973 with the Knicks, and in 1965 was all-star game MVP. His efforts also earned him a spot on the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team and Lucas still looms large in the memories of NBA fans.

6. Walt "Clyde" Frazier (6'4 200 lbs Point Guard, 26 years old, New York Knicks)

With a nickname taken by a Knicks trainer from the folk-hero robber Clyde Barrow, whose life was chronicled in the film Bonnie and Clyde, Frazier presided over the Knicks for 10 years from 1967 to 1977. He left holding team records for points scored, games played and assists.

Frazier later spent portions of three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, ending his career in 1979 with a lifetime average of 18.9 points per game in 825 regular-season games and 20.7 points per game in 93 playoff contests. But it was with the Knicks that Frazier helped redefine the character of professional basketball, significantly boosting its popularity in New York and beyond.

As a Knicks player, Frazier scored 19.3 points per game, played in seven NBA All-Star Games, and was named to four All-NBA First Teams and seven NBA All-Defensive First Teams. He is especially remembered for his inspirational performance in the seventh and deciding game of a thrilling 1970 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. He won another title in 1973.

When his playing days had concluded, Frazier's accomplishments on the court were still being acknowledged. In 1979, the Knicks retired Frazier's No. 10 jersey. In 1987, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. And in 1996, he was elected to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.

7. Jon McGlocklin (6'5 205 lbs Shooting Guard, 28 years old, Milwaukee Bucks)

A sharpshooting 6'5" guard from Indiana University, McGlockin was selected by the Cincinnati Royals in the third round of the 1965 NBA Draft, but he is best known for his 8-season (1968–1976) tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks, with whom he won an NBA Championship (as a teammate of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson) in 1971. He scored 9,169 points in his NBA career, and his #14 jersey has been retired by the Bucks franchise. He also appeared in the 1969 NBA All-Star Game

McGlocklin was best known for his high-arcing "rainbow" jump shot from the wings, in what would now be three-point territory. It was most effective when paired in a two-man play with Jabbar: if the opposing guard fell back to double-team Jabbar, McGlocklin would make them pay from the perimeter; when the guard came out to defend him, he would pass the ball down to Jabbar with only one defender, who under most circumstances was out-matched.

He was selected as one of the Top 50 Basketball Players of the 20th Century in the state of Indiana, as well as being inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association, and Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fames.

For the last 25 years, McGlocklin has been a member of the Bucks' television broadcasting team, alongside Jim Paschke.

On the night of his retirement in 1976, Jon founded the MACC Fund, which has become nationally recognized in its fight against childhood cancer.

He was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.

8. Chet Walker (6'6 212 lbs Small Forward, 31 years old, Chicago Bulls)

During his 13-year NBA career with the Sixers and the Chicago Bulls in the 1960s and 1970s, Walker amassed 18,831 points and earned seven All-Star Team selections. Only twice did his scoring average dip below 15 points per game -- a noteworthy achievement given that offensive opportunities in Philadelphia were rationed among future Hall of Famers Chamberlain, Greer and Billy Cunningham. And in Chicago they were shared with the formidable Bob Love.

“Chet the Jet” was among the best open-court forwards of his day. He particularly enjoyed drawing fouls and then taking his .796 free-throw form to the charity stripe. Walker played tenacious defense and proved remarkably durable. He never missed more than six games in any season, and he became one of the few players to appear in more than 1,000 games (1,032) for his career.

Walker’s teams made the playoffs every year, and he had identical career scoring averages of 18.2 points per game in both the regular season and the postseason. His impact was most evident in Chicago, where the Bulls reached the playoffs in each of Walker’s six seasons but not in the year before he arrived or the year after he left.

Walker’s six-year honeymoon in Chicago ended in 1975 when management rejected his $200,000-a-year salary demand. They also refused to trade or release him. So Walker went to court, suing the Bulls and the NBA for violation of federal antitrust laws. Walker lost the case. At age 35, coming off a season in which he averaged 19.2 ppg despite tendinitis-wracked knees, an embittered Walker was through. As for the Bulls, their win count plummeted by half in 1975-76, to 24 games.

Over the years Walker had kept in touch with his buddy Zev Braun, a Beverly Hills movie producer. After losing his court case Walker moved to Tinseltown, hooked up with Braun, and embarked on a new career. The transition was not easy, as he told HOOP magazine in 1985: “The adjustment was very difficult. I’ve been out eight years and I’m just now beginning to relax in life. You have to learn there’s more to life than basketball.”

Working with Braun and other producers, Walker ushered through a number of projects. Among them were “Freedom Road,” a 1980 NBC miniseries starring Kris Kristofferson and Muhammad Ali; the 1983 film The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu, the late Peter Sellers’s final picture; “Holy Angels,” an NBC movie of the week and the 1995 film The Glass Shield starring Ice Cube.

It was “The Mary Thomas Story” in 1989, however, that gave Walker the most personal satisfaction. “I saw Isiah’s struggle growing up on the West Side of Chicago. I found it very frustrating,” he told HOOP. “The story of Isiah’s mother is so similar to my own life.”

The film, shot on location in the Thomas family’s neighborhood, portrayed Mary Thomas’s struggles to raise her nine children without her husband, who had left the home when Isiah was 3 years old. On one occasion she warded off a gang of hoods with a shotgun. “There’s only one gang here, and I lead it,” she warned the youths, who had come looking for Isiah. “Get off my porch or I’ll blow you off it!”

9. Lucius Allen (6'2 175 lbs Point Guard, 24 years old, Milwaukee Bucks)

Prior to his NBA career, he became an All-American as part of two of legendary coach John Wooden's UCLA NCAA Championship teams, in 1967 and 1968. The 1968 team, featuring three consensus All-Americans, Allen, Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Mike Warren, is considered by many to be the greatest team in men's college basketball history. After being suspended for his senior year at UCLA for receiving a second citation for possessing a small quantity marijuana, Allen was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1st round (3rd pick) of the 1969 NBA Draft. As a member of the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks team, which also featured UCLA teammate Alcindor, Allen earned an NBA championship ring. He also played with Abdul-Jabbar for two seasons, from 1975-1977, in Los Angeles, but not winning a championship in either of those years. Allen was traded the following season to cross-town, Missouri-based Kansas City Kings, winning the division championship in 1979, and retired from basketball after that season. Allen played 10 years in the NBA for four different teams. His highest scoring average was 19.1 points per game, during the 1974-1975 campaign. Part of the way through that season he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers after playing with the Milwaukee Bucks since the 1970-1971 season.

10. Lou Hudson (6'5 210 lbs Shooting Guard, 27 years old, Atlanta Hawks)

Lou Hudson graduated from Dudley High School in Greensboro, NC. After starring at the University of Minnesota, Hudson was selected by the St. Louis Hawks with the 4th pick of the 1966 NBA Draft. He was named to the 1967 NBA All-Rookie Team after averaging 18.4 points per game in his first season. At 6'5", Hudson could play as either a guard or a forward, and he had a long and successful professional career, scoring 17,940 points in 13 seasons (1966–1979). He was a six time All-Star with the Hawks (who moved to Atlanta in 1968), and he earned the nickname "Sweet Lou" for his smooth and effective jump shot. Hudson's jersey number has been retired by both the Atlanta Hawks and the University of Minnesota.

[King Taharqa]

from A View From Above

"As I said in the HBO show, I think I would be even more dominating in today's game. Here's why.

First of all, the rules of the game today definitely favor a player like I was. Zone defenses are now illegal-it's called four or five times a game these days and that would strongly favor a Wilt Chamberlain type of basketball player. They did consider zone defense illegal when I was playing, but back then they never enforced it. Before I even got my hands on the basketball when I was on offense, there would be two or three opposing players all around me. When I played against the Celtics, Bill Russell would be behind me, K.C. Jones would drop down from the weak side, and Tommy Heinsohn would come over from the other side of the court, all before I even got the ball. Today, that would be called; those guys could not triple-team me in that fashion.

(By the way, I think the no-zone defense in the pro game is stupid. I think pros should be allowed to play any defense they choose. If all five guys want to stand in front of the basket to keep a guy rom coming and dunking the basketball, then they should be allowed to do that. it's ridiculous when a player has to be told what part of the floor he can stand on, where he can go, and when he can go there.)

Without zones, I would be allowed to go head to head with other centers. In my day, there was no one player who could contain me one on one in the pivot position. Today there is definitely no center who could contain me one on one. I once averaged fifty points a game for the season; today i could probably average seventy-five points a game. I'm not bragging. I'm just telling you how I think I would do i I were guarded by one guy alone, whether that guy's Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or Patrick Ewing.

I personally don't see the difference between someone talking about himself in an objective way and sending in a convincing resume for a job. A resume points out abilities and credentials, which are backed up by certain credits. Is having a good resume bragging? Isn't it just stating the facts so a person can get a job? The only ones who would think a person with a good resume is bragging are the people who are vying for the same job.

Likewise, I get more than a little miffed, as I've said, when I hear announcers rave about some of the moves and abilities of today's players. They make it seem as if these things have never been done before. Take the body movement of David Robinson, the genuinely sensational center for the San Antonio Spurs. When he runs down the floor leading a fast break, the announcer shouts, "God, did you ever see anything like that?! A seven-footer running up the floor like that?!" Well, yeah, damn it, I've seen a seven-footer do that a lot, more than (forty-five) years ago! He wore number 13. So of course I get a little annoyed when I hear "experts" insisting that a seven-footers never led fast breaks before.

I'm proud of my accomplishments, as any athlete should be. As an artist with ability would be. Some of my talents are God-given, like speed and agility; others I worked very hard to attain, like strength and endurance and patience. I am proud that I was one of the first, if not the very first, to use strong weight-lifting programs along with my basketball training. Weight lighting was frowned upon when I was a player. I was told never to mix the two. As you can see today, all great athletes, especially at the professional level, now have strong weight programs.

It was not by accident that I never fouled out of a game, either. I was taught early in my career by an old Philly coach that my value was on the court, not on the bench, which is where I'd be if I was in foul trouble. So I worked extremely hard to keep from making dumb over-the-back fouls. I worked damn hard trying to do things that were not a true part of my game.

I was an innovator in shots like the finger roll and the fadeaway jump shot from the pivot. The hook shot, which Kareem used with great proficiency, has been around since the game's inception; all centers used it. I used it very effectively.

I am sure salaries would have escalated in time, but I didn't wait for time. I made it happen by demanding it-and that was when the owners claimed that the game could never afford the high salary I was asking for. (Ha! What a joke that was.)

I even made them change some of the rules of basketball. Offensive goaltending was a rule created only because I was able to do things with the ball in flight that other couldn't do. So they made what I did illegal. My first year in the NBA, you were allowed to touch your teammate's shot the instant it left his hands and could touch it anywhere along its flight path until it reached the basket. You could guide the ball into the basket, touch it over the rim, whatever you wanted. This was to my advantage because I could jump so much higher than most of the other players on the court and I possessed great timing for intercepting the ball and guiding it into the basket. I had so much success guiding my teammates' shots and turning them into two points that the powers that be-the rulemakers-decided I had an unfair advantage over the rest of the players. So they terminated that part of my game. They created a no-no called offensive goaltending, in which no one can touch the ball on its downward flight to the basket or over the rim after it has been shot.

(This new rule did hurt my game, I guess; my scoring average, 37.6 points a game my rookie year, only went up to 50.4 points a game by my third season).

They also widened the lane to keep me farther away from the basket. The rule makers made it illegal to throw the ball over the backboard on an out-of-bounds pass because I could jump so high, catch the pass, and dunk it so easily. When I was in college, the NCAA immediately outlawed dunking the ball from the free throw line when taking foul shots when they heard i could do it. I can only wistfully speculate as to what my free throw percentage might have been if that rule had not been written.

These and a few other rules were legislated specifically against yours truly. I of course take all this as a supreme compliment, but I never hear the boys on the mikes explain how these things came to be. All announcers seem to pretend that this is is the way basketball was since it's inception.

When people talk about things that are being done today as if they have never been done before, of course I feel cheated. I am sorry that video was not perfected during my early career so that more people could view for themselves. I must admit that I don't know any other sport that changed the game because of a single player. And I don't know of a another athlete who dominated any phase of his sport like I did with scoring and rebounding. Nor have I heard of anyone else who was asked to give up the most dominating part of his game (in my case, scoring) because they thought he could be even more dominating if he concentrated on other aspects of his game. (In my case, it was passing. And that year, 1968, I lead the league in assists. That would be like asking Joe Montana to switch to defensive back and have him lead the league in interceptions.) In some ways it was very flattering that they were so confident. I could dominate in any aspect of the game I wanted. On the other hand, would have asked Babe Ruth to go back to pitching after realizing how great he was at batting? I don't think so.

Perhaps anger is too strong a word to describe my feelings on this matter, yet the more I reflect on this aspect of my career, the more I bristle.

In my first four or five years in the NBA, I so dominated the scoring that even my strongest detractors had to concede that I could score almost whenever I wanted to. An example of how I dominanted was brought to light on January 9, 1991, when Michael Jordan scored his fiften thousandth point. All the papers praised his achievement and related that he reached that milestone in his 460th game-faster than anyone in NBA history except yours truly, who did it in 358 games. That's right-102 games quicker. I mention this to illustrate the point that it was only after I was besieged by many bullshit factions that I started to score less and less. I did it only to appease my detractors, not because of any inability to keep scoring. There is no doubt that if I had chosen to keep scoring; I could have, and just as easily in my last years of play as in the beginning o my career. I became a smarter player as I got older and my field goal percentage started to climb to unreal numbers. Also the center competition, in my mind's eye, became less and less formidable. Russell was getting old. Kareem was not strong enough to stop me going to the basket (which I did more of in my later years than I was allowed to in my early years). I want you to realize that I dunked the basketball about half as many shots a game when I was really scoring points as Michael Jordan does now. I mainly used fadeaway jump shots and finger rolls to score my shots. The point is, I could have put the scoring record so far out of reach that Kareem would have had to play thirty years, not twenty, to break the record. But I sacrificed all that scoring ability for whatever my teams wanted of me. I call that real unselfishness-not like that crap you hear announcers say when a player gives off a pass to a teammate. My last game in the NBA was indicative of what I had allowed myself to become as a scorer. I took one-that's right-one shot during the entire game. There were many games during the last four or five years of my career when I took one or no shots. But I led the NBA in rebounding and blocked shots, and I established a shooting percentage record that may stand for many a year-72.7 percent.

What would you have done if you were the greatest scorer the game has ever seen? Would you stop shooting and pass the ball to some guy who on his best day couldn't score in an entire game what you averaged for one quarter? For better or worse, that's what I did.

At times I got a little angry when I read that I couldn't score any more. So I would go out and score fifty or sixty points just to show people that I could still do it; then I would go back to role playing, scoring twelve and thirteen points a contest.

Like any artist, we all want credit for our paintings. And when you were the innovator and terminator of a great many things in your chosen field, some credit is due you. I am sure that if Leif Ericsson were alive today he would not enjoy hearing about Columbus discovering America.

But my getting credit for these events is not that important. Making people realize that the game was not always as it is now, that's what's important. The hows and whys of that change, that's what matters to me."

[King Taharqa]

[Niner National]

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[King Taharqa]

[Magic Johnson]

Goat...