Which of Wilt Chamberlain’s 72 NBA Records Are the Toughest to Break?

Wilt Chamberlain

September 8, 2009 – Allen Moll

Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, Fanhuddle.com as a NY Knicks and Wizards correspondent, and his own blog, Hoops Haven.

We all know that “The Big Dipper”, Wilt Chamberlain, is one of the greatest and most dominant NBA players in the history of the sport. He was so much better than his contemporaries that the league was forced to change many of the game’s rules like widening the lane, and instituting offensive goaltending and changing out of bounds passing rules, since he would leap from out of bounds to deposit the ball in the basket, without a step.

In my opinion, he is in the discussion with Jordan, Kareem, and “The Big O” Oscar Robertson, as the Greatest of All-Time. With all due respect to MJ, Chamberlain was the most dominating offensive force to ever play the game. When Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a game in ’06, he instantly became one of the rare, few players to come within reach of one of Wilt’s 72 NBA records, like scoring 100 points in a game. Let’s take a closer look at some of his astronomical career numbers and astounding scoring and rebounding records that will probably never be broken:

Most Rebounds in a Single Game – 55

In addition to scoring, Wilt along with Bill Russell were the two most dominating rebounders in league history. He pulled down a record 55 boards against Russell’s Celtics during his 2nd NBA season in 1960. The closest in the modern era was Charles Oakley with 35 in 1988. Wilt also holds the rookie single game record with 45 rebounds.

Highest FG% in a season – .727%

Wilt became the only player to shoot over 70% for a season in his final year with the Lakers in ’72-’73. He holds 3 of the top 5 single season best shooting percentage years of all time. The closest that any current players have come, which are more than 100 percentage points behind, are Andris Biedrins(.626% in ’07-’08), Tyson Chandler(.623% in ’07-’08), and Shaquille O’Neal(.608% in ’08-’09).

Highest Scoring Average in a Single Season – 50.36 PPG

Wilt is the only player to AVERAGE more than 40 or 50 points in a single season, further strengthening the argument that he was the league’s best offensive player, ever. He holds the top 4, and 5 of the 6 best single season scoring average seasons in history. The legendary MJ’s best single season was 37.0 ppg in ’86-’87. Of active players, Kobe Bryant averaged 35.4 ppg in ’05-’06 but isn’t likely to approach those numbers with such a great supporting cast in LA.

Highest Rebounding Average for a Single Season – 27.2 Reb/Game

Wilt and Bill Russell had 17 of the top 18 best single season rebounds per game averages in history. Wilt averaged an amazing 27.2 in the ’60-’61 season. Dennis Rodman grabbed 18.26 per game in ’92-’93, which as the best in the modern era, ranks as only the 34th best in history. Dwight Howard, who is regarded as the best current rebounder has a single season high of 14.16 per game in ’07-’08.

Highest Scoring Average as a Rookie – 37.6 PPG

In today’s NBA standards, it is considered good for a rookie to average 20 ppg in their rookie season. As a rookie in 1959, Wilt averaged 37.6 points and 27.0 rebounds(also a rookie record). He also holds the record for most points and rebounds by a rookie in their first game with 43 points and 28 rebounds.

Most Points in a Single Season – 4029 Points

Michael Jordan is the only other player in history to score more than 3,000 points in a season with 3041 points in ’86-’87, which ranks 3rd all time. Chamberlain holds 4 of the top 5 total points seasons in history. Kobe’s 2832 points in ’05-’06 is the best single season among active players, but is more than 1,100 points behind Wilt’s ’61-’62 season.

Only Player in History to have a Double - Triple Double

Wilt showed his versatility by scoring 22 points, grabbing 25 rebounds, and dropping 21 assists in a game in 1968. The only player to come remotely close in terms of volume of triple doubles is Oscar Robertson who tallied 41 triple doubles in ’61-’62.

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Comments

pig

100p is one of the easiest with 3pt line..some guy WILL cathc fire someday and willbeat that record

Steve

not!!

Cam

The scoring and rebounding records are good, but could conceivably be beaten if the basketball environment changes suddenly, a la the NHL in the 1980′s. The real lasting records will be the ones that require versatility.

Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out of a game. Ever. 1045 regular season games, 160 playoff games and he never fouled out. That’s not a “generational” thing like the rebounding was. It’s just a Chamberlain thing. No one else even came close.

Wilt Chamberlain averaged 48.5 minutes per game in 1962. In case you forgot, a basketball game is 48 minutes long. He was off the court something like 6 minutes all season. Let’s see Lebron do THAT.

Wilt Chamberlain, at one point in his career, led the league in every statistic that was measured at the time. Minutes, FGA, FGM, FTA, FTM, Points, Assists and Rebounds. If they had measured blocks and steals at the time, he definitely would have led in blocks and quite possibly steals too (at least once).

Wilt Chamberlain’s final season, at age 36, was probably the single most perfect positional season ever played. It wasn’t the best season overall, but he did absolutely everything a center is supposed to do and nothing else. He led the league in rebounding. He set the all-time record in field goal percent. He had 4.5 assists per game to just 2.3 fouls. And he was First Team All-NBA Defense. He even pulled his FT% above 50%. If you asked an NBA coach to design the perfect center to play on an already good team, it would be 1973 Wilt Chamberlain.

Brad

To follow what Cam said, Wilt was ejected from *one* game with 8 minutes left in the forth quarter early in the season if I am not mistaken. Those 8 minutes turned out to be the only minutes he would miss for the rest of the season, giving him 3,882 minutes played out of a possible 3,890. Astounding, it will never be challenged. Truly, the most remarkable thing about all of these records is that the most likely to be broken is the 100 points in a game the most famous of them all, and since 1962, only one player has come within *20* points of that record, and only Baylor, Bryant, Thompson, and Robinson have even scored 70+. Also, another record worthy on mention, is Wilt’s total number of 50PT+ games in a season, with 45 (1961-1962)! That’s more then Jordan’s has in his entire 14 year career. Most of Wilt’s records from 1962 alone, are so far out of reach that it is mindblogging.

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Bill

It’s a different game now, the rules and even the court are different, I doubt any of there will every be broken, especially the fg% that’s going to have to be one hell of a basketball player. Maybe a rookie who takes one shot, makes it, then retires, lol
John Hill

Anyone who doesn’t say Wilt was the greatest ever is too young to have seen him play. Jordan’s stats are NO where near Wilt’s.
And if you say Jordan was the greatest ever, despite his lower stats, because he won more championships than Wilt – then you still lose because Bill Russell had 10 championships to Jordan’s 6. And it was 10 in only 11 years, and the last 9 in a row, including a couple of season’s as both a starting player and the head coach. After all, isn’t winning the real bottom line?
Wilt or Russell. Take your pick.

Children need not waste their or our time when they know so little (or nothing) about basketball history. Especially in this age where averaging 12 rebounds a game is considered fantastic.

Brad

Bill actually won 11 in 13 years, and 8 in a row between 1959-1966 to further establish your point :)

Jeff

How about 35 field goals in a row without a miss? Has any modern player approached even half of that?
Malone Gemmell

I Think Wilts Records will last forever that guy was a machine. No one has even come close to accomplishing what he did in my mnd he is the greatest of all time.
greg

i have that card wilt chamberlain 1962 100 point game and its for sale best offer
Albert Phillips

How many NBA players have visited the top of the
Backboard. Wilt did ask Sonny Hill.
While playing for the lakers not a scorer any more it was said that Wilt couldn’t anymore, so he dropped 70 some one night to quit the critics.
Troy D. Johnson

I remember many many years ago (I was a child) Sam Jones of the Boston Celtics, scored I believe 50 points and my dad made a big deal of it. I remember like it was yesterday saying “That ain’t nothing, Wilt Chamberlain does that all the time!” There should be two sets of records Wilt’s and everyone else!

Wilt Chamberlain was so far ahead of his time it’s not even funny. I consider
myself more knowledgeable than the average basketball fan and I can say with
total certainty that if Wilt played today he would have been a star. True, the players
now are better than they were during Wilt’s era but that’s not Wilt’s fault.

As a basketball fan some of the things Wilt did were mind boggling. Wilt lead the league in rebounding at the age of 36! One of the first things that will decline
is a player’s rebounding. Wilt lead the league in rebounding at 36 and Kareem
was in the league. For those of you who only remember Kareem later in his career, Kareem was no slouch as a rebounder. I believe he averaged 17 one year.

I could go on and on but there really is no point. Wilt and Kareem’s careers overlapped just like Kareem’s career overlapped with the Ewings and Hakeems
of the basketball world. We know that old man Kareem more than held his own against Ewing and Hakeem. In fact, even a cursory examination of their head to head statistical comparisons will show that a 37-38 year old Kareem outplayed Ewing and Kareem. This is about Wilt but I mention Kareem to show that there are players from other eras that are better than those playing in modern eras.

Wilt was a player “for the ages” if you will. He played against Kareem and although he was in the twilight of his career he clearly held his own against
Kareem and we know what Kareem did to the Ewings and Hakeems. In fact, Kareem was first team all NBA at the age of 38!!! Wilt even in his twilight years
was able to block Kareem’s patented sky hook!!! This is a testament to Wilt’s
athleticism. Have you ever witnessed Hakeem or Ewing block Kareem’s skyhook? In fact, Wilt blocked Kareem’s skyhook in successive plays! Don’t believe it go on youtube.
sid howard

you guys are idiots mj is the best wilt sucks crack…..