Wilt Chamberlain
4x MVP / Rookie of the Year (Was MVP and Rookie OTY in the same Year!)
1,045 Regular season games (career) - Played less games than Jordan
54% shooting percentage (Career) - Higher than Jordan by 5%. Although Wilt has advantage of being a big man. (Center)
51% from the foul line (Career) This is the one negative about Wilt's career. (Negative is being nice) Imagine how many more points he would have had if he was even a 70% free throw shooter? Jordan clearly better here however.
22.9 Rebounds per game average for career. Best year 27.2 per game (LEAD league in rebounds 11 times out of 14 years played) These numbers are staggering. Wilt had 23,924 rebounds in his 14 years. At #2 Bill Russell 21,620. Kareem Abdil-Jabaar had 17, 440 but it took him 20 years to do it. He is 3rd on the list. Of course being a 7 foot Center gives Wilt an advantage over Jordan but there are plenty of great centers through the years that are not even in Wilt's league when it came to rebounding. Compare this. Dennis Rodman led the league in rebounding 7 straight years and average 13.2 rebounds per game for his career. He only had just 11,954 for his career. He also played 14 years.
4.4 assists per game average for career. Lead league one season! Now here is an area where Jordan had an advantage. Wilt is the only center to lead league in assists in a season. This is insane.
30.1 points per game average for career. Best season 50.4. Scored 50 + in 45 games that season. Once scored 100 points in a game. Lead league in scoring 7 times. (consecutive) This is mind numbing. He also played on a team in the last third of his career where he was the 3rd offensive option! He never complained. He gave his shots to others like Jerry West. There is no telling how many points he could have ended up with if he had continued to score like the first 7 years of his career.
2 NBA Titles. Keep in mind his biggest obstacle was the 11 Title winning Boston Celtics packed with Hall of Famers.
Wilt holds 63 NBA records by himself. He had more for many years until finally some were tied or broken.
Michael Jordan 5x MVP / Rookie of the Year / 1 NBA Defensive Player of the Year (they did not have the Defensive POTY award when Wilt played.)
1,072 Regular Season Games
50 % Shooting percentage 83.5% From the Free Throw line. For a guard 50% is a great shooting percentage.
5.3 Assists per game (career) Best season 6.1. This is very impressive for a shooting guard. But Wilt was a center and had comparable success.
2.35 Steals per game (career). Shows his defense ability. This stat was not counted in Wilt's years.
6.2 Rebounds per game (career) Best season 8.0. Incredible for a scorer and the fact that he was a guard.
30.12 Points per game (career). Him and Wilt are deadlocked here on average. Both let their average drop by end of career. But honestly he wasn't even close to doing the things Wilt did. The highest scoring average in a season that Michael ever had was 35. Wilt had 6 seasons where he average 35 or more points! One season with 44.8 and another at 50.4! How do people have the audacity to even put Jordan in this discussion?
Lead league in scoring 10 teams. (7 in a row) Compared to anyone not named Chamberlain he was an awesome scorer.
6 NBA Titles (3 in a row 2 separate times) This is the argument people make that is valid. But consider again that Chamberlain always came up against the mighty Celtics. Which by the way if great stats and titles make you the best ever, than Jordan holds second fiddle to Bill Russell. He of 11 titles in 13 seasons! 8 in a row! Russell was also a 5 time MVP.
Or take Oscar Robertson who almost averaged a triple double for his career. A triple double in points, assists, and rebounds are one of the most coveted achievements in basketball. He did average a triple double in one season and just decimal points away from doing it 3 years in a row.
I am a huge Michael Jordan fan but I also am an NBA fan. All things considered there was not anyone more dominant than Wilton Norman Chamberlain. The numbers don't lie. He was and always will be one of kind! Michael Jordan was 1 in a million, Wilt is 1 in a trillion.
Oh and the urban legend that Wilt was 9 feet taller than everyone else is absurd. For example Russell was just shy of 6'11" and wilt was 7' 1". Wow a whole 2 inches. Beside if you want to factor height advantage in Jordan was an average of 4" taller than his guard counterparts.
Consider also concerning the big man "lie". During Wilt's career he was 1 of 7 of the top rebounders in NBA history. The notion that Wilt Chamberlain played against inferior talent is absurd.
Wilt also was a phenominal athlete. He ran track at Kansas he ran the 100-yard dash in 10.9 seconds, threw the shotput 56 feet, triple jumped more than 50 feet, and won the high jump in the Big Eight track and field championships three straight years. He high jump over 6'6''. He also could bench press 550 pds.
Sorry Michael you are one of the best ever but there was only one Wilt and there will probably never be another.
