I want to hear the argument for Peak Wilt not being in the top seven.
this was to be my point.
in 1961-62 wilt averaged 50.4 points and 24.7 rebounds per game while playing 48.5 minutes a game.
i am curious who beats that.
Thinking Basketball usually normalizes player stats to be per 75 possessions. If I recall correctly, there were almost twice as many possessions per game in the 60s as there are today as well as more misses per game.
Not twice as many possessions. Closer to 20% more. Teams averaged just over 100 possessions per 48 minutes in 2020; in 1963 it was around 119 possessions per 48.
It does inflate the stats in comparative terms. At the same time, imagine the conditioning he had, playing 48 minutes every night at a 25% faster pace than today.
He doesn't have Oscar on there at all. You know the guy that if you combined his first 5 seasons averaged over 30 ppg and right around 11 rpg and 11 apg. For FIVE consecutive years. And I know the pace was faster, but Oscar led the league in assists by over 4 apg some years (and he doubled up 3rd place multiple seasons) and they didn't count them the same way then as they do now (he would have had more and probably actually averaged a triple double more than once).
It is almost like he is harming the players that played more minutes by normalizing everyone to the same amount of mpg, but you shouldn't do things like that because you eliminate the true advantage of someone like Wilt, i.e. he could play 48 minutes all 82 games. Wilt was not only the strongest man the league has ever seen but also one of the best conditioned and well rounded athletes the league has seen. That has to be accounted for or you really do a disservice.
Adjusting for pace, Jordan's 33/8/8 is probably the greatest season ever, but Wilt was 2nd, with Oscar not far behind.