I'll point out all the height data I was using to compare those players with modern players was based on their barefoot data (acquired through news archives) vs modern barefoot data from the draft. Not listed info - which tends to not be accurate or created equally.

Another thing people never mention, those rims had no forgiveness. They were just bolted to the backboard, there was no springs in them. These guys had great accuracy and touch to put up the scoring numbers they did, there was no "shooters role" like they have on the soft rims now. It also hurt to dunk on those rims, they would leave bruises on your wrists and forearms, no forgiveness at all.

Wilt and Bill could play in any era. Period!!!!

As Wilt told MJ , when you came into the league they changed the rules so that you could dominate, when I came into the league they changed the rules so that I couldn’t dominate.

The average height of a NBA player today is 6'7" and the average height of a player of the 60s was 6'6" People act like he played against 6'0" centers or something

Willis Reed was a GREAT and SMART offensive player. Imagine a fast, quick, and agile Zach Randolph at Randolph's APEX with a hint of David Robinson's face-up game.

That guy watching Kareem play and not knowing basically sums up those guys who say Wilt and Russell played against bums. Complete ignorance.

Great video! It should be noted that while in the ABA, Zelmo Beaty had a loose piece of cartlidge in his knee. The doctors said that he could either shut it down for the year by going through surgery to remove the cartlidge or play through the intense pain and wait for the cartlidge to detach so a doctor could remove it through an easy, albeit painful procedure. Beaty decided to play through the pain. During a game he felt something weird in his knee, so he went back to the locker room and the trainer said that the cartlidge did in fact detach. Instead of taking the rest of the night off and getting it done by a doctor he had the team's trainer take a pair or tweezers, go INTO his knee, dig around and pull the cartlidge out. He had no painkillers and apparently it took 20 minutes but the trainer finally dug out the piece of cartlidge and pulled it out. Then they stitched up the hole and slapped a band aid on it so Zelmo could finish the game. That was what was left of the cartlidge in his knee and Beatty not only finished the game but won an ABA championship that year with Utah despite having zero cartlidge left in one of his knees. Say what you want about his lack of vertical, but Zelmo Beatty was a great ballplayer and a warrior.

He said the evolution of man. Like evolution happens every 20 years. Unreal.

Dude, all these centers have badass scoring skills. You can't find 6 centers with a variety of moves to score by themselves in nba today.

This video needs more views! So many good points. I’m sick of hearing how the old nba was filled with “plumbers and doormen” or whatever bull talking heads want to parrot. Assuming that wide of a talent discrepancy between the ‘modern’ nba and ‘pre-modern’ nba is a common fallacy of understanding the past: what, those athletes didn’t compete to get as good as possible at their craft? They were somehow shorter, smaller, uncoordinated? Please, watch old games. Video footage of Russell gliding through the air would have sold a lot of converse in today’s nba! I believe that the NBA integrating in the 1950’s makes the case that these athletes were competing against the best America had to offer, which is unlike the early days of baseball and slow integration of football. So, how come we don’t hold Babe Ruth to the same diminishing standards? After all he never faced one of the best pitchers ever in Satchel Paige!

If I saw a young 62 Wilt and a young 89 MJ I'm taking Wilt to start my team.

Thank you so much for educating the kids. I'm 67 and grew up watching these guys, and it gets really tiresome to hear the ignorance and arrogance of these kids judging something they know nothing about. You took on most all of their talking points and the clips clearly show the quickness and athleticism of these great players.

Great video and conclusions. To show just how tough the league was in 1965, the guards that sat on the Laker's bench (Jim King, Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich) became all-stars after expansion.

History is easily forgotten.

Idiots don't realize that you're only as good as your competition. The game changes and rules change. Different eras but same effort.

Note that there were only 9 NBA teams in the 61-62 season in which Wilt AVERAGED 50ppg. This resulted in him playing Russell a whopping 12 times in the regular season.

This channel has to be one of the best on KZfaq, I love it. Keep it going man! Oh, and Michael Rapaport really needs to educate himself, it's just embarrassing listening to him speak.

I wish all current NBA "fans" would watch this

The biggest factor IMO is the arrival of high-quality film and video footage of NBA games in 1968-70. Prior to that most footage is blurry and flickering BW film from the 1960s which looks very much like it was shot in prehistoric times. Camera angles were different (lower) so the games looked very different (i.e. like high school games). Thing is, many of the early-60s centers (Wilt, Bellamy) were still active in the early 70s when we started to get (limited) NFL-Films quality game footage, along with higher definition video, and all of sudden they looked more like modern players.

In Wilt's 50 ppg season in 1961-62, it looks like he played against: Bill Russell 12 times: Averaged 41.7 points and 27.9 rebounds Walt Bellamy 10 times: Averaged 52.7 points and 24.9 rebounds Bob Pettit 9 times: Averaged 54.2 points and 22.6 rebounds That's almost 40% of his games against HOF centers/PFs and still put up those numbers.

GREAT DECADE OF GREAT HOF CENTERS...

Good summary.Willis Reed was one of the most underrated centers in history.If he were playing today,He would teach the players a thing or two about body positioning.

I saw him play,nobody and I mean nobody in the history of the NBA was as dominating as this true great player past or present or future.Just amazing.One of a kind superstar

Thank you for making this video. I'm so sick of arguing with people in comment sections about this subject. People think that Russel and Chamberlain played against plumbers and farmers. I subscribed, great job educating the unknowing .

Mike Rapaport is a knucklehead. Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Walt Bellamy, and Nate Thurmond were all better than any NBA centers playing today.

I saw Wilt play many times and there was no one, not even Russell, who could stop him. Wilt's all time record of 55 rebounds in one game was against Russell and the Celtics. Wilt regularly scored over 40 against Russell, who many said was the greatest defensive center ever. He couldn't stop Wilt!

thank you very much. I'm sick of all these statements about how easy the 60s were. When i take notes for the greatests ever i start counting from 1960

I have been through the situation of defending the reputation of old great players so many times and it is often very frustrating. It seems like people are starting to disregard any footage or any players pre-1986. Michael Jordan was great but his greatness seems to have skewed the perception of the modern NBA fan to thinking anything before his time is now illegitimate. Hopefully, videos like this can help educate people about the greats that are still great and helped make lay the foundation for the NBA's extremely prosperous history.

Like if Wilt is the Goat

On both sides of the spectrum, we have old schoolers saying today's players can't play the game of basketball. Which is a blatant disregard towards them. Because, players always been learning from the past, they copied their favorite players moves and tried to replicate them on the hardwood. Just like coaches. The strategies & the mentalities we're witnessing in today's game has been changing because rules have been modified in order to appeal the casual fans. Furthermore, players are dedicated to the gym. They are lifting weights and run intervals like I've never seen before : players had the luxury to have a strength coach, a nutritionist, a team doctor, a shooting coaches, etc. Way before the NBA was brought on television with colors, Bill Russell refused to lift iron, because he claimed it wouldn't make him a better player. If he was born in the 1990s, he would benefit from those advantages. Different time period. On the other side, we have newer fan stating old school players can't play. They don't understand that their equipments (shoes, court) were rudimentary; facilities weren't as develop as today (gym, cafeteria, transport); rules and strategies were obviously different. As an example, players were staying longer on the court, because coaches and medical stafff weren't aware that more stress on your body can cause more injuries. Sorry for the log text. But, I am tired of this war. I was raised in the 80s before Jordan was even a "thing", and since that time, it's the same war : Old vs New. BTW, sorry for my poor sentences, I am not a native English speaker.

Wilt Chamberlain is number one.

Bill Russell was great in college. He was better offensively than people think. He made his teammates better. Great defensively and great at getting the ball into a fast break. Wilt was the greatest athlete ever to play center in my opinion.

The centers of the 60's would destroy the centers of today!

GREAT INFO!!! I'm 38 going on 39 in October💜♎🌀 so naturally I grew up watching the entire decades of 80s and 90s Centers. My favorite position in basketball. PFs next on my list. THE BIGS!!! I love ALL of those Centers. Man Wayne Embry was a MONSTER THOUGH!!!

I literally just subscribed to this channel a few hours ago and I made a great decision.

NO. FUCKING. IDEA Willis Reed was THAT skilled offensively!!! Wtf lol. Those fundamentals are insane

The sixth guy on this list would destroy today's best centers by many orders of magnitude.

I remember seeing the 50 greatest players at the nba halftime thing and I just couldn’t believe how little Shaq looked next to an old Wilt Chamberlain. I was like whaaa 😲😲😲?

Wow.... who woke up the giant. WCA is not playing!! Keep it coming and tell um!!

Finally someone who knows his stuff about basketball. I've always said the best years for centers in the NBA were the 60s and 70s.

Do not forget to mention these great centers were shortly to be followed by the likes of Unseld, Hayes, Gilmore, Laneir , Jabbar so these others carried into the seventies early eighties then we added Moses Malone and others

I've had guys tell me rhat Wilt dominated because he didn't play against "anyone". I've tried to explain that there were a lot of talented bigs back then. Don't forget the early 70's, he faced Kareem, Cowens and others...

Woah bill russel was so fast 9:22 lol. Wth was that? And he jump really high and a textbook form. What a highlight. He looks like a point center.

Thank you for this wonderful footage. So tired of trying to tell the young folks about the players from my childhood and how great they were. This was long overdue.

GREAT VIDEO!!! I'm sooo glad you finished up it up with the comment about how FREQUENTLY these guys played each other. Smaller league means more concentrated talent. Anyone remember the diluted talent during the era when the Heat, Timberwolves, Hornets, and Magic came into the league?

Quite possibly the most knowledgeable and highest quality basketball channels I have ever watched. Subbed

This an awesome great video !!!! You cannot discredit these athletes of the 60s!!!!! Wilt and Bill will always be the best centers of all time then Kareem!

Many young fans think Wilt's competition was sub-par because they look small compared to him. Most modern players would look small compared to him too. In the "measured in shoes" era, Wilt would be shown as 7-3 on the team roster.

This may well be the best thing you've ever put together!

Well done! You make well-reasoned points with some fine footage to back it up.

Thanks for this masterpiece, you know, people will always be ignorant about stuff like history of the game, i am so grateful that there are so many of us that wanna learn about the game and appreciate each era by its own meassure. Keep it up.

Later in the 60's, Wes Unseld. Another Hall of Fame NBA center.

good video men , wilt would be proud of your work .

You omitted Jabbar. Kareem came into the league the year after Russell retired so we never saw them go head to head, but he played against Wilt , Willis and Thurmond. Kareem is the final answer to kids who claim how weak the centers were when Wilt and Russ dominated. Also going forward he played 20 years and never played anyone that came lose to the level of Wilt et al, except for Bill Walton who outplayed him in the regular season as well as the playoffs. My first game was game 7 when Havlicek stole the ball. But thanks, great, great great video.

What an outstanding job!. I commend you for taking the time to research, create, and present your videos. Thank you!

10:59 wilt literally almost doing the splits in mid air on that block......insane. What an amazing athlete and generational talent.

Great video! Good job! Congrats & Thanks...

Phenomenal intro. Your videos are truly amazing. I wish you could just accompany me every where I go in case I get into a debate about Wilt and old school basketball.

Thank you Sir it is appreciated that you do these educational pieces

Zelmo Beaty, frustrated that he couldn't do anything against Wilt, yanked Wilt's shorts down. Wilt lashed out and Zelmo slid across the floor as if shot out of a cannon. Ref. Mendy Rudolph rushed over to Zelmo and said "For God's sake stay down, man. Don't even twitch a muscle!" Wilt was not someone you wanted to anger.

Such a great video. Thank you for this

Thank you for the many great Wilt Chamberlain videos!

Reed and Bellamy would be a major problem in today's game much less russell and chamberlain

I'd put the centers in the 60s up against the centers in any other era. Those were great players.

9:39 idk if anyone else noticed, but after getting scored on by Bill Russell Wilt Chamberlain slaps his butt. Great sportsmanship from both legendary giants.

Thank you for this entertaining and important video. This is so very important for the history of this great game. We tend to glorify the players we grow up watching and the older players begin to fade in our collective minds.

Well written! What about Wes Unseld. Maybe 70’s? Those six centers were incredible. Those critics simply want media attention. The speaker is excellent and accurate. THANKS!

I believe you have to consider this. Every one of these guys would have come into the league today with the same background as modern players. Weightlifting. Year round hoops. Money. Diet. Three point shot. A great player is a great player. They would all have been great today too.

Far too many people think Wilt played against 6 6 guys. Thanks for this video to show there were some really big men playing prior to the espn, Bird Magic era.

Another GREAT video!! Thanks for teaching young kids about these true basketball legends!!

Great post WCA! PLS , keep 'em coming!

Everyone of these Centers would dominate the NBA today easier than they did when they played. Like Bill Russell said, "I'll kick your ass!"

Thanks for clearing up the misinformation. Gotta respect the greats!

Great video its rare to find a video about old players nice content 👍🏻

This validates Kobe's all-time starting five of WILT RUSSELL BIRD JORDAN MAGIC.

Zelmo Beaty was elite but not many people know him

I'd love to know who was speaking during the video that played against them. It's amazing when so-called experts like BIll SImmons or Colin are clueless about the greatness of players in the 60's. Baylor and Connie Hawkins were Dr. J, before Dr. J, and the centers of that era were beyond belief. Gilmore, Lanier, Beatty, Reed, Thurmond Bellamy aren't even discussed in best ever discussions because Kareem, Wilt and Russelll even eclipsed those incredible centers. Kareem, Wilt and Russell were playing against a Hall of Fame lineup of big men in the 60's and 70's.

i've been saying the same thing for years. Thank you so much for this video. This is best video I've seen on the subject. Great content. I'll be sharing this with people for years.

Very thoughtfully done!

SUPER GREAT VIDEO SIR....WE NEED TO HAVE A PODCAST OR SOMETHING

I was an acquaintance of Walt Bellamy, a son of his went to the same high school that I did. He was a very nice gentleman, who was also a great basketball player in the decade of the 60's, who doesn't receive the credit he deserves for being the caliber of center that he was. In my most humble opinion, only Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell were better in the 60's than Walt Bellamy at the center position, certainly nothing to be ashamed of, may he R.I.P. eternally...

You have outdone yourself! This is by far the best visual display of NBA basketball talent outlining the physical, athletic and basketball skills that clearly dispels the idea that the best players of the 1960s era could not compete against what many believe were the best Centers from the 1980s/1990s (Olajuwon, Ewing, Robinson, Shaquille, Sampson, Smits, etc. and even against today's players like DeMarcus Cousins, Joel Embiid, Karl Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, DeAndre Jordan and the new kid Deandre Ayton! Keep up the great work. Maybe you can do something on the positions like point guard, shooting guard, small forward and power forward. I would love to learn and see more about Sam Jones, Jerry West, Bob Pettit, Oscar Roberston, Hal Greer, Jerry Lucas, Elgin Baylor, Dick Barnett, Chet Walker, and others.

Bill Russell changed the game deserves that respect for using his athleticism to dominate every aspect of the game he was like a point center there would be no “unicorn” without him

Willis Reed 1st round pick by the New York Knickerbockers Out of Grambling State University in 1964 2x Champion 2x Finals MVP 🏆 League MVP (1970) 🏆 7x All Star ⭐️ 1970 all star ⭐️ MVP 1970 All-Defensive team 1970 1st team all nba 4x second team all nba 1965 ROTY 🏆 Played with New York from 1964-1974 1982 basketball 🏀 hall of fame One of the 50 greatest players in NBA history Number 19 was retired by the New York Knickerbockers A Knicks legend

BILL WILT AND THATS THE END G.O.A.T.S

Damn this was a mad good video kudos my guy

As someone old enough to have seen NBA basketball back in the '60's, I have made many of these arguments in often heated discussions. It amazes me how many argue passionately that Wilt would be nothing more than average if he played in today's NBA. So your video is greatly appreciated (although it would be nice if you had added some graphics on screen to identify the voices we are hearing).

NEEDS TO GO VIRAL

The NBA changed the rules to make it harder on Wilt but easier on Mike. And, regardless of the argument the man STILL holds 90 NBA records. GOAT, period.

Another Great video and commentary, Thanks

Fantastic video as always. My one suggestion could be to add all of these Center's career statistics as you introduce them? And perhaps even compare them to the other current centers you have made comparisons to. If your aim is to truly educate fans I think the best way to get the message across to them is numbers... as well as footage of course. Keep up the great work :)

Having seen both Russell and Wilt play dozens of times against guys like Bellamy, Thurmond, Beaty, etc., I laugh when people make dumb claims about playing against short white guys. Basketball in the days of Wilt and Bill was a MAN'S game. You didn't have a bunch of skinny kids who are barely out of high school. You had men playing the game and it was so much more physical than today's game. Also with 8-10 teams, every team was deep and loaded. Wilt and Russell were incredible athletes, not just basketball players. Today's centers wouldn't have a prayer against either one, or Thurmon,d or Bellamy, etc.

Look at the beautiful form & nice touch on Willis Reed! 6'10" + rock hard & shooting like that?

Great video. Thank you. I am glad somebody finally published what a lot of us older fans already knew. The 60s to the mid 70s was loaded with great, big, and strong centers, as well as great players at all of the positions. No plumbers or taxi drivers in the bunch, as far as I can remember. I enjoyed the 80s a little more, because it was easier to find and watch NBA games on TV, but the early, mid 60s to the mid 70s had some great watches, when you could find them. Buy the way; we can thank Wilt, first, then Russell, and the other great centers and other players like Oscar, Earl, West, Frazier, and others, for getting big TV contracts and exposure for the NBA. Wilt was the reason for TV interest, to start with. He was the one people wanted to watch, whether at live games, or on TV.

I like how you do the physical comparison to modern centers for each of the 6 guys.

Do you have a Wilt vs Knicks footage? I thought Simmons didn't tell the truth and it doesn't exist. How much of footage does really exist? I think it would be nice to make separate video about this performance. Of course only with enough footage. BTW, this is one of your better projects. Amazing display of talent of the 1960s centers. Although I would have Nate over Bells :)

Huge Laker fan 1966. I thought about it a long time and I just now figured out 2020 Bill Russell is the G.O.A.T. Chamberlain made him great.

I would love to see you to make the same with all the positions. Your channel is awesome.

What a great video!!! Thanks for all informations, the 60's basketball for me is the better of all time.