NBA REMEMBERS WILT
NBA REMEMBERS WILT
By JOHN BRENNAN, Staff Writer Date: 10-13-1999, Wednesday
Section: SPORTS
Edition: All Editions -- Four Star B, Three Star B, Two Star P, One
Star B
Biographical: WILT CHAMBERLAIN
ALBANY,
N.Y. -- It's been nearly 35 years since Willis Reed first
matched
up
against
the incomparable Wilt Chamberlain.
But
Tuesday, Reed recalled the moment as if it were yesterday.
"Wilt
was with San Francisco then, and we played a close game and
ended
up losing," said Reed, who played his entire career with the
Knicks
from 1964-73.
"After
the game, I looked [at the statistics sheet] and saw that I had
scored 32 points against him, and I was really fired up. Then finally
I looked down at his number -- and he had 56!" the Nets executive recalled
at Pepsi Arena an hour before his team's preseason game against the
Atlanta Hawks.
Those
kinds of games were commonplace for Chamberlain, who averaged more
than 30 points for each of his first seven seasons from 1959-66.
Reed
and Bill Russell became Hall of Famers, but even they had their hands
full against "the Big Dipper."
Chamberlain
was found dead Tuesday at his home in California. The Philadelphia
native was 63. "He
was such a tremendous athlete," said Reed, who added that there was
"no question" that Chamberlain was the strongest opponent he ever faced.
"I used to think that he'd just see things in the record book that
nobody had ever done, then go out and try to do that."
Nets
general manager John Nash, a Philadelphia native who recalls Chamberlain's
exploits since he was a youth more than 40 years ago, once
tried
to take advantage of that flamboyant side of Chamberlain. As
general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, Nash said he tried to get
Chamberlain to play for the team both in the middle and at the
end
of
the 1989-90 season, so that Chamberlain could say that he had played in
the NBA in five decades. There also were overtures earlier in the 1980s
from the Nets and the Cavaliers.
And
although Chamberlain would have been about 50 at the time, Nash didn't
think he would have embarrassed himself. "Actually,
we felt that Wilt would have been able to accord himself as
well as whoever was playing backup for us at that time," said Nash,
who
added that Sixers owner Harold Katz also flew to Los Angeles in the
mid-1980s
to try to talk Chamberlain into launching a comeback.
Reed
said he never scoffed at the many rumored Chamberlain comebacks.
"One
thing I never would do is bet against him. He always did keep himself
in great shape," said Reed, who was "shocked" at the news of
Chamberlain's
death because he had just seen Chamberlain in June at a
tribute
for Russell in Boston. "He was a big, strong personality who always
was determined to do things."
Nash
recalled that Chamberlain at various times talked about playing
Olympic volleyball, taking up professional boxing, and becoming an
NFL tight end.
"The
truth is, he was so physically dominant, who was going to tell him
he couldn't?" asked Nash.
Hawks
coach Lenny Wilkens played against Chamberlain from 1960-73,
finishing
just behind Chamberlain the year that the Big Dipper amazed fans
by leading the league in assists (1967-68). "Wilt
always had tremendous pride in his accomplishments. I thought
he
was a genius," said Wilkens. "I know sometimes people accused him of
not
putting out full effort, but I never saw a game where he didn't."
Reed
and Wilkens said that while Russell indeed was a better defensive
player than Chamberlain, it's not fair to say that comparing Russell's
11 NBA titles to Chamberlain's two is indicative of the disparity
in performance.
"Wilt
said one time that he would have liked to have seen what happened
if he had the same team [as Russell had with the Boston Celtics].
I think we all would have liked to have seen what happened then,"
said Wilkens.
Hawks
assistant coach Stan Albeck was an assistant to Chamberlain in
his lone foray into head coaching, the 1973-74 job with the American Basketball
Association's San Diego Conquistadors. Albeck said that while
Chamberlain
was not much for the technical aspects of coaching, he delighted
in Chamberlain's appreciation for the ABA style.
"He
was so enamored of the three-point play. It's funny. He couldn't
make a free throw, but he liked that shot. He used to say,
`Hell,
why didn't we have that [in the NBA?],'"
said
Albeck.
The
1966-67 NBA champion 76ers are considered by many to be the greatest
team ever, and Nash said he used to enjoy getting together with
former
Sixers Matt Guokas and Billy Cunningham to talk about their legendary
teammate from that season.
"The
conversation invariably would come back to Wilt, and when they talked
about him, even they were in awe of him. So it was easy to understand
how fans could be in awe of this guy, too," said Nash. "He
was
superhuman."
(SIDEBAR,
page s08)
THE
MAN, THE LEGEND
The
Associated Press
"Wilt
was one of the greatest ever, and we will never see another one
like him." -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who broke a Chamberlain record to
become
the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
*
* *
"When
I started to play with him, he helped make me a better player. We
seemed to have a real good feel together, I think it translated into
a
confidence with him. All players are generally judged by the number of
championships
they won. Unfortunately, he only won two. His greatness as
a
basketball player can't be questioned. He was fun. We used to laugh him
a lot, some of the things that would happen. I once told him,
no
one roots
for Goliath." -- Jerry West, former teammate and current Lakers vice
president.
*
* *
"As
I grew up, Wilt the Stilt was THE player. Just the things he was able
to do. I guess one year they told him he couldn't make as much money
as he wanted because he couldn't pass the ball, so he went out and
led
the league in assists. Watching Wilt, you always kind of got the idea
he was just playing with people. That he was on cruise control and
still
10 times better than anybody else that was playing at that time."
--
Denver Nuggets coach Dan Issel.
*
* *
"Obviously,
he was both literally and figuratively a larger-than-life
sports figure of the 20th century. He dominated his sport
like almost no one else." -- Atlanta Hawks president Stan Kasten.
*
* *
"He
was the NBA. He was the guy on the top. Wilt was the guy you talked
about -- he and Bill Russell. He was the most dominating center
--
the
best center to ever play in the NBA." -- Former NBA center and Bulls
coach
Johnny "Red" Kerr, who played part of one season in Philadelphia with
Wilt and against him for six-plus years.
*
* *
"He
was always a person that I viewed as being bigger than life in more
ways than one. I had recently heard through friends and associates that
he hadn't been feeling well, but again, I felt Wilt was a person who
was able to overcome anything, so I was totally shocked to hear of
his
death." -- Newark native Al Attles, former teammate with the Warriors and
now a team executive.
*
* *
"Wilt
Chamberlain had a great deal to do with the success of the NBA.
His dominance, power, demeanor, and the rivalry with Bill Russell says
it all. He will be sorely missed by myself and everyone in the basketball
community. Wilt was a great performer and a great athlete."
--
Boston
Celtics legend Red Auerbach.
*
* *
"He
was a terrific guy. It is a great loss to the sports world. Wilt Chamberlain
had a special place in basketball history and he will be
missed.
We had many battles with Wilt. He was a fun guy to be around; he
was
a `Gentle Giant.' " --Celtics great and Hall of Famer Tom Heinsohn of
Union
City.
*
* *
"I
spent 12 years in his armpits, and I always carried that 100-point
game on my shoulders. After I got my third foul, I said to
one of
the officials, Willy Smith, `Why don't you just give him 100 points and
we'll all go home?' Well, we did." -- Darrall Imhoff, who as a 6-foot-10
rookie center for the Knicks guarded Chamberlain during
his
100-point
game.
*
* *
"We've
lost a giant of a man in every sense of the word. The shadow of
accomplishment he cast over our game is unlikely ever to be matched."
-- NBA commissioner David Stern.
*
* *
"It's
a shock to all of us in the basketball community. This is a guy
whose impact changed the rules of the game. . . . He changed the interior
part of our basketball game." -- Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson.
Copyright
© 1999 Bergen Record Corp. All
rights reserved.
JOHN BRENNAN, Staff Writer, NBA REMEMBERS WILT. , The Record
(Bergen County, NJ), 10-13-1999, pp s08.