Agreed. Wilt's best season was 1966-67 when the 76ers won the NBA title, beat the Celtics in five games and overpowered the SF Warriors with Nate Thurmond, Rick Barry and Pork Chop Mullins.
Wilt's impressive stat that year was his 630 assists. That team had Billy Cunningham as the 6th man (a la John Havlicek) who was the primary difference from previous Sixers teams that depended on Wilt to put up 35+ per night. Wilt finished 3rd in the NBA in points that year but still led the league in rebounds (24.2/game) and field goal percentage. I was at game 5 of the Warriors-Sixers finals at Covention Hall where the upper deck hung out almost to the sideline.
Just to pick up on some grumbling from a previous post, the NBA in the 1960s consisted of a total of ten teams. Ten. Most colleges didn't have any black players of which the vaunted Kentucky Wildcats are most notable. Dean Smith is hailed as a major civil rights coach for recruiting and admitting Charlie Scott as the 1st black scholarship athlete in 1966.
The NBA didn't have anywhere near the talent in those years as we saw in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and now. Not even close.
Starting centers in the NBA in 1966-1967 (Wilt and Russell's prime) included Nate Thurmond, Connie Dierking, Zelmo Beatty, Darrall Imhoff, Erwin Mueller, and Joe Strawder. Those centers are listed because they led their teams in minutes played at center. I would say that none of those guys after Wilt and Russell would start on a 2016 NBA team.
Wilt and Russell were great in a 10-team mostly white NBA. They'd have their hands full every night of the week in the 2016 NBA and could not possibly dominate the way they did today. And this is not even a decent era for big men. Everybody's got two or three 7-footers. International big men come more fully developed as players (Kristaps Porzingis 7'3" and is a shooter!).
When I mentioned guys like Maravich, West, Baylor, Lenny Wilkens, "O" as being competitive in this era, I meant it. I could do a comparison across the board to players in this era and line up 8 to 10 guys who could handle them physically on offense or defense.
Look at the guards - Oscar Robinson (who some consider the best PG of all time) at 6'5" was Bernie Sanders huge for his era. That's average to small now. The current Celtics have defenders who could handle him physically. Jerry West was a great NBA scorer from 1960-1974 at 6'4", 185. But does anyone seriously think he could create his own shot against today's guards? Maravich didn't play defense at all. Lenny Wilkens was Isaish Thomas (either one) at 6'1". Elgin Baylor was a great small forward at 6'5" 225. Now, that's a tweener when small forwards are 6'9" 230 (Durant, LeBron, Paul George, Kawai Leonard, Carmelo Anthony).
Larry Bird's accomplishments in the 1980s NBA are more impressive to me than Russell's in the 1960s. Bird won the MVP and NBA title in a 23-team NBA in 1985-86. The small forwards in his division alone were Albert King, Julius Erving, Ernie Grunfeld and Cliff Robinson. That's not to mention James Worthy, Orlando Woolridge, Dominque Wilkins, Alex English and other small forwards. The NBA had evolved so much by then, and continues to evolve.
In the NBA, the only position that holds up from the 1960s to now is power forward. Luke Jackson, John Block, Don Nelson, Bob Love, Willis Reed, Tommy Heinsohn, etc were big mean rebounders who defended and could hold their own on the blocks. How good would the Celtic be with Don Nelson at his prime on this year's team?
