“Wilt Chamberlain didn’t have the competitive instincts that Bills Russell had”: Hall of Famer, Lenny Wilkens, dishes on his Lakers and Celtics rivals’ mentalities

Lenny Wilkens believes that Wilt Chamberlain never had the competitive mentality that drove Bill Russell to winning 11 championships. 

The greatest winner in North American Sports history is undoubtedly Bill Russell. In a vacuum that is. His 11 championships in 13 playing seasons is the most impressive number out there but considering the fact that only a third of the teams that are present today were in the league in Russell’s time dilutes his accomplishments a tad bit. 

Regardless, Russell knew what he needed to do to win games. His career scoring average hovers around 15 points per game because he knew his best asset was his passing vision and his paint protection.

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Wilt Chamberlain on the other hand, wanted the individual stats, the individual glory. He didn’t try on the defensive end because for the longest time, blocks and steals weren’t recorded on the stat sheet. While his scoring was beyond impressive, it didn’t get teammates involved in the slightest. 

The fancy turnaround back shots, the fadeaways, the highlight dunks: Wilt Chamberlain was a one-man army. 

Lenny Wilkens on Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. 

In the first edition of the ‘Icons Club‘ podcast, Jackie MacMullan talks to several players across NBA history about Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. HoFer, Lenny Wilkens, was one of these people, a regular All-Star who played for the St.Louis Hawks.

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“Wilt- if he played well, that was fine with him. I don’t know that Wilt had the competitive instincts that Russell had. I would say that Russell probably had more than Wilt. But Wilt was flamboyant” 

When Chamberlain looked over at what Bill Russell was doing with the Celtics and realized that winning championships meant sacrificing individual accolades, he won himself a ring in ‘67, his first ever. He would win once more in ‘72, playing for the Los Angeles Lakers as a slightly less athletic version of what Russell was for the Celts in the 60s.