Wilt Chamberlain was almost the perfect scoring machine – his Achilles heel was at the free throw line.
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In the years 1967–68 alone, Wilt Chamberlain missed 578 free throws. He played 82 games that season, which means, on average, he missed 7 free throws a game. There are players in today’s era who don’t even take that many.
In comparison, Steph Curry has missed 323 free throws in 747 regular games in his career. That’s about.4 free throws every game. Wilt was more likely to score a regular basket rather than go to the free throw line in that season.
He had an FG% of 59.5% in that season, while his free throws were a miserable 38%. That is how much Steph manages in an off-game, from beyond the arc.
But even in all of this madness, Wilt managed to pull off an anomaly where he scored 7/8 free shots in one game. That one game came against the St. Louis Hawks, from Georgia.
Apart from that one game, Wilt barely had any games where he touched 75% either. A career average of 51% shows how poor a shooter he really was. That didn’t stop him from creating those records all those years ago.
But just imagine what kind of a monster he would be if he could sink those free shots!
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Wilt Chamberlain would be untouchable if he shot like Stephen Curry – God had to nerf him in some place
The Big Dipper was a mammoth of a human being, and everything he did was oversized and overwhelming. He could leap over players like they were a speed bump. He could run across the court like it was a triple jump set-up.
The man knew no bounds, except when it came to free shots with no one to block him.
He made more contested shots than uncontested, which makes one wonder, why is that? For a man who could do no wrong, free throws must be a walk in the park. Wilt himself had an answer for that.
There has never been a big man who could score free throws, and that seems to be the case in any decade. Everyone seems to suffer from that curse, including Shaquille O’Neal and Andre Drummond.
If Chamberlain could also shoot like a guard, he’d be untouchable. Who would want to play against a man who could steamroll you out of existence and shoot from the logo? How would you even defend against such a player?
God realized that too, and that’s why he only sprinkled a few drops into the cup while building Wilt. Wilt the Stilt could do everything but shoot.