. Beginning with college games, with his outspoken nature fully blossomed, he became one of the best in the NBA. Walton first appeared on the national stage as a lanky college kid who exhibited a winning attitude on the court and an anti-establishment attitude off it. Its also worth noting what led to the blossoming of Wilts playmaking in the late 60s: He reportedly wanted to dispel the notion that he was a selfish player. You make up a lot of ground. This would still play: At 7-foot-1 with a reported 7-foot-8 wingspan and 9-foot-6 standing reach, having starred at both 250 pounds as a lithe rookie and a muscular 300-plus pounds during his latter years with the Lakers, Chamberlain had more than enough size, length, and strength to challenge even the burliest modern bigs. Most of us have the same wingspan as our height. But todays players arent the only ones with the right skills to tick those boxes; plenty of their predecessors could, too. In 1976-77, with Walton peaking, Blazermania hit Portland like a flash flood. "It's not how big you are, it's how big you play. Theres a lot of guys, Draymond (Green) is the same way, small, undersized power forward but can guard plenty of guys because of his length. His arms are long and he can block shots. Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is nicknamed the Greek Freak in part because he stands 6-11 with a 7-3 wingspan and giant hands. The most accurate reports found that West had an 81 inch wingspan, which would translate to 6'9. While at Helix High School in La Mesa, Calif., Walton broke an ankle, a leg, and several bones in his feet and underwent knee surgery. In recent seasons, Warriors high-scoring All-Star Kevin Durant has become more determined to use his 7-5 wingspan to make more of an impact on defense. We should have carried out a plan in the early 1980s to kidnap him and bring him back right then., Or, even better: popped him into a tricked-out DeLorean, sent him to 2020, and found out what it might look like if Kristaps Porzingis passed like White Chocolate, or if you pressed fast-forward on Nikola Jokic. The Trail Blazers finished the season 58-24 and Walton received the NBA MVP award. The Sixth Man award almost always goes to the NBAs highest-scoring bench player. Its legit. OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Not until Nate McMillan began being fitted for custom-made suits a few years into his NBA career three decades ago did he understand just how far his arms reached. Thats kind of a rule of thumb. Today, the tallest of the Deadheads, the man whose wingspan could be seen towering over most others . As the man himself put it in Basketball: A Love Story: Basketball is a symphony, and we could take that ball and become artists ourselves. Itd be cool to hear what kind of music hed make today. Chamberlains monstrous numbers would surely come down in a modern context, if for no other reason than he wouldnt have as many chances to pile them up. Basketball was a sport where under optimal conditions a great player with considerable ego disciplined himself and became unselfish. (Walton had his share of ego too. You look at size of hands, wingspans. But several NBA players pop off the chart because of their long arms. He was right then; he blocked four or more shots four times in his first six NBA games, led the league in blocks three times, and still tops the all-time leaderboard in swats nearly 20 years after his retirement. I was with the Boston Celtics when Russell came into the league, Lakers Coach Bill Sharman told the Los Angeles Times. In the book Basketball: A Love Story, Olajuwon describes the first time he saw an NBA game. William Theodore Walton III Twitter : BillWalton (Big Red, Grateful Red, Red Baron, Redwood, Chief) Position: Center Shoots: Right 6-11 , 210lb (211cm, 95kg) More bio, uniform, draft, salary info Hall of Fame 2x All Star 1976-77 TRB Champ 1976-77 BLK Champ 2x NBA Champ 2x All-NBA 2x All-Defensive 1976-77 Finals MVP 1977-78 MVP For one: Decades before Shut up and dribble became a sociopolitical flashpoint, Walton was telling The New York Times In this society, they dont expect an athlete to speak for himself or to be able to lead his own life. After his arrest as a junior, Walton issued a statement that read: Your generation has screwed up the world. Portland rose from fifth to second place in the Pacific Division and stunned the league by gliding past the talent-rich Denver Nuggets in six games, and sweeping the Abdul-Jabbar-led Los Angeles Lakers to reach the Finals. Walton is the same type of player. But a version of Perkins who starts spreading his wings a bit earlier, when he still had the athleticism to be a problem on the offensive glass and explode for tip dunks, and even the quickness to be a threat running off of pindown screens for catch-and-shoot looks, might have been more than a role playerand maybe even quite a bit more. His aptly titled 2016 memoir Back from the Dead distills and expands Bill's essence in a rambling narrative that, . Heights are barefeet estimates, derived from quotations, official websites, agency resumes, in person encounters with actors at conventions and pictures/films. Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey also react to the announcement that the fourth season of HBOs Succession will be the final one, Justin and Micah return to discuss some of the things theyve caught up with over the past few weeks, including You, Tr, and Hogwarts Legacy, Jason also discusses Brandon Miller and Alabama NFL draft prospects with Charlie Potter, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Time Machine All-Stars: Five Centers Who Would Have Dominated 2020. Glass Onion Brought Knives Out to the Next Level. The average man has a wingspan about 2 inches more than his height. Wellat the risk of disrespecting a stand-up dude for the second time in the space of one columnlets ask David Robinson, against whom Sabonis held his own when the Soviet Union nearly knocked off Team USA in the gold-medal game of the 1986 FIBA World Championship, and when the USSR did defeat the Americans in the semifinals of the 1988 Summer Olympics (despite Sabonis playing shortly after recovering from his first Achilles rupture): Legendary big-man coach and talent evaluator Pete Newell told Sam Toperoff of The Atlantic Monthly in 1986 that he thought Sabonis could conceivably become the greatest player in the game and he would have taken the Lithuanian over Patrick Ewing in the 1985 draft if he had played for an American team. Career (1,045 games, 1959-73): 30.1 points, 22.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists per game, 54.0% FG, 51.1% FT. No player from the past feels harder to wrap your mind around than Chamberlain. In recent seasons, Warriors high-scoring All-Star Kevin Durant has become more determined to use his 7-5 wingspan to make more of an impact on defense. What We Learned From Testing, and a Bahrain GP Preview, Succession Hall of Fame: Which Side Are You On?. Position: Center. You make up a lot of ground. They don't really bring it up to us about that in college or high school.". (OK, I agree: That was a very Bill Waltonass thing to say.) NBA legend Bill Walton co-authored a byline explaining why one plot of land outside San Diego could be a way to help end the homeless crisis in the city. Free) fumed to the San Diego Union at the time. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. He could pass and run the floor, dribble. Portland fell to the bottom of the Pacific Division in 1975-76, though Walton started to come into his own, scoring 16.1 ppg, pulling down 13.4 rpg and demonstrating excellent passing skills from the low- or high-post in 51 contests. Offense 91. Walton received a minute-long standing ovation from the Boston Garden crowd after walking onto the parquet floor at his first exhibition game. Once limited to descriptions of birds, wingspan has become one of the most important measurements for basketball prospects over the past decade. I was born tall, he said. Before he got to the NBA, McGee wasnt even aware of his wingspan. Portland won 11 more games in 1974-75 than in the previous year but failed to live up to its potential, largely because of Waltons health troubles. Bill Walton, Former ABC/ESPN/NBC Basketball Announcer, NBA All-Star Basketball Player, UCLA All-American, and one of the fifty greatest players in NBA history, provides a place to meet and greet fans. Walton played in 55 games in 1983-84 and 67 in 1984-85, while the Clippers won 30 and 31 games, respectively. Most of us have the same wingspan as our height. (For what its worth: Robinson would be a worthwhile choice for this exercise, too. The NBA's Noches ne B A celebration starts in March, where teams will commemorate fans and players across Latin American and U.S. Hispanic communities. All rights reserved. Some of the best players Kerr faced had incredible reach. Ive always been tall. Walton won 1 MVP Award, was selected to play in 2 All-Star Games, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1993. All You Touch and All You See: Dark Side of the Moon at 50. You make up a lot of ground. "I've always been tall. OAKLAND, Calif. Not until Nate McMillan began being fitted for custom-made suits a few years into his NBA career three decades ago did he understand just how far his arms reached. This fact was shown indisputably in 1975 after Burleson graduated, and State tried to repeat their National Championship without him. But when he was right man, was he right: At his peakthe 1976-77 season in which the Blazers won the title, and the 1977-78 campaign in which Portland was 50-10 when Walton broke his foot (he won MVP that year despite missing the final 22 games)Walton averaged 24.9 points, 18.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 3.8 blocks per 100 possessions. I do think, though, that hed probably become an even more useful piece to deploy in a spread-it-out-and-bomb-away offense and that, on occasion, yes, he might even be construed as A Problem. 3x NCAA All-Region. In recent seasons, Warriors high-scoring All-Star Kevin Durant has become more determined to use his 7-5 wingspan to make more of an impact on defense. Center Bill Walton played 10 seasons for 3 teams. His career averages were 13.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 468 regular season games. That is not the case for young players. Jones keyed several championship runs in Boston, both as one of its players and later as its coach. Walton had a bulging medical file before he even reached collegehe suffered multiple lower leg fractures and underwent knee surgery while still in high schooland struggled through broken bones in his spine and knee tendinitis at UCLA, resulting in another knee surgery before he joined the Blazers. (Walton had played drums with the Dead at a show in Egypt, and he sometimes took teammates to shows and brought band members to team practices.). He won the NBA Most Valuable Player award while playing for the defending NBA champion Trail Blazers in 1977-78. Ive always been tall. When I think of Shaqs playing days, I immediately flash to the version that dominated in Los Angeles in the late 90s and early aughts. I also think Steve Kerr wouldve done horrible, unspeakable things to get someone like Vlade operating in that Andrew Bogut/Anderson Varejao/David West playmaking pivot role as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson run all those split actions, flinging passes all over the place: I dont know. But a modern Wilt would profile, at minimum, as a mammoth rim protector and interior deterrent; think a thicker Rudy Gobert (a close analogue in terms of measurables) with a collegiate high jumpers hops. In recent seasons, Warriors high-scoring All-Star Kevin Durant has become more determined to use his 7-5 wingspan to make more of an impact on defense. I would bring my length, I would bring my athleticness. Those who knew Walton the basketball player recognized him as a devastating force. A wingspan always helps people, whether its blocking shots or deflections on defense.. But when you have the great game of basketball with all the ultimate winners of the genetic lottery its not how high you jump, its where you are and when you jump.. Before he got to the NBA, McGee wasnt even aware of his wingspan. 1973 UCLA, led by Bill Walton, sets an NCAA record for consecutive victories with its 61st win, an 82-63 victory over Notre Dame. You guessed it: The one who turned the 1984 draft into prom night. I'm not as fast laterally, I'm not as athletic, I'm not as quick as guys up and down but I think I make up for it with my length," said Durant, a defensive player of the year candidate. it maybe is Bill a little closer and gaining more height, there's other shots they look closer in team photos, or just general photos. Later, he admitted much of his aloofness or unwillingness to talk was due to a speech impediment, which he would later receive successful therapy for. Chamberlain experienced fabulous success playing one way, fielded criticism from fans and pundits over it, and then just decided to play an entirely different way to prove a point. Its much more important than your height, Kerr said. Rian Johnson faced the biggest writing challenges of any of the five nominees, but the director managed to perfectly thread the needle, ensuring that Glass Onion felt unique but still delighted the fans of its predecessor, some dispute about just how valuable his passing was, two highest assist-per-game averages of any center in league history, reportedly wanted to dispel the notion that he was a selfish player, 50 percent between 16 feet and the arc during the 1998-99 season, what Rudy Tomjanovich and Co. did in 1994 and 95, fellow Time Machine All-Star Andrei Kirilenko, bemoans the disappearance of dominant back-to-the-basket bigs, largely been excised from the playbook altogether, the institution of new rules aimed at reducing intentional fouling, told Jackie MacMullan and Kirk Goldsberry, gold-medal game of the 1986 FIBA World Championship, the semifinals of the 1988 Summer Olympics, having lost all faith in Portlands medical team, demanded a trade, 3.5 stocks (steals plus blocks) per 36 minutes during his Lakers tenure, what Marc Gasol gave the Raptors last season, 352 triples during his first eight seasons, 5.0 long balls per 36 minutes of floor time, 38.7 percent from 3-point range on 3.7 attempts per 36 minutes, the sort of 7-foot Steph you could build an offense around, Time Machine All-Stars: Five Power Forwards Who Would Have Dominated 2020, Malcolm Brogdon Is a Throwbackand DeservingCandidate for Sixth Man of the Year, The Surging Knicks, Zombie Heat, and a Bizarre College Hoops Season With Ariel Helwani, Mike Schur, Kevin OConnor, and Tate Frazier. 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