[paradigmnParticipant]

Okay…so…it’s 4:45 a.m…and I’m watching the Kentuky Blue & White scrimmage one ESPN3 (I’ll tell you my thoughts of the game at end).  During the commercial break they ask triva questions (which I kill at obviously lol) and they show interesting factoids.  One stat they showed totally caught me off guard…so much so I felt the need to pause the game and sign onto the forum.

In 14 NBA season…1,045 games played….Wilt Chamberlain….one of the most ferocious centers of all-time…NEVER fouled out of a single game!  Obviously the game was much less athletic back in the day, and who knows how refs used to call games, but the fact a dominating center of all people never once fouled out of a basketball game…is a pretty mind boggling statistic imo.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Wilt_Chamberlain_ever_foul_out_of_a_game

I really know NBA triva, so the fact I didn’t know this is kinda embarassing but oh well.  This dude had so many records it’s ridiculous.  

We all know this of course

And most of us have heard this rumor as well (lol)

But I have to say I am pretty impressed with Wilt never fouling out of an NBA game.

Wilt Chamberlain Career Statistics: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/chambwi01.html

Anyways…My thoughts on the Kentucky Blue & White Scrimmage.  Willey Cauley-Stein is the real deal.  His game has transformed remarkably since I saw it last.  Props to Aaron Smith for putting him in his Mock Draft.  He was getting the best of Nerlens in the first-half.

The starters (white) Noel, Wiltjer, Poythress, Goodwin, Harrow…were loosing to the backups (blue) who were led by some no name white dudes and Cauley-Stein.  They were down by double digits.

Goodwin looked really good…nice motor…Poyhtress showed flashes, but those flashes definitely were impressive…VERY athletic and can create his own shot.  He’s going to be good….Noel looked decent, but he might be more of a work in progress than people think….Wiltjer is a crafty baller, knows how to find the bottom of the basket, but his lateral quickess is pretty slow…Harrow struggled in the first half, but it’s just a scrimage, albeit on ESPN.

It was interesting…at half-time…coach Cal took Nerlens & Harrow off the starting squad and put them with the Blue Team.  He obviously wanted to see how Cauley-Stein looked with the starters. Like I said, I paused the game at half-time to write about Wilt, so I haven’t seen the second half yet…here’s some highlights though.

[BrentSuriaga01Participant]

I’m still wondring how a man that big and dominant (might be more dominant than wht lebron used to be duirng his time) during his time only managed to win few championships. I guess Goliath will always be destined to fall over David.

[ballaj334Participant]

the answer to that question is simply put bill russel when you have to battle the greatest champion ever you will struggle to win titles.

[jmarg25Participant]

Russell was almost as good as Wilt, and those Celtics teams would have 5 or 6 other HOF players not including legendary coach Red Auerbach. 

[blood]

 is wilts 50 25 season…i know he was playing vs 6.6 220 centers at that time but  number dont lie.

[Bird_YearsParticipant]

I’d argue that the never fouling out statistic isn’t necessarily a good thing. Obviously not committing fouls is usually a good thing, and keeping your best scorer on the court is also a good thing, but it can also be argued that trying to avoid fouls at all costs is a bad thing as it weakens your team’s defense. I’ve seen both Boozer and Amare do this on multiple occasions.

I’d have to watch tapes of Wilt playing to come to a conclusion about whether he was avoiding fouls in a way that hurt his team but my take on this is that of all his accomplishments, this was not even close to one of his greatest.

[JoeWolf1]

 I think it’s a little different.  I wish they kept blocked shot statistics back then, but if a guy pulled down 23 rpg for his career, although in a different era, without ever fouling out is an amazing feat.  He was the most physically imposing player of his era, but that also means he wasn’t going over the back and probably in good position for the rebounds he collected.

Chamberlain was All-Defensive team his last two years in the league, something Boozer or Amare cant boast.

[HaleParticipant]

He did that intentionally though. It was one of his goals to never foul out, so he was virtually non-existant on the defensive end when he was one foul away.

[A Lil EnglishParticipant]

With the amount of minutes he played that would be mind blowing. The minutes he played alone blows me away. 

However does fouling out through technical’s not count? It says on the 100 point game wiki-page that he fouled out through techs that season.

                     ___________________________________________________________________

Chamberlain was in his third season in the NBA, having set season scoring records in each of his first two seasons with 37.6 and then 38.4 points per game.^[1] Frank McGuire, the Warriors’ new coach, started the season vowing to get the ball to Chamberlain "two-thirds of the time."^[2] Sports Illustrated wrote that McGuire’s "eventual effect may be to measurably change the character of professional basketball from the brawling, hustling, cigar-in-the-face and eye-on-the-till game it has been for decades to the major league sport which it longs and deserves to be."^[3] He was determined to play Chamberlain every minute of every game; the 7-foot-1-inch (2.16 m) and 260-pound (120 kg) center had missed only eight minutes and 33 seconds that season due to disqualification in a game from techinical fouls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilt_Chamberlain%27s_100-point_game

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