The NBA is a damn joke! Could anyone in todays game guard Chamberlain or Erving??

Answer 1

Are you being serious or are you just trying to be pathetic? Bruce Bowen could shut down Erving, Tim Duncan could shut down Chamberlain, So could Garnett, Wallace, Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal, and plenty of others.

Answer 2

First to Chicagofan, you were not paying attention, Dr. J played his entire career with the three second rule.

Actually if you watched the NBA in the 70s you would know that defense was not really a priority. Today the average player works much harder on D than most players did in the 70s, not that I am complaining the 70s were a lot of fun. By the 80s Dr J had given up on trying to drive each time he got the ball like he did in the ABA and his first few years in the NBA and he was exposed as a fairly poor shooter. Chamberlain is another matter however, I think he would be very effective today as a fast post player able to initiate the break and fill the wing, he would learn to cut to the hoop and maybe even to dribble and drive better. He was not much of a jump shooter even from 8-12' he did not have much of a drop step but would have learned it easily if he needed it. He would have to work against todays best athletic bigmen and might have some trouble getting outside to defend against the few bigmen who really have good range. No way he would average anything like 50ppg or 25 rpg today. The defense in the NBA is no joke these guys are athletic, skilled and if they do not work hard on D they are gone for the most part. What league are you watching?

Ive been watching the league intently since the mid to late 60s. It has been better over all in my opinion than now. But Dr.J was pretty easy to guard for the last 4-5 years of his career and as I said D was not that good when he was in his prime.

I admit that my old tapes show Wilt to have a good turn around jumper into the mid and maybe to late 60s, but at the time that I began watching live and on delayed television he had abandoned it for the most part. It is a funny thing because in the late 60s and early70s he was still fast and very athletic but did it seemed unnecessarily limit himself. As far as being disliked I certainly agree that was once the curse of most dominant big men before David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon (I mean my hero Kareem struggled in a similar fashion). When I say Wilt was not good from 8-12 what I really mean is at the time that I saw him for entire games and on a regular basis. I saw him most when he scored I think 13+ a game with the Jerry West, Gail Goodrich Lakers, he was still athletic at that time.

I did mis-speak about something I actually know about and I should not do that, but I still stand by my assertion that the league is full of hard working defenders many who would make even a Wilt in his prime work hard to score 25ppg and win.

I have a hard time with people who just site stats and #ers of championships to argue for their favorites, something young fans tend to do. And likewise with older fans who claim that the league is currently at a weakened state. In the 70s defense was weak now talent is spread thin otherwise it has always been competative and even the 70s was a lot of fun. Today there may be more good wing players than ever before.

Answer 3

Maybe a couple of people could slow down Erving, but no one could take a prime Chamberlain, definitely not Tim Duncan.

Answer 4

I would say that someone like Dwight Howard might be able to give Chamberlain trouble. No one would stop Chamberlain. But he wouldn't dominate like he did. No one would be able to stop Erving. All of the rules favor offensive minded wing players. And yes, it's a pretty weak league.

Answer 5

Kevin Garrnett might stand a chance against Erving but i dont know about Chamberlain

Answer 6

Chamberlain - No, no one. Dwight Howard would likely come the closest though.

Erving - Bruce Bowen, Kobe Bryant, or someone of that nature

Answer 7

Nope. They are just too big and too fast and too strong for the kids of the NBA nowadays. Not even Tim Duncan can gaurd them.

Answer 8

They wouldn't have as much trouble as the people did in their time because now there is the 3 second rule whereas there wasn't back then.

Answer 9

...someone could, but....

Answer 10

First, the only one who can stop a great offensive player is the great offensive player himself or his teammates (like rookie Michael Jordan was "frozen out" at the 1985 NBA All Star game as the NBA veterans did not like all of the "pub" MJ was getting, or, when Kobe's Lakers teammates did not pass Kobe the ball every time down the court which Kobe wanted and was demanding in Kobe's great 81 point game).

Second, no one in the NBA ever got to see the real Dr. J as only the ABA fans, what few they had, saw the real legendary Dr. J. So, I agree with another poster here that Dr. J was highly overrated in the NBA. Actually, no one could dominate a game like Dr. J because of his speed, quickness, jumping ability, and, when it counted unstoppable offense. Actually, in the old ABA, Dr. J would just go with the flow for three quarters, then, in the fourth quarter, particularly if it was a tight game, the ball always ended up in Dr. J's hands for Dr. J to be the playmaker either passing off or shooting. Even in the legendary ABA days for Dr. J, Dr. J couldn't shoot very well for three quarters and shot very poorly from the free throw line and for three quarters Dr. J in his prime in the old ABA couldn't even hit the broad side of a barn on a 3 point attempt. Then, in the fourth quarter of a close game, Dr. J made every 2 pointer, every 3 pointer, and every free throw he attempted. In Dr. J's ABA prime, Dr. J's athleticism allowed him to get a shot off whenever he wanted to from wherever he wanted to. The ABA officiating enforced the required one on one defensive assignments to prevent double teams much more than did NBA officiating as shown immediately after the merger in 1976. No one could stop Dr. J one on one whenever Dr. J's team cleared the floor for him in Dr. J's 1-4 offense where Dr. J would go one on one every time down the court in a close game in the fourth quarter or overtime.

Third, it must be remembered that the defensive rules in the NBA from 1961 to 2001 prevented zone defenses and technically prevented an extended double team with double teams technically only allowed from 1961 to 2001 in the NBA for a few seconds and only if the offensive team did not spread the floor which allowed an "accidental" double team. A lot of teams and a lot of head coaches tried to cheat on the "required" one on one defense in the NBA from 1961 to 2001. This is why there were so many "illegal defense techincal fouls" called during a game from 1961 to 2001 because a team playing defense was trying to either double team when it could not unless the offense did not spread the floor and allowed two offensive players to stand next to each other which would allow a "temporary" double team as long as the second defender was within "X" feet of the man he was guarding. No defensive zones were allowed from 1961 to 2001.

Prior to 1961 and since 2001, anything goes on defense.

However if you look at the defensive statistics of the Spurs from 1999 when they had the "Twin Towers" in David Robinson and Tim Duncan and the Spurs defense of either 2003, 2005, or 2007, there is no difference in the Spurs 2 point field goal percentage allowed, 3 point field goal percentage allowed, and roughly the Spurs still allow the fewest points per game whether it was under the old one on one defensive rules (Duncan and Robinson were great one on one defenders and could jump out to block any shot around the basket as an offense could not spread out against the 1999 Spurs "Twin Towers" defense to get both Spurs big men away from the basket; plus, David Robinson was one of the quickest centers in the recent era of NBA basketball). By the time that David Robinson retired in 2003, the man on man defensive requirements in the NBA had already changed in 2001, so the Spurs can still stop any moves to the basket with Tim Duncan being able by himself because of the 2001 NBA defensive rule changes to legally guard the basket by himself without being required to guard a specific man one on one since David Robinson's retirement in 2003.

Fourth, the comment that Wilt Chamberlain could not shoot from 8 to 12 feet out is not true. I guess because of my older brothers, I started to watch NBA basketball every Sunday afternoon during the season with the typical NBA matchup always being the Philadelphia Warriors or the San Francisco Warriors or the Philadelphia 76ers or the Los Angeles Lakers whichever team Wilt Chamberlain was playing on that year would be playing against the Celtics and Bill Russell on almost every televised game. I started watching NBA basketball at a very early age like when I was 7 years old and Wilt Chamberlain had only been in the league a few years and before Chamberlain had his 50 ppg season. Wilt Chamberlain's bread and butter shot during his 7 NBA scoring titles including his 50 ppg season was about a 10 to 12 foot from the basket turn around fade away jumper. Chamberlain hit these shots with great regularity, so Chamberlain's high FG% was from his ease at scoring 10 to 12 feet from the basket on a fade away jumper which say Shaq has improved since entering the NBA in 1992, but Shaq's range as a rookie was a slam dunk which was not Wilt Chamberlain's game in Wilt Chamberlain's scoring prime as Wilt had a fairly decent mid range turn around fade away jumper. Now the Chamberlain-Russell weekly televised battles, remember there were only 8 teams in the NBA at the team with each NBA team loaded with superstars because of the few teams in the NBA, and because of the few teams in the league, this is why Chamberlain versus Russell were on TV almost every Sunday or if not Chamberlain then it was the Celtics against another team like the St. Louis Hawks who had super star Bob Pettit (2 time NBA MVP and 12 All NBA teams in a 12 year career for Pettit, almost exclusively first team), or, it would be the Celtics against Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas and the Cincinnati Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) or against the LA Lakers and Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. The Celtics ruled the NBA TV schedule in the 1960s because of Bill Russell's dominance. Even Bill Russell, a former world class high jumper, could not stop Wilt Chamberlain's 10 to 12 foot turn around fade away jumper as Wilt Chamberlain was a three time former Big Seven [later Big Eight, and, now, Big Twelve] high jump champion. The only thing that Bill Russell could do to stop Wilt Chamberlain's automatic turnaround fade away jumper from 10 to 12 feet out was for Russell to push Wilt Chamberlain with all of Russell's might away from where Wilt Chamberlain wanted to set up to shoot in Wilt's 50 ppg a season prime. These Chamberlain-Russell battles were a combination of Greco-Roman wrestling and free style wrestling with as much shoving and pushing and leaning as could be done by Russell to keep Chamberlain out of the low blocks for his shot and to keep Chamberlain away from the basket for an offensive rebound. Turn about fair play as Bill Russell was a slightly superior rebounder, when the Celtics were on offense, Chamberlain, already the first man in the NBA heavy into weight lifting, would wrestle, shove, push, and lean on Bill Russell when the Celtics were on offense to keep the less offensive minded Bill Russell away from the boards and keep Russell from getting another offensive rebound. These Chamberlain-Russell wars of constant contact, by the way the NBA is a non-contact sport, kind of neutralized both Chamberlain's offensive strength and Russell's rebounding strength. And, no fouls were ever called. In fact, I believe Wilt Chamberlain went his entire NBA career without fouling out in spite of so many 48 minute wrestling matches with Bill Russell during their primes from the late 1950s until Bill Russell retired in 1969 while Chamberlain continued on to play with the Lakers. Russell did not totally stop Chamberlain; however, as the NBA referees allowed both Chamberlain and Russell to be as aggressive with each other whether they were on offense or defense without calling fouls on Chamberlain or Russell, Chamberlain with his much superior strength, Chamberlain's superior height, Chamberlain's superior size (Chamberlain did not approach 400 pounds with zero body fat until after Russell had retired and Chamberlain had been a member of the LA Lakers for a number of years), and Chamberlain with great jumping ability (Chamberlain was rumored to have on several occasions jumped and pulled coins off of the top of the backboard) still got his points against Bill Russell but they were a "hard" 30 or 40 points. Equally, Bill Russell had a hard time rebounding against Chamberlain as Chamberlain used his size to keep Russell away from the boards. The Chamberlain-Russell battles were epic battles particularly in the playoffs. Most people remember the almost 400 pound muscle bound LA Lakers Wilt Chamberlain who at that point in his career was more interested in leading the team, or the NBA, in assists, and in rebounding, and in playing defense. For the number of years Wilt Chamberlain played for the LA Lakers, the last five years Wilt was in the NBA before jumping to the ABA, and with the Lakers, Chamberlain no longer wanted to score, so the few times that Chamberlain would shoot during those five years on the LA Lakers which closed out Chamberlain's NBA career, the few shots that Chamberlain would shoot were usually slam dunks off of offensive rebound put backs. As Chamberlain played for the LA Lakers from the 1960s to 1973, this is the Wilt Chamberlain that most people remember, and, not the early Wilt Chamberlain of the early 1960s where Wilt had an automatic 10 to 12 foot turnaround fade away jump shot as his almost primary and sole offensive weapon during Chamberlain's early NBA years. Of course, during those early Chamberlain years, most Chamberlain offensive rebounds which were rare as Chamberlain was always the #1 option on his 10 to 12 foot turnaround fade away jumpers, kind of like the same distance of current era Tim Duncan's off the glass turnaround jumpers when Duncan has the confidence to take those shots, but Chamberlain would go strictly for net and fade away as his primary shot from a distance from the basket during Chamberlain's 7 years as NBA scoring leader.

Dr. J stopped himself in the NBA.

Chamberlain could not be stopped by anyone once he established position which is why Bill Russell did anything physically possible to prevent Chamberlain from setting up down low trying to get Chamberlain to set up several feet outside of Chamberlain's early prime turnaround fade away jump shot.

Sometimes Chamberlain was his own worst enemy which would stop Chamberlain from scoring as Chamberlain was the most hated basketball player of his time with the media always calling Chamberlain a loser as Chamberlain was only able to defeat Bill Russell's Celtics once in the playoffs in eight playoff meetings.

Chamberlain tried to make people like him by quit shooting and scoring and leading the league in assists which he did lead the NBA one year in assists and his team, mainly the LA Lakers, in assists every year as Chamberlain was trying to get people to quit hating him by going from an offensive machine winning scoring titles easily to the last option on offense particularly during his many years wih the LA Lakers in spite of his almost 400 pound muscular fat free body. I think Chamberlain was always an enigma to himself as no one liked him as a NBA player outside of his home fans.

Only Chamberlain stopped himself on offense during his LA Laker years by refusing to shoot. And, Dr. J wasn't all that in the NBA, but Dr. J was unstoppable in the fourth quarter of an ABA game hitting nothing but net while missing most of his shots in the first three quarters of the typical ABA game.

All I can say is that the 2001 NBA defensive rule changes went from man to man defense required from 1961 to 2001 to allowing legal double teams, triple teams, quadruple teams, zone defenses, or whatever any team wants to do on defense.