Russell's statistical case over Wilt | Greatest Peaks Ep. 1

This is the 1st episode in a series on the greatest peaks in NBA history (focusing on 1977-2020), featuring detailed scouting reports and film breakdown on the best players in NBA history at their best, along with analysis of their impact using historical data & stats to size up the highest peaking players ever.
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Twitter: @elgee35

Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.

Stats courtesy:
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.

Series music:
csus (instrumental)
Hair (fairlight)
Imperfect Place
Lost by Alter Ego
Restless Knight

#ThinkingBasketball #GreatestPeaks #NBAGoat

[ThinkingBasketball]

A few have mentioned/asked: I do tend to view Wilt's peak as higher than Russell's (which was outside the scope of this prelude). In 1967 he found a better balance with his playmaking and scoring, and combined with great defense authored a legendary season.

[exquisitemeat]

This channel's peak is also historically great

[SM--]

So excited for this series. You make the absolute greatest basketball content available

[WarrenJr]

It’s a an absolutely crime how undervalued this channel is. Wish I lived in a world where this is what we talked about when talking about great players. Especially in mainstream media

[mattvalin]

It's so weird that you and Stephen A Smith somehow have the same job title.

[whateverreally]

Tiny fun fact for Ben : Wilt didn't actually play every minute in '62. He had a game against the Lakers with a lazy 40 minutes due to being ejected, but made up for it in averages with 5 OT games, a double OT game and a triple OT game

[MineShackle]

This is so exciting! This is the type of analysis that we deserve not hours of Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith GOAT debates

[dylanpatel]

This is the best basketball content on YT and it’s not even close.

[omgg]

I feel like I'm committing a crime watching this for free

[kakerandelin]

People have said this a thousand times here but I want to say it myself. To an unhealthy-level NBA addict like me this channel is absolute crack. It's so far ahead of the usual (even professional) NBA content on YT intellectually it makes them sound like kids talking about a pickup game in their schoolyard. THANK YOU BEN and never stop please.

[kumayasei]

This serie is gonna give me goosebumps. And you are a true inspiration, watching your videos I'd wish I could dedicate myself to NBA analysis

[OpenYourEyes]

Russell is like Curry in a sense. Both the figureheads of dynasties; mostly because both are so good on one end of the court that you can overload their teams with players that make their money on the other end.

Curry, for instance, can play with spacing-deficient, defensive centric units like Draymond, Iguodala, Livingston, Bogut, Festus, etc. and still handcraft an elite offense; while Russell’s teams could be supplemented with mostly offensive talent since he was in many ways a one man defense.

Great start to the series.

[nathanielkang]

I'm in the Russell camp for sure, but I'm wondering why you didn't mention that the Wilt using so many possessions at decent efficiency is actually a huge value (ie decent efficiency at huge volume is more valuable than better efficiency at small volume)

[OGPND]

You can see it in the clips around 8:40, Russell would block shots as a tip pass to his teammate to initiate a fast break. Master level defense

[harshgupta]

Paul George catching strays left and right

[pedromdcc]

Oh man, this is about to get crazy. The top 40 was already an eye opening, perspective changing series, now we have another one. Hope this all comes as quickly as possible

[doktarr]

The biggest quibble I have with your approach is that you can't completely discount how many minutes a player played. If one player is playing much more, then the value they deliver (relative to an average player) while on the court will stack up higher. Wilt's insane minute totals in the early 60s can't be completely discounted.

I'm not saying this by any means invalidates your overall analysis, and when you go to WOWYR stats later you're obviously (implicitly) taking this into account.

[akissick]

Super, super impressive content as always - such a joy to be able to head down memory lane yet still get some analysis on the game like we have today. Can’t wait for the rest Ben!

[sarperkizilkaya]

If everybody watched these videos nba twitter would have been a much more habitable place

[arthurdiserbeau]

Really excited for this series but regarding this episode, you analysed Bill's defence and offense and how his defence made him really good and you also spoke about Wilt's offensive game but you didn't (if I'm not mistaken) speak about his defensive impact