Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain are two of the most iconic players in the history of the NBA. Their era was their own. No one won as many championships as the late Russell, and no one came close to having stats like Wilt. With the tragic passing of Bill Russell on Sunday, several stats from his playing days have now come up.
One of the things Russell and Wilt were both excellent at was protecting the rim. Playing in an era that was built almost entirely around elite centers, their rebounding numbers are a testament to how dominant they both were in their time. And as such, their blocked shots were also at a level beyond compare.
Blocks weren’t recorded for a large part of their careers, but this is where social media comes in handy. An NBA fan on Reddit did a deep dive into the 100-plus games that data is available for and showed that their blocking numbers were mind-boggling.
Bill Russell’s data shows that he averaged 8.1 blocks per game in the situations that data is available for, while Wilt Chamberlain averaged a whopping 8.8. Between the two, Russell was always considered the defensive stalwart, so this is a pretty interesting situation.
Considering that the highest recorded blocks per game belong to Mark Eaton with 3.5 per game, these numbers are obviously in a league of their own. The game was different back then, there was no three-point line, so a lot of the shots were taken inside, but 8 per game is ridiculous no matter the context.
The league will surely never see anything like Bill Russell, and for that matter, Wilt Chamberlain again. With the game moving further and further out, there is no way anyone approaches these numbers either. The only thing fans now can do is think back to this glorious era and appreciate the greatness of these two behemoths who are no longer with us.
