Wilt's Foul Shooting

For several years early in his NBA career, Wilt Chamberlain shot foul shots underhanded, with modest success. Though he was a worse shooter over-handed, he eventually ditched the granny style because it made him look like a sissy. Based on my calculations, Wily could have finished his career with almost 800 more points had he not made the switch.

 

YR	2PT	FF	FFA	FF%	TOTPT
60	1065	577	991	58.2%	2707
61	1251	531	1054	50.4%	3033
62	1597	835	1363	61.3%	4029
63	1463	660	1113	59.3%	3586
64	1204	540	1016	53.1%	2948
		2035	3492	58.3%
65	1063	513	880	58.3%	2639
66	1074	569	976	58.3%	2717
67	785	510	875	58.3%	2080
68	819	543	932	58.3%	2181
69	641	500	857	58.3%	1782
70	129	91	157	58.3%	349
71	668	390	669	58.3%	1726
72	496	305	524	58.3%	1297
73	426	265	455	58.3%	1117
PROJECTED POINTS					32191
ACTUAL POINTS					31419
MORE PTS UNDERHANDED					772

 

Wilt finished his career as the all-time leading scorer in NBA history. Since then he was been passed by four players. The extra points would not have kept him in a higher position on the career list. The top 15 scorers in NBA history:

 

38387 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

36928 Karl Malone

33643 Kobe Bryant

32292 Michael Jordan

31419 Wilt Chamberlain

 

29491 Dirk Nowitzki

28596 Shaquille O’Neal

27409 Moses Malone

27313 Elvin Hayes

26946 Hakeem Olajuwon

 

26833 LeBron James (active)

26710 Oscar Robertson

26668 Dominique Wilkins

26496 Tim Duncan (active)

26395 John Havlicek

 

I looked at the top 50 but Maravich wasn’t in there. Neither was Price that I remember. Maybe I will do a study of the three point shot while I am at the beach. Doesn’t affect Kareem and Wilt that much, but it will lower the totals of MJ and Kobe.

 

JUNE 30: Worked past 6:30 last night. Grilled chicken and salad. Wasn’t too hungry after lunch at work: Mellow Mushroom pizza. Watched “The Age of Adaline” with Ceil. Slept 30 minutes late Friday morning.