Why was Bill Walton good at basketball?

[John Kavanaugh]

Or was he? Did he ever play on a team that couldn’t have won without him?

[Terry Lavin]

I’m sure that he made every team better because of his talent, his comradeship and his spirit.


Being a great leader and a great teammate ain’t easy. He pulled it off.

[John Kavanaugh]

And never even got a contact buzz at a Dead concert.

[John Kavanaugh]

I played Talking Stick North today and the 1977 NBA Championship game is on the tube. Coore and Walton seem one and the same.

[Pete_Pittock]

The Portland Trailblazers were an under .500 hundred team the two years before they won the NBA championship in the 1976-1977 season. Walton was with the team but was often injured, and only played half the games.

[Jason Thurman]

Same reasons High Pointe was great I think. Lack of weaknesses, a whole greater than the sum of its parts, and the nostalgia of unfulfilled potential.


Also, both gone before I ever saw them so all I have are other people's accounts. But I've read Breaks of the Game and regularly consult The Confidential Guide for what that's worth.

[Peter Pallotta]

Walton was good at basketball *in part* because he was 6'11" tall. The same way Dustin Johnson is good at golf partly because he can hit 325 yard power fades with precision. And the same way Talking Stick N is a good golf course partly because of the angles produced (and the strategic forgiveness allowed for) by Bill Coore's wide fairways there. So: height, length and width -- go big, or go home.

[Tom_Doak]

One of Larry Bird's idols was Bill Walton because he was a big man who was a great passer.


I got to see that Trail Blazers team in person vs the Nets a couple of months before they won the championship.  Great passers all of them, tremendous speed at the two guard positions for fast breaks and transition plays.  Actually a bit like the Warriors just without all the three-point shots, but in an era where there were a lot of post players and teams didn't get back on defense so fast.

[John Kirk]

I watched some of the game tonight.  A friend alerted me.

You're really questioning whether Bill Walton was an important player?  He was by far the most important player on that Portland championship team.  They were 50-10 the following year when he hurt his foot, and were never heard from for a decade.

Great passer, good rebounder and shot blocker.  Accurate bank shooter.  A bit like Bill Russell, a defensive safety who only scored when the shots came his way.  He has to be considered a top ten all-time center in terms of peak value, doesn't he?

One thing about those late 70s basketball players.  You can see that jump shooting everything was a mistake.  The shooting is pretty bad.  Everybody's shot is too flat.  Set shooting started coming back a few years later.

Just finished watching a half of Lakers-Knicks from 1972.  It's fun watching Stumpy Goodrich play, since you wonder how that little guy averaged 20 in the show.


Walton was an underrated color commentator as well.  LOL

[Phil Burr]

Walton was great because his skills and fundamentals were an ideal fit for a position that no longer exists in the NBA: a back-to-the-basket center with the height to receive a pass into the post, the vision to distribute to both cutters and spot-up perimeter shooters, and the quickness to spin to the basket either right or left and finish at the rim.


I recall that Blazers team so well without even consulting reference materials: a great center in Walton, perhaps the league's most intimidating enforcer of all time in Maurice Lucas (but he was more than thug; in fact a weapon at both ends), blinding speed in the backcourt with Lionel Hollins and Johnny Davis, and a jack-of-all trades wing in Bobby Gross.  Th construction of the lineup was prototypical for the NBA during that pre-Showtime era.  The Sixers team they played in the finals had been the sexy pick all season with offensive powerhouses at forward in Julius Erving & George McGinnis, plus Doug Collins (potential HOF skills if he had stayed healthy), but Caldwell Jones at center and Henry Bibby at the point were both limited and posed little offensive threat.  Erving and McGinnis did not complement each other, and it didn't help that McGinnis shot something like 33% over the first five games while taking the second most shots after Erving before finally waking up and having a good game 6.  With very little production apart from Erving & McGinnis in game 6, the Blazers closed the out the title 4-2 with a balanced attack (all five starters scored in double figures).

[Mark Mammel]

Bill Walton. The Dead. Talking Stick. High Pointe.Random. Wack.
GCA

[John Foley]

Calling Lynn Shackleford!!


Walton had off the charts footwork. Biggest attribute of great big men. Look at Nicola Jokic he's slow, he's big very good shooter good handle but GREAT footwork.

[Jim Sherma]

Given the way the sports world is going does it really matter how good he was. I want to know if he "moves the needle" or has "impact".

[Mike Hendren]

All I remember is that he was 21 for 22 in the 1973 finals against Memphis State (Little Tubby, Dr. K and the Big Cat).  Game was tied at halftime - UCLA won by 20. 


Walton was a great passer but could go either side near the basket - jump hook or drop step.  Not to mention perfecting the dunkless alley-oop.


Bogey

[A.G._Crockett]

Walton was good at basketball *in part* because he was 6'11" tall. The same way Dustin Johnson is good at golf partly because he can hit 325 yard power fades with precision. And the same way Talking Stick N is a good golf course partly because of the angles produced (and the strategic forgiveness allowed for) by Bill Coore's wide fairways there. So: height, length and width -- go big, or go home.

Pete,

One way to look at big men in basketball is to imagine whether or not they would still be good if they weren't as big.  Walton, if he had been 6-5 instead of 6-11, would still have been a great player, if not as dominant as he was at 6-11.  Great passer, great footwork, a much better shooter facing the basket than most people remember, and so on.;

Remember that Charles Barkley was only 6-4 1/2, and while Barkley was a unicorn of sorts, imagine how dominant he would have been with his same skill set at 6-11.  Sort of Walton in reverse.

I cannot bear to listen to Walton on a broadcast; I don't think he's really the least bit interested in what he's doing, and he seems fascinated by the fact that he's Bill Walton.  But as a player?  He was way past great, and if he had stayed healthy, he would have had a career that would have placed him in the top 20 to ever play the game.  Just one man's opinion.

[John Kavanaugh]

Lakers vs Knicks in 72 was the second game. Seeing Pat Riley play against Phil Jackson was fun. Phil became a handsome man. Would not have seen that coming.

[Pete Lavallee]

Being a huge Boston Celtics fan I greatly appreciated what Bill brought to an already great team with Bird, McHale, Parrish, Johnson and Ainge. He surely was the best 6th man in the league that year. That team only lost one home game going 41-1 at the Garden. Their 15 losses were second only to the Lakers 69-13 season. My only regret was Ralph Sampson making that ungainly shot in the key to beat the Lakers and deprieve us of a proper LA beat down in the Finals!   

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Kareem Abdul Jabbar is often called the greatest college basketball player of all time.


Kareem vs Bill


Passing  Bill
Defending  Bill
Rebounding  Bill
Hustle and Enthusiasm Bill
Scoring inside Kareem
Scoring outside Bill
Championships Kareem 3, Bill 2(mostly due to Bill's anomalous behavior as a senior)
Teammate off the court, like most 7 footers both are unconventional; more like Tillinghast and John Bredemus
Once late into the night at a reunion with Walton present some of us who played with Kareem were whining about him being difficult at times to play with and Walton said, "I don't like hearing these stories about Kareem."

[Steve Lang]

   No one likes their heroes being knocked off their pedestal...

[Tommy Williamsen]

Kareem Abdul Jabbar is often called the greatest college basketball player of all time.


Kareem vs Bill


Passing  Bill
Defending  Bill
Rebounding  Bill
Hustle and Enthusiasm Bill
Scoring inside Kareem
Scoring outside Bill
Championships Kareem 3, Bill 2(mostly due to Bill's anomalous behavior as a senior)
Teammate off the court, like most 7 footers both are unconventional; more like Tillinghast and John Bredemus
Once late into the night at a reunion with Walton present some of us who played with Kareem were whining about him being difficult at times to play with and Walton said, "I don't like hearing these stories about Kareem."

Not ot thread-jack but what was it like to play for Wooden?

[Rob Marshall]

You guys are old, who is Bill Walton?

[Tim Martin]

Lore has it that Wooden only allowed Walton to smoke weed. I would be interested if Lynn has anything on this topic.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Kareem Abdul Jabbar is often called the greatest college basketball player of all time.


Kareem vs Bill


Passing  Bill
Defending  Bill
Rebounding  Bill
Hustle and Enthusiasm Bill
Scoring inside Kareem
Scoring outside Bill
Championships Kareem 3, Bill 2(mostly due to Bill's anomalous behavior as a senior)
Teammate off the court, like most 7 footers both are unconventional; more like Tillinghast and John Bredemus
Once late into the night at a reunion with Walton present some of us who played with Kareem were whining about him being difficult at times to play with and Walton said, "I don't like hearing these stories about Kareem."

Not ot thread-jack but what was it like to play for Wooden?

Like taking a lesson from Butch Harmon.  No option but to do it his way.  Basic fundamentals are essential.  He would find a way for minor changes in your swing to result in major changes in your results, but the focus must be on the techniques and not results.  Must address the mental attitude as much as technique.  Self assured about his way is the right way, with good reason to be self assured.  If you don't like or question his instruction, with Butch you can go somewhere else, with Wooden you should get used to the bench.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Lore has it that Wooden only allowed Walton to smoke weed. I would be interested if Lynn has anything on this topic.

Lore raises its ugly head when teams win an inordinate amount. 

[Tim Martin]

Lore has it that Wooden only allowed Walton to smoke weed. I would be interested if Lynn has anything on this topic.

Lore raises its ugly head when teams win an inordinate amount.

Thanks for the quick response.