Abdul-Jabbar - 5660 Ast. in 1560 games (37MPG)
Chamberlain - 4643 Ast. in 1045 games (46MPG)
Jokić - 4101 Ast. in 612 games (31MPG)
Russell - 4100 Ast. in 963 games (42MPG)
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-assists-in-a-career-by-a-center
In Wilt’s playmaking prime his teams had over 25% more possessions a game than the current Nuggets so. So the rules get offset a bit by that.
In Wilt’s day you could not step or dribble to record an assist, so pace doesn’t mean much to me in that instance
I read a while ago that wilt would actually yell at his teammates if they took a dribble and he wouldn’t get an assist
Both the positive and negative about Wilt need a block of salt.
People still quote Rick Barry for slamming Wilt and don’t know about the full retraction he issued. One guy claims Wilt scooped him up on a dunk attempt and sat him on the rim…folklore. Wilt yelling at most anybody seems out of character.
I was with you until this bit -
How can you reasonably discern what is or isn’t out of character for him?
There is a story from kareem where him and wilt are in an elevator with another guy and the guy asks wilt how’s the weather up there and wilt spits on the guy and says it’s raining.