A lot of you young punks have no idea how good he was as a basketball player. BEST COLLEGE PLAYER EVER!!! No close second. Lots of "cult lore" for you younger experts who only knew him from TV broadcasts. Rebounder, inside scorer, outside scorer, passer, runner......Larry Bird was great in all of these phases of the game......but Bill Walton was 6'11 and Larry Bird was 6'9"...and Billl could jump higher.
I would pick him over every other college player I could ever pick....including Shaq, Magic, Larry Bird or Kareem. The only thing that held him back were the bones that stress-fractured his foot. He won everything.....
He went 5 years before ever losing a game from his junior year in High school to a Senior in college which is insane. Never saw anyone throw the outlet like Bill.
Wooden had his hands full with Walton...didn't like his involvement in the campus sit downs and breaking into school buildings to protest along with his long hair (signs of the 60's)....and one more point..when teams got overly physical with Walton....Wooden would threaten to put Swen Nater on them
Fawk… now I gotta wonder if the pot I smoked in the 80’s is gonna get me? That Acapulco Gold was nothing but dirt, stems and seeds. Suckers would snap, crackle and pop like Rice Krispies every time someone took a hit. The carcinogens had to be strong.
It took me 10 years to get over the fear of aids after a visit to Amsterdam in 90’s. I wrapped it but I wasn’t sure if that shit ate thru a condom. But seriously RIP to the classic hippie, cancer is a fucked up way to check out.
He and Jackie R are the 2 bruins I would have liked to have met.
A lot of you young punks have no idea how good he was as a basketball player. BEST COLLEGE PLAYER EVER!!! No close second. Lots of "cult lore" for you younger experts who only knew him from TV broadcasts. Rebounder, inside scorer, outside scorer, passer, runner......Larry Bird was great in all of these phases of the game......but Bill Walton was 6'11 and Larry Bird was 6'9"...and Billl could jump higher.
I would pick him over every other college player I could ever pick....including Shaq, Magic, Larry Bird or Kareem. The only thing that held him back were the bones that stress-fractured his foot. He won everything.....
21/22 against Memphis in '73 must still be some sort of FG% record.
I hated his color commentary, but there's no denying he was one of the greatest college basketball players ever.
From most accounts he was a good guy, and 71 is still too damned "young" to die. R.I.P., Big Red.
in general, very tall people don't live long. sc
IMHO, a much better college player than Alcindor. Pro comparisons are impossible because of the injuries.
Walton would have been able to dominate a game playing center at 6-6. I don't think Lewis could have done that.
I remember during his prime with the Trailblazers, he took time off to climb trees.
Walton hit the portal. RIP. Was the cancer diagnosis known? I don’t recall hearing about it. Kareem outlived him.