From: tamada@cheshire.oxy.edu (Michael K. Tamada)
Subject: re:  Laimbeer vs Parish
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA.  USA
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 07:20:09 GMT


In article <1992Jul18.222159.27690@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>, 
u_nique@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Jerray Wei) writes:


>In article <1992Jul18.191844.5187@ninja.zso.dec.com> gregory@flood.zso.dec.com (Peter Gregory) writes:
>
>>We have been seeing a lot of posts about Laimbeer and his effectiveness in
>>the 80's.  To me the most average center in the 80's was Robert Parrish.
>>His rebounding was average, his scoring was average, his defense was average
>>(OK or a little better), his assists were below average.  Laimbeer on the 
>>other hand was a good rebounder, average scorer, average defender.
>>
>>In summary Laimbeer was a better player for most of his career.
>>
>>Thoughts?  I'd love to see the stats for the two of them.  The Boston lovers
>>seem to think that Parrish was one of the best centers in B'ball the last 15
>>years.  But is he even better than Mr. Bill?
>
>Thoughts?  I don't think you understand what average is.  Robert Parish was an
>all-star for how many years?...centers for the most part are the stiffest
>position in the league (power forward comes close).  I remember when Kareem
>was 41, they posted his stats vs. the average for starting centers.  The
>average was around 12 ppg, 8 rpg and a blocked shot.  Kareem didn't rebound
>quite that well at age 41, but he was still scoring and blocking more than
>most.  This is the season before his last (which he sucked).
>
>From career standpoint, Bill Laimbeer was a very good center and Robert Parish
>was among the top five consistently.  Who are the best centers of the 80's?
>Kareem, Parish, Malone and Olajuwon (Ewing and Robinson didn't come on until
>the end).  Take those #s to be the average center, Parish got around 17 ppg,
>10 rpg, blocked a decent number of shots...but probably most impressive is
>how long he did it for and his FG%, career average of 55% which is very high.
>
>Even the past few years, Parish has been an all-star, with nearly 60% shooting
>and rebounding better than ever before (average over last four seasons comes
>out to about 11 rpg).  In his prime, scoring wise, he got 20 ppg for a few
>straight seasons.  In fact, it's tough not to believe he couldn't do it now
>if Boston went to him more often.
>
>BTW, Laimbeer's career stats are significantly lower.

     Jerray's response was excellent; unlike a lot of the Piston and
Celtic bashers here, he is able to appreciate the fact that Laimbeer
in his prime was a very good center, and Parish consistently Top 5
(and top 3 occasionally I would add).  However, no one has yet given
the stats, so here they are.  These do not include this seasons'
games.  All stats are per game.

          Games  Min  FGA  FG%  FTA  FT%  OR  TR  Ast  Stl  Blk  Pts
Parish    1,181 30.9 12.5 .543  4.2 .720 3.2 10.1 1.6  0.8  1.7  16.5
Laimbeer    897 32.9 10.9 .499  3.0 .833 2.9 10.6 2.1  0.7  1.0  13.6

     Laimbeer played in 4 All-star games, and deservedly.  Parish 
played in 9, even more deservedly.  Add in one 2d team All-NBA
and one 3d team all-NBA selection for Parish too.
     Anyone who thinks Parish was "the most average center of the 80's"
either wasn't playing attention, or didn't start following basketball
until 1988.
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