Robert Parish is the overlooked big man of the vaunted Larry
Bird-Kevin McHale-Parish front line that led Boston to three NBA titles.
Parish never led the league in anything. He never averaged
20 points per game. He never got more than a handful of MVP votes in five
seasons. What he did do was play solid, winning basketball in a record number
of games. It’s his 21 years effective play – he shot 49 percent from the field
at age 34 – that drove him into the top 40.
Parish was so quiet Cedric Maxwell nicknamed him Chief after
the silent Native American character in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest. The most colorful thing about him early in his career was the fact he
was part of perhaps the greatest draft trade heist in history. Parish spent the
first four years of his career in Golden State, where the Warriors were slowly
falling apart. The Warriors traded Parish and its No. 3 overall pick to the Boston
Celtics for the No. 1 pick in the 1980 draft. The Warriors used that pick on Joe
Barry Carroll while the Celtics picked Kevin McHale.
Parish’s first two years in Boston were his best. He had his
top two PER scores in 1980-1981 and 1981-1982. He had his best win shares , box
+/- and second best VORP in 1980-1981. He got his most MVP votes in those two
seasons as well.
Beginning in 1982-1983, more and more of the post touches
were going to McHale and Parish settled into the solid No. 3 option whose job
was to rebound and block shots. He excelled at it more than 10 years. He had
his first 10.0+ win share season in 1980-1981 and his last in 1990-1991.
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Robert
Parish bio info
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Career
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1976-1997
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Games
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1,611
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Points
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14.5
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Rebounds
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9.1
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Assists
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1.4
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FG Pct.
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53.7%
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All-Star games
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9
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NBA MVPs
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0
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NBA Titles
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4
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Playoff seasons
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16
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Playoff games
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184
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Points
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15.3
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Rebounds
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9.6
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Assists
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1.3
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FG Pct.
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50.6%
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Hall of Fame
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2003
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Top 100
rankings
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Points
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Top 100 ranking
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1-year
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311.37
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68th
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5-year
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1,400.51
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58th
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10-year
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2,570.16
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39th
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Career
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4,036.96
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20th
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Robert
Parish at his peak
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1980-1981
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Parish
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Top 5
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Points
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PER
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25.2
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25.02
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Win Shares
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10.9
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13.53
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Box +/-
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5.0
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5.92
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VORP
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4.0
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5.88
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Total Advanced Stats
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45.1
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50.34
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89.59
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Playoff PER
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18.8
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23.02
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Win Shares
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1.4
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2.62
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Box +/-
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2.7
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7.57
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VORP
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0.6
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1.40
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Total Advanced Stats
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23.5
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34.61
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67.90
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Reg. Season Win %
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75.61
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75.61
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Playoff Win %
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70.59
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70.59
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MVP Voting (75 points)
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53/690
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7.68
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Playoff MVP (25 points)
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0
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0
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Total Score
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311.37
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Parish’s 10 greatest seasons
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1980-1981
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311.37
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1981-1982
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306.65
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1985-1986
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266.67
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1983-1984
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260.77
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1986-1987
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255.04
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1984-1985
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251.55
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1990-1991
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234.31
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1991-1992
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234.12
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1982-1983
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227.70
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1976-1977
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221.96
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Career
winning percentage
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W
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L
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Pct.
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Regular Season
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953
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561
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62.95%
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Playoffs
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90
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92
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49.45%
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