No. 38 - Robert Parish

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.

Robert Parish bio info
Career	1976-1997
Games	1,611
Points	14.5
Rebounds	9.1
Assists	1.4
FG Pct.	53.7%
All-Star games	9
NBA MVPs	0
NBA Titles	4
Playoff seasons	16
Playoff games	184
Points	15.3
Rebounds	9.6
Assists	1.3
FG Pct.	50.6%
Hall of Fame	2003

Top 100 rankings
	Points	Top 100 ranking
1-year	311.37	68th
5-year	1,400.51	58th
10-year	2,570.16	39th
Career	4,036.96	20th

               

Robert Parish at his peak
1980-1981	Parish	Top 5	Points
PER	25.2	25.02
Win Shares	10.9	13.53
Box +/-	5.0	5.92
VORP	4.0	5.88
Total Advanced Stats	45.1	50.34	89.59
Playoff PER	18.8	23.02
Win Shares	1.4	2.62
Box +/-	2.7	7.57
VORP	0.6	1.40
Total Advanced Stats	23.5	34.61	67.90
Reg. Season Win %	75.61		75.61
Playoff Win %	70.59		70.59
MVP Voting (75 points)	53/690		7.68
Playoff MVP (25 points)	0		0
Total Score			311.37

               

Parish’s 10 greatest seasons
1980-1981	311.37
1981-1982	306.65
1985-1986	266.67
1983-1984	260.77
1986-1987	255.04
1984-1985	251.55
1990-1991	234.31
1991-1992	234.12
1982-1983	227.70
1976-1977	221.96

Career winning percentage
	W	L	Pct.
Regular Season	953	561	62.95%
Playoffs	90	92	49.45%