Is Bob Lanier the greatest center in Detroit Pistons history?

Bill Laimbeer greatest Pistons center ever?

If it was simply counting rings, Bill Laimbeer would be the best, as he has two championship rings to Wallace’s one and Lanier’s none. Of course, if winning titles was all that counted, Bill Russell would be considered the greatest NBA player ever, but he is not.

Laimbeer’s physical presence embodied the “Bad Boys’ era. He was 6-foot-11, 245-pounds and not afraid to use his size and bulk,

Besides his physicality, Laimbeer would have fit in with the modern NBA (except he would have received a Flagrant 2 every game and been ejected) as he was mostly an outside shooting center and a great rebounder.

He was not a shot blocker but if the opponent drove to the basket, they knew Laimbeer was waiting for them, and the result would not be good.

The ‘Bad Boys’ had so many scoring options, Laimbeer only averaged 10.6 points on the title teams. He actually had much better stats at the start of his career. Laimbeer knocked in 22.5 points a game when the Pistons lost in the first round to the Atlanta Hawks back in 1986.

Laimbeer averaged over 17 points a game for Detroit early in his career. So he could score when he had the opportunity.

He led the NBA in rebounding in the 1985-86 season and averaged 10.1 rebounds in his 13 seasons with the Pistons.

Comparing Lanier and Laimbeer

In terms of career stats in Detroit, Lanier beats Laimbeer in points (22.7 to 13.5) and rebounds (11.9 to 10.1) and  also in assists (3.3) and blocks (2.0 to 0.9), although Lanier was not a major shotblocker once his knees started bothering him.

Of course, in terms of team success, Laimbeer standing is higher. The Pistons won one playoff series during Lanier’s time there.

Of course, the NBA was different back in Lanier’s time. There was no salary cap, so teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks could go pay everybody as much as they wanted. There was no such thing as trading good players due to having to shed salary.

And the talent was more concentrated. In 1975, when Detroit lost to the Bucks in West semifinals, there were only 18 NBA teams. Now, there are 30. It was harder to move up in the standings as teams did not have to worry about salary caps, and free agency was in its infancy.

When an aging and bad kneed Lanier went to the Bucks, he helped them beat the Larry Bird-led Celtics (which took Laimbeer’s teams a few times to beat) and fell in the Eastern finals to the ‘fo’, fo’ fo’ 76ers of Julius Erving and Moses Malone (giving them their only playoff loss).

So Lanier could be a winner when surrounded by enough good players.

Oh and if doubt Lanier’s toughness compared to Laimbeer, look at this:

Edge: Lanier over Laimbeer