Pound-for-pound crown: Robert Parish vs. Kevin McHale
Robert Parish in '91
I didn’t like the Celtics as a kid. “Hate” wouldn’t be the right word because I wasn’t a Lakers or Sixers fan, but there was a definite dislike there.
And even through that dislike, I still got the sense that Robert Parish was always undervalued as a Celtic. When people talk about the “Big Three,” it seems Parish is always mentioned last. Ranking behind Larry Bird is obvious, but should “The Chief” be permanently slotted under Kevin McHale? The book on McHale is that he is one of the most skilled power forwards of all-time, while Bird is rightfully considered one of the greatest, period, to ever play the game. Parish? He’s most well-known simply for sticking around longer than anyone else. But the NBA’s all-time leader in games played (1,611) did more than just show up to work every day.
How does he compare to his more famous and more respected teammate? Which one of the Big Three “sidekicks” had a better overall career?
Parish played 21 seasons with four teams, winning four championships (three with Boston, one with Chicago) in six Finals appearances. He has career averages of 14.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks, and in 184 playoff games posted 15.3 ppg, 9.6 rpg and 1.6 bpg. Parish made nine All-Star teams, was twice named All-NBA, and had two Top-10 finishes in MVP voting. He ranks seventh all-time in total rebounds, ninth in blocks, and 19th in scoring. His best overall season was probably ’81-82, when he averaged 19.9 points, 10.8 boards and 2.4 blocks, finishing fourth in MVP voting and helping get Boston to the Eastern Conference Finals. Parish was named one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players in 1997, and in ’03 was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
McHale played 13 seasons in the League, all with the Celtics, averaging 17.9 points, 7.3 boards and 1.7 blocks. He won three championships in five Finals appearances, and in 169 playoff games put up 18.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg and 1.6 bpg. McHale has seven All-Star, six All-Defensive, and one All-NBA nod under his belt, along with two Sixth Man of the Year trophies and one Top-10 finish in MVP voting. He led the League in field-goal percentage twice, and ranks 11th in career FG percentage. McHale’s best overall season was ’86-87, when he averaged 26.1 points, 9.9 boards and 2.2 blocks, the Celtics lost to the Lakers in the Finals, and he made All-NBA and All-Defensive first team while finishing fourth in MVP voting. He was also part of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players list, and he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in ’99.
Those are the numbers. Throwing in whatever else you feel is relevant, pound-for-pound, who had a better career?
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December 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Hucklebuck says:
This one is a difficult one. I don’t know why they are putting two teammates against themselves. why not McHale vs James Worthy? Or Parish vs Jack Sikma or Bill Walton?
I really can’t decide-popular choice tells me McHale only cuz I see him more, but without Parish who was gonna guard the opposing centers and perform all of the dirty work?
December 16th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
sh!tfaced says:
Tough one. You could say McHale was better, at least he showed up in the clutch.
As good as Parish was, he had a nasty habit of disappearing during crunch time – though it wasn’t really that noticeable since Bird had their backs. But if you put those two in different teams and let them each be that team’s respective go-to-guy, Parish would most likely have better numbers than McHale.
What made them both great was that they were willing to play in a lesser role but maintain decent stats and still look good while sacrificing for a greater cause, which was winning chips. Like what KG, Pau, Ray and Manu do for their respective teams.
December 16th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
jvedo says:
having grown up in the boston area and watching both of these guy s play there entire career with the exception parish started in golden state so did not c much of that mchale would without a doubt had a better statistcal career [see86/87 season]he got more touches and delevered parish was as solid as they come but that was his biggest asset just beinng solid everynight mchale was and always will be one off the best low post players ever the guy had more althuogh ugly and awkward head fakes ball fakes i think he made defenders dissey as barkley once said mchale was the hardest cover period mchale hands down and dont forget they actually played defense in tha nba back than
December 16th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Chicagorilla says:
I’d take McHale. Although Parrish was a Monster back in his early years. I did not know that McHale avg 26ppg before….him and Larry on the same team was just sick.
December 16th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Ian says:
mchale
top 5 pf ever (top 3 for me) can guard anyone and score one anyone.
December 16th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Lucas says:
I gotta say McHale since I think Robert Parrish was a product of being on a good team and McHale could have functioned anywhere and dominated.
December 16th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Scott says:
I think there are 2 main elements that result in Mchale being percieved as the better player by the public. The first is his foot slowed him down so we figure if he hadn’t been injured he would have had a few more years similar to 86/87 and the Chief never put up offensive numbers like McHale did that season
The second reason is that he is white and there are very few “great white hopes” that the public can cling too from McHale’s era onward
December 16th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
CJ says:
both have different things going for them. parish has the longevity and took care of his body (thus all those seasons), but at their peak, mchale hands down. but like scott said, he was slowed down by his foot injury. but the fact he played through it (a la grant hill) shows you what a tough mofo he was. offensively he could abuse anybody down low, and defensively he had to guard anyone from dominique to the dream, to kareem.
December 17th, 2009 at 5:47 am
GURU says:
KMCHALE on defense and on offense was far more important than the CHIEF…