Golden State Warriors: Ranking the 30 best Warriors ever

24. Robert Parish

Stats: 307 GP,13.8 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.8 BPG, 49.5 FG%

Robert Parish was drafted by the Golden State Warriors with the eighth overall pick in the 1976 NBA Draft. He came into the league as an extremely talented big man who could do it all.

Playing in short spurts during his rookie season, Parish averaged only 9.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. However, he began to improve in each season. By his third year in Golden State, Parish was averaging 17.2 points and 12.1 rebounds a night. In addition to scoring and rebounding, he also posted 2.9 blocks per game — the fourth-most blocks in the league that year.

This season places Parish on a few of the Warriors’ all-time single-season lists. He finished second for most defensive rebounds in one year while also racking up the third-most blocks. Parish is the only one on these lists to accomplish both feats in the same year. In total, Parish finished the 1978-79 season with 651 defensive rebounds and 217 blocks.

In 1980, Parish was traded to the Boston Celtics, where grew into a future Hall-of-Famer. Parish was selected to nine All-Star games, two All-NBA teams, and won four championships, playing 14 seasons with the Celtics and becoming an all-time great.