Greatest shot blocker in each NBA team’s history

Best shot blocker from Chicago Bulls history: Artis Gilmore

As Wilt Chamberlain finished off his career dominating the entire NBA record book, but well before Shaquille O’Neal made his way into the league, Artis Gilmore was his era’s dominating inside presence. This was a role he played quite well over his 17-year career, including seven with the Chicago Bulls.

A whopping 7-foot-2 and 240 pounds, Gilmore was simply bigger than most of the opposition, paving the way for some truly gaudy numbers. Nobody could really stop him from doing what he wanted, which is why he has a career field goal percentage of 58.2 percent. This is also why he led the league in that category on six separate occasions.

Seeing as how nobody could really match up with him, Gilmore’s size is what also let him grab seemingly every rebound, leading the league in per game boards in three of his first four seasons in the league.

Again due to his towering presence over anybody who thought it was wise to bring the ball to the basket, Gilmore was a fierce rim-protector from his first minutes in the ABA. For his career, Artis averaged 2.4 blocks a night, placing him fourth all-time in NBA history and first among those to have played in the ABA.

Similar to Alonzo Mourning, Gilmore’s name isn’t mentioned as much when it comes to the greatest centers ever. In an era alike to Wilt Chamberlain’s, there simply weren’t many who could hang with someone as big as Gilmore let alone stop him. This led to the 11-time All-Star doing as he pleased at both ends of the floor en-route to a Basketball Hall of Fame career.