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NBA Draft: 30 greatest No. 1 overall picks in league history

By Josh Cornelissen

25 Jun 1997: Center Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs speaks with a reporter during the NBA Draft at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mandatory Credit: Craig Jones /Allsport
25 Jun 1997: Center Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs speaks with a reporter during the NBA Draft at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mandatory Credit: Craig Jones /Allsport /
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Bob Lanier
Bob Lanier – JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images /

NBA Draft: 30 greatest No. 1 overall picks in league history: 17. Bob Lanier

Many NBA what-ifs center around whether a player could have been great but was instead bad, perhaps due to a career-altering injury. Bob Lanier, the first overall pick in 1970, had such an injury in the NCAA Tournament during his senior season at St. Bonaventure. He had knee surgery in the offseason, a scenario that would likely mean a missed season in today’s NBA.

Instead, Lanier’s new team, the Detroit Pistons, encouraged him to play on it. What followed was a Hall of Fame career, yet one that was also marred by injuries; Lanier would have eight surgeries on his knees during his playing career. He played through the pain, which he described as daily, to put up monster numbers as a tough interior player and defensive enforcer.

Still significantly hampered by that knee injury, Lanier put up 15.6 points and 8.1 rebounds as a rookie across 82 games. His second year he exploded, dropping 25.7 points and 14.2 rebounds, earning his first All-Star nod. He would earn a total of seven across the next eight seasons, all for the Pistons.

Unfortunately for Lanier, not only were his knees debilitating at an alarming rate, but he was putting up these numbers and ruining his legs for mediocre-at-best teams. In 10 seasons with the Pistons, he made the postseason only four times. When he got there he was his normal prolific self, dropping 25.6 points and 13.8 rebounds, but he never had the help he needed. That included seven different coaches, among them Dick Vitale of ESPN announcing fame.

Lanier was eventually traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he finally could play for good teams even as his knees prevented him from consistent impact. He made the postseason all five seasons he was with the Bucks, including a run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1984.
What if Lanier had been allowed to rehabilitate his knee and started his NBA career a year later? What if he had been on a team like the Milwaukee Bucks earlier in his career, able to demonstrate his impact for a winning team during his prime? Bob Lanier had a Hall of Fame career despite those factors; what if he had the chance to do something greater?