DQuinn1575 wrote:Nate ranks 13th in blocks per game for players aged 32-35. To say he would be ahead of all of them plus Wilt in career blocks is at best a bit of a stretch.
I assume this is the query you ran:
http://bkref.com/tiny/wwEE0Is that correct? Thurmond shows up 13th on that list, which is seasons by a player age 32-35 sorted by blocks per game.
Perhaps this is a more meaningful query:
http://bkref.com/tiny/Y39QZHere's the criteria I used for that query:
-- Last four seasons of a player's career
-- Age 30 or more
-- Minimum 2.0 blocks per game
Final seasons of a player's career is an important factor, since players from Thurmond's era generally played more minutes per game and had shorter careers in terms of seasons, meaning that most retired at an earlier age compared to more modern players. Modern players also have the benefit of better medical treatment and training methods that extend their careers into later years compared to players from Thurmond's era.
Only six players meet those criteria:
1. Larry Nance - 2.6
2. Alonzo Mourning - 2.3
3. Mark Eaton - 2.2
4. David Robinson - 2.1
5. Thurmond - 2.1
6. Tim Duncan - 2.0
Let's look at the other players on that list.
Larry Nance actually had three of his five highest BPG averages in his final four seasons. In comparison, Thurmond's BPG dropped precipitously in his final seasons compared to his prime years, though we of course don't have the stats for those. But Thurmond's BPG in his final four seasons decline as you would expect for a player at the end of his career -- 2.9, 2.4, 1.3, 1.7.
Alonzo Mourning had remarkably steady BPG over the course of his career, with a high of 3.9 and a career average of 2.8. He obviously had to deal with his kidney issues in the second half of his career, but other than 2003-04, right after missing the entire 2002-03 season, he did really well -- in fact, his last four seasons were the four highest blocks/36 minutes of his career. Here are Mourning's reb/36 minutes in his last four seasons with the percentage showing how that compares to his best season (11.9 reb/36 in 2000-01).
10.2 - 86%
9.9 - 83%
8.0 - 67%
8.6 - 72%
Here's Thurmond's reb/36 in his last four seasons compared to his best season (18.2 in 1967-68).
12.8 - 70%
11.8 - 65%
10.7 - 59%
13.5 - 74%
The thing is, after Mourning's kidney transplant, he missed a lot of games, but when he was well enough to play, he played reduced minutes and was able to be remarkably productive when looking at his per-36 stats.
Here's some other info to look at.
Thurmond career -- 964 games, 35,881 minutes, 37.2 MPG
Mourning career -- 686 games, 25,975 minutes, 31.0 MPG
Thurmond last four seasons -- 269 games, 7,609 minutes, 28.2 MPG
Mourning last four seasons -- 186 games, 3,508 minutes, 18.9 MPG
The end of Thurmond's career followed a path you'd more typically expect with reduced minutes and reduced productivity, but his limitations were related to the accumulation of injuries and the toll that had taken on his body, which he was able to generally able to play through, though not as productively. By the time Thurmond began his last four seasons, he'd already played 11 more games and 2,297 more minutes than Mourning would play in his career.
Mark Eaton was an excellent shotblocker, averaging 3.5 blocks over his career with a high of 5.6 in 1984-85 and four other seasons over 4 BPG. His career follows the typical arc you'd expect, with prime years followed by a steep decline. He was remarkably healthy over his 11 seasons, probably because he relied on his sheer size (7'4" and not skinny), not athleticism. He was the immovable object in the middle of Utah's defense. He was an okay rebounder and poor scorer. His job was to concentrate on the defensive end, be big, and block the shot of normal-sized humans (by NBA standards, anyway) who dared to shoot inside, and he usually blocked shots without leaving his feet.
I have no way to prove that Thurmond in his prime blocked more shots than Eaton, but Thurmond was long, athletic, and covered a lot of ground, especially compared to Eaton. I'm confident in arguing that Thurmond was a better shotblocker in his prime than the floor-bound Eaton; if we only had the stats for Thurmond.
David Robinson is the most similar to Thurmond of this group, a long, lean, athletic player with a defensive mindset, and he and Thurmond played a similar number of games and minutes. Robinson had a high of 4.5 BPG in his third season. Both of them averaged 2.1 BPG in their final four seasons.
Tim Duncan averaged 2.0 BPG his last four seasons, but thanks to Pop's management, he was remarkably productive those last four seasons, considering Duncan's career BPG is 2.17 and his high was 2.9. Duncan's fourth-to-last season, he actually had his highest blocks/36 of his career. He used his length and intelligence to block shots very effectively in his later years. Thurmond did the same, but he was a far more effective shotblocker in his prime by using his athleticism.
Here is a list of all-time leaders in blocks per game.
1. Eaton - 3.50
2. Manute Bol - 3.34
3. Olajuwon - 3.08
4. Robinson - 2.99
5. Elmore Smith - 2.90
6. Mourning - 2.81
7. Mutombo - 2.75
8. Jabbar - 2.57
It's no surprise to me that of the six players who averaged 2.0 blocks or more per game in their last four seasons, three are in the top six on the all-time list. Thurmond's BPG of 2.1 in his last four seasons would put him 21st, right behind Duncan and ahead of guys like Dwight Howard (1.99, 21st), DeAndre Jordan (1.77, 30th), and Kevin Garnett (1.39, 83rd). And that's the old, broken down Nate Thurmond.
As for Wilt, he was a tremendous shotblocker early in his career, but as he bulked up to withstand the pounding he took, he played a much slower and more floor-bound game. In the video of game 7 of the 1969 finals, Russell looks significantly more spry than Wilt, though Russell retired after that game and Wilt went on to play four more seasons. Wilt was still able to block shots, but nothing like he had early in his career. Thurmond slowed down the last few years due to injury, but he had a much longer shotblocking prime compared to Wilt.
I'm still quite comfortable arguing that Thurmond belongs just behind Russell when it comes to blocking shots. He was great at it.
