Best NBA Centers By Decade, Part One
The best NBA and ABA centers from 1950 through 1990.
One of the valuable things about Box Score Production is that it can be used to evaluate players over a period of years. BSP is an imperfect measurement tool, limited to what the box score shows us, but it accurately reflects players' contributions more often than not. Great players have great scores, and poor players have low scores. In this post, I'll share the top 10 centers by BSP exponent for 1950-60, 1955-65, 1960-70, and so on up to 1980-90. A later post will continue through 2015-25. Please note that these time cutoffs are different from what many people use. For instance, 1950-60 begins with the 1950-51 season and runs through the 1959-60 season. I know a lot of people use 1949-50 through 1958-59, but the round numbers make more sense to me.
1950-60
| Rk | Player | Exp |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neil Johnston | 7.0 |
| 2 | Larry Foust | 5.2 |
| 3 | Ed Macauley | 4.9 |
| 4 | George Mikan | 4.5 |
| 5 | Bill Russell | 3.8 |
| 6 | Clyde Lovellette | 3.7 |
| 7 | Arnie Risen | 2.7 |
| 8 | Chuck Share | 2.6 |
| 9 | Ray Felix | 2.3 |
| 10 | Red Kerr | 1.9 |
Total Exp: 38.7
George Mikan was the best player of the late '40s and the early '50s, but he only played five seasons in this decade. Bill Russell only played four.
Neil Johnston was probably the best overall player in the world from 1952-58, though he has little impact outside those six seasons (again, this is 1952-53 through 1957-58). Johnston's teammate Paul Arizin easily led the NBA in BSP in the 1951-52 season: he led the NBA in scoring and field goal percentage, with 25.4 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Then he was called for military service for two years, and Johnston emerged as the Warriors' best player, and maybe the NBA's. In Arizin's second season back (1955-56), the Warriors won their first NBA title. It's natural to wonder what they might have done in '53 and '54, with both Arizin and Johnston, but I also wonder if Arizin's absence wasn't necessary for Johnston to fully develop and reach his potential.
Johnston, Macauley, Mikan, Russell, Lovellette, and Risen are in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Larry Foust has the most All-Star selections (8) of any eligible player not in the Hall of Fame. He played in NBA Finals with three different teams, but went 0-5 in those series.
1955-65
| Rk | Player | Exp |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilt Chamberlain | 13.1 |
| 2 | Bill Russell | 9.0 |
| 3 | Walt Bellamy | 5.8 |
| 4 | Red Kerr | 3.7 |
| 5 | Clyde Lovellette | 3.6 |
| 6 | Neil Johnston | 2.9 |
| 7 | Wayne Embry | 2.5 |
| 8 | Larry Foust | 2.1 |
| 9 | Walter Dukes | 1.8 |
| 10 | Chuck Share | 1.5 |
Total Exp: 46.0
In this time period, Bill Russell played nine seasons, won five NBA MVP Awards, and helped the Celtics win eight NBA Finals. Wilt Chamberlain played six seasons, won one MVP, and only reached the Finals once, losing to Russell's Celtics 4-1 in 1964.
Bill Russell was certainly the greatest center of this decade, but BSP rates Chamberlain comfortably ahead. You can read more about this in the BSP explainer, but Russell is significantly shortchanged because the box score at this time did not include any defensive statistics, and wouldn't have fully captured his defensive contributions even if it had, plus the formula exclusively uses regular-season production, so Russell doesn't get any credit for his unparalleled postseason success. Chamberlain, in contrast, produced uniquely dominant box stats but didn't generate excellent results for his team. Ben Taylor of Thinking Basketball does a good job of explaining why box stats overrate Chamberlain (2022 audio, 2020 video, 2012 text).
Johnny Kerr over Clyde Lovellette surprised me. Lovellette is a Hall of Famer, known for making the Finals with three different franchises: the Lakers, Hawks, and Celtics. But he missed a lot of games, he was a backup to Russell in his last two seasons, and he was retired in '65. Kerr in this decade had 900 more points, 3,500 more rebounds, and 750 more assists. Lovellette was a more efficient shooter and his prime was stronger, but Kerr played 58% more minutes. They're close.
Chamberlain, Russell, Bellamy, Lovellette, and Johnston are HOFers.
