Bob Lanier, a Dominant Center of the 1970s and ’80s, Dies at 73

Bob Lanier, who as a middle for the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks within the Seventies and ’80s parlayed a deft left-handed hook shot, a mushy midrange jumper and strong rebounding abilities right into a Corridor of Fame profession, died on Tuesday in Phoenix. He was 73.

The N.B.A. stated he died after a brief sickness however offered no different particulars.

Lanier, who stood 6-foot-11 and weighed about 250 kilos, excelled in an period of dominant facilities like Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Thurmond and Wes Unseld.

“Guys didn’t change groups as a lot, so while you have been dealing with the Bulls or the Bucks or New York, you had all these rivalries,” he instructed NBA.com in 2018. “Lanier towards Jabbar! Jabbar towards Willis Reed! After which Chamberlain and Artis Gilmore and Invoice Walton! You had all these nice large males, and the sport was performed from inside out.”

He added: “It was a rougher recreation, a way more bodily recreation that we performed within the ’70s. You can steer individuals with elbows. They began chopping down on the variety of fights by fining individuals extra. Oh, it was a tough ’n’ tumble recreation.”

As a Pistons rookie within the 1970-71 season, Lanier shared time at heart with Otto Moore. In his second season, as a full-time starter, he averaged 25.7 factors and 14.2 rebounds a recreation, placing him within the league’s prime 10 in each classes.

“He understood the small nuances of the sport,” Dave Bing, a Pistons teammate and fellow Corridor of Famer, stated in a video biography of Lanier proven on Fox Sports activities Detroit in 2012. “He might shoot the 18-to-20-footer in addition to any guard. He had a hook shoot — no one however Kareem had a hook shot like him. He might do something he needed to do.”

Lanier wore what have been believed to be dimension 22 sneakers. In 1989, nevertheless, a consultant of Converse disputed that notion, saying that they have been in truth dimension 18 ½. No matter their precise dimension, a pair of Lanier’s sneakers, bronzed, is within the assortment of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Throughout 9 full seasons with the Pistons, Lanier performed in seven All-Star Video games. He was elected most precious participant of the 1974 All-Star Sport, through which he led all scorers with 24 factors.

However the Pistons had solely 4 profitable seasons throughout his time with the group and by no means superior very far within the playoffs. The roster was usually in flux. Coaches got here and went. Lanier handled knee accidents and different bodily setbacks.

“It was like a life unfulfilled,” he instructed Fox Sports activities Detroit.

In early 1980, with the Pistons’ document at 14-40, the group traded Lanier to the Milwaukee Bucks for a youthful heart, Kent Benson, and a first-round 1980 draft decide. Annoyed by the Pistons’ lack of success, Lanier had requested to be despatched to a playoff contender.

“I’m type of relieved, however I’m type of unhappy, too,” he instructed The Detroit Free Press. “I’ve received plenty of good recollections of Detroit.”

Lanier averaged 22.7 factors and 11.8 rebounds a recreation with the Pistons.

Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. was born on Sept. 10, 1948, in Buffalo to Robert and Nannie Lanier. Younger Bob was 6-foot-5 by the point he was a sophomore in highschool, and he performed properly sufficient there to be wooed by dozens of schools. He selected St. Bonaventure College in upstate Allegany, N.Y.

He was a sensation there, averaging 27.6 factors and 15.7 rebounds over three seasons.

In 1970, the Bonnies defeated Villanova to win the East Regional finals of the N.C.A.A. males’s basketball match, sending them to the Remaining 4. However Lanier injured his knee in the course of the recreation, forcing the Bonnies to face Jacksonville within the nationwide semifinal recreation with out him. St. Bonaventure misplaced, 91-83.

“I didn’t even know on the time I tore my knee up,” Lanier instructed The Buffalo Information in 2007. “However once I ran again down the court docket and tried to pivot, my leg collapsed. I didn’t know on the time I had torn my M.C.L.”

Lanier was nonetheless recuperating from knee surgical procedure when the Pistons selected him No. 1 total within the N.B.A. draft; he was additionally chosen No. 1 by the New York (now Brooklyn) Nets of the American Basketball Affiliation. He rapidly signed with Detroit.

Though he had statistically higher years with the Pistons, Lanier loved extra group success with the Bucks (and in addition performed in another All-Star Sport). Below Coach Don Nelson, the Bucks gained 60 video games in the course of the 1980-81 season, and so they superior to the Japanese Convention finals in 1982-83 and 1983-84.

Lanier was additionally president of the gamers’ union, the Nationwide Basketball Gamers Affiliation, and helped negotiate a collective bargaining settlement in 1983 that averted a strike.

Early within the 1983-84 season, his final as a participant, Lanier grew to become indignant with Invoice Laimbeer, the Pistons’ heart, for riling him below the boards on the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich. Lanier retaliated with a left hook that leveled Laimbeer and broke his nostril.

The act not solely earned Lanier a $5,000 tremendous; it additionally delayed the retirement of his No. 16 jersey by the Pistons till 1993. The Bucks retired his quantity in late 1984.

He was inducted into the Basketball Corridor of Fame in 1992.

In retirement, he owned a advertising agency and labored extensively with the N.B.A. as a worldwide ambassador and particular assistant to David Stern, the league’s longtime commissioner, and Adam Silver, his successor. Lanier was additionally an assistant coach below Nelson with the Golden State Warriors in the course of the 1994-95 season and changed him as interim coach for the ultimate 37 video games of the season after Nelson’s resignation.

Data on survivors was not instantly obtainable.

Lanier stated that after he retired, he was much less prone to be acknowledged by the general public than when he was a participant. After Shaquille O’Neal, one of many league’s most dominating facilities, got here alongside within the early Nineties, individuals figured he should have been O’Neal’s father, he instructed NBA.com in 2018.

“‘You’re carrying them large footwear,’” he stated individuals would inform him. “I simply go together with it. ‘Yeah, I’m Shaq’s dad.’”