By Ricardo Aparicio

We, as basketball fans, practically salivate over the great centers. Chamberlain. Jabbar. Olajuwon. Robinson. Shaq. The idea of a player like that dominating the low post, blocking shots, and cleaning the glass for our favorite team excites us. The five centers I mentioned are already in the Hall of Fame, or will be. However, the dominant big man is so exciting, even second-tier greats such as Dave Cowens, Dan Issel, Bob Lanier, Willis Reed, and Wes Unseld make the Hall without much of a problem. My question then, is this: Why is Artis Gilmore not in the Hall of Fame?

POINT FIVE NINE NINE

Let me rewrite that number - .599. That is Gilmore's career NBA shooting percentage. On any given night, for eleven NBA seasons, Artis Gilmore was making six of ten from the field. Shaquille O'Neal, the active career leader in field goal percentage, managed .599 in just one season, his second. O'Neal's career percentage is also high at .577, but he's got some ground to make up to catch Gilmore.

Here's another way to illustrate Gilmore's shooting accuracy: Gilmore scored 15,579 NBA points. He only attempted 9,570 shots for those points. The next highest point total for a player attempting less than 10,000 shots is Kevin Johnson with 13,127. He attempted 9,160 to reach his mark. By the way, there are some three dozen players between Gilmore and Johnson.

LEAGUE LEADER, YEAR AFTER YEAR

Artis Gilmore was reliable in the low post, offensively or defensively, season after season. Gilmore won the field-goal percentage title for four straight years, from 1981 to 1984. He followed that up with three straight second-place finishes, from 1985 to 1987. From 1977 to 1985, Gilmore finished in the top ten in rebounding seven times. He only missed in 1980 and 1984 because he didn't qualify for the league leaders due to missed games. Also from 1977 to 1985, Gilmore finished in the top ten in blocks eight times, including five top five finishes. He didn't qualify for the league leaders in blocks in 1980.

It's true, Artis Gilmore wasn't the scoring machine Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was. But he was otherwise as productive during his era as any big man. The numbers prove that.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST?

1) Is Artis Gilmore really as good as Wilt, Kareem, or Hakeem?

No. And he doesn't have to be. The second tier greats I mentioned before are not as good as those elite centers either. It's the Hall of Fame, not Hall of Statistical Brilliance.

2) Did Gilmore win any championships?

Yes. In the ABA, Gilmore and Dan Issel led the Kentucky Colonels to the 1975 ABA Championship. And the competitive balance between the ABA and NBA was virtually equal. Besides, Patrick Ewing never won a title, and he's a lock for the Hall, right?

3) Gilmore was just a strong guy. He wasn't graceful.

Wasn't Wilt "just a strong guy"? Isn't Shaq "just a strong guy"? And if grace matters so much, then Karl Malone won't get a sniff of the Hall of Fame. And Shawn Kemp will be in on the first ballot.

I'm not trying to throw players out of the Hall of Fame. Cowens, Issel, Lanier, Reed, and Unseld belong in the Hall. So do Walt Bellamy, Neil Johnston, Nate Thurmond, and Bill Walton, to name some more second-tier greats. But based on what I've presented here, Artis Gilmore must join this group.


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