MVPs: 0. Finals MVPs: 0. All-NBA 1st Team: 0. 2nd Team: 0. All Star: 7. MVP: 0.
Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense 1st Team: 2. 2nd Team: 3.
Career Averages: 15 PPG/ 15 RPG/ 3 APG/ .5 SPG/ 2.1 BPG/ .421 eFG%/ .667 FT%.
Best Season: 20/ 22/ 4/ .411/ .644 (1967-68).
Postseason Averages: 12 PPG/ 14 RPG/ 3 APG/ .4 SPG/ 1.9 BPG/ .416 eFG%/ .621 FT%.
Best Postseason: 25/ 18/ 5/ .434/ .750 (1972).
Championships: 0. Runner-ups: 2 (#2 player on 1, #5 player on 1).
Why he's below Robert Parish: Thurmond had some greatness in him, unlike Parish, but he was a great role player. He was a big negative offensively, by far the worst shooting center on my list, and he had about half as many APG as the other great centers of the time (except for Willis Reed, who was a much better shooter and won several awards).
Why he's above the rest: Nate Thurmond was possibly the best defensive center during a time of great defensive centers. Wilt and Kareem both said that Thurmond was the toughest defender they ever faced. In another era, he could have been a better Ben Wallace or Rudy Gobert. Instead he played in a time when centers had to be post scorers, which was bad luck as much as bad performance. In the 1967 Finals, he averaged 14 points and 27 rebounds going head-to-head with Wilt. With Rick Barry scoring so much in that series, Thurmond was able to take on less of an offensive role and be a more effective all-around player. He was also the first player to officially have a quadruple-double in an NBA game. If his entire career had been one of those versions of Thurmond, he could have been top-40 or even higher.
Highlights:
Game Video: As far as I can tell, there aren't any full games from the 1967 Finals available on the internet. I would love to see any games from that series if you know where to find one. Wilt, Barry, Greer, and Thurmond all had some of the biggest games of their careers in that series.