Not many people could trouble Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the paint, but Nate “the Great” Thurmond was one hell of a defensive player down low. As you’ll see in this rare video highlights package, Thurmond was an absolute monster defensively — a powerful, legitimate big man. Plus, he totally wore that receeding hairline like a boss (LeBron, take note).
The creator of this youtube highlights package described Thurmond as accurately as anyone possibly could here:
One of the greatest 1 on 1 post defenders of all time. Nate Thurmond stood 6-11 w/o shoes and weighed 240lbs in his prime, he had extraordinarily long arms, great strength and incredible defensive discipline and instincts. Thurmond tormented opponents like Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Willis Reed holding them to their worst offensive numbers of their careers. He is one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players and is the first player to officially record a quadruple double.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1pwS6dxlR6g
You can check out his career statistics here. 15 and 15 over a career ain’t bad.
