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Centers are usually the tallest players on the basketball court, seven-foot-tall behemoths who battle for the opening tipoff and spend most of their time scoring, rebounding, and defending close to the basket. Yet in the 1970s, two undersized centers dominated in the NBA’s Eastern Conference – 6’9” Dave Cowens of the Boston Celtics and 6’7” Wes Unseld of the Baltimore/Washington Bullets. Despite their relatively diminutive sizes, both players towered over the competition on the court as perennial All-Star and MVP candidates who each led their respective teams to titles. Looking back on this rugged era in the NBA’s history, let us compare the careers of these two contemporary rivals and ask:
Who was better – Dave Cowens or Wes Unseld?
The Beginning
Each a Kentucky native who starred at the college level, Cowens and Unseld were both top-five NBA draft picks who lived up to their lofty draft status, with Unseld having one of the best rookie seasons in league history.
Born and raised in Kentucky, Cowens attended Florida State for college and starred on the basketball team, leaving his mark as the school’s all-time leading rebounder and a top-10 all-time scorer. Despite being somewhat undersized at center at 6’9″, he was drafted fourth overall in the 1970 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics with the blessing of team legend Bill Russell and went on to share Rookie of the Year honors with Geoff Petrie of the Sacramento Kings by averaging 17.0 points (on 42.2% shooting), 15.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game in 1970-1971.
Likewise, Unseld grew up in Kentucky and was one of the most heavily-recruited players in the country after leading his high school team to back-to-back state championships and earning PARADE All-American honors. Choosing to stay in-state at the University of Louisville (over another local program in blue blood Kentucky), he played on the freshman team before leading the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) in rebounding for three straight years and earning three consecutive First Team All-MVC selections, as well as All-American honors as both a junior and senior. Selected by the Kentucky Colonels of the upstart American Basketball Association (ABA) and also second overall in the 1968 NBA Draft by the then-Baltimore Bullets (later the Washington Bullets and now the Washington Wizards), Unseld chose to join the more established NBA and went on to have one of the greatest rookie seasons ever – with 13.8 points (on 47.6% shooting), a career-high 18.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game, he was an All-Star, First Team All-NBA selection, Rookie of the Year, and MVP; Unseld became just the second player ever to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season (joining Wilt Chamberlain).
Career Comparison
Throughout the 1970s, Cowens and Unseld were among the premier “big men” in the NBA, perennial All-Star and All-NBA selections who achieved both individual accolades and team success at the highest level.
Including his rookie season, Cowens averaged a double-double with at least 15 points and 13 rebounds per game for his first eight NBA seasons. As an encore to his Rookie of the Year campaign, he earned the first of seven straight All-Star selections (8x overall) in 1971-1972 by improving to 18.8 points (48.4% shooting), 15.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. This was followed by league MVP honors in 1972-1973 on the strength of a career-high 20.5 points (on 45.2% shooting) and 16.2 rebounds per game, along with 4.1 assists per game; oddly though, Cowens was only a Second Team All-NBA selection, joining fellow Celtic Russell as the only other player to win MVP, yet not make First Team All-NBA. Following another strong season in 1973-1974 (19.0 points and 15.7 rebounds per game), Cowens made back-to-back All-NBA Second Teams in the mid-1970s:
- 1974-1975: 20.4 points (47.5% shooting), 14.7 rebounds, and a career-high 4.6 assists per game; also named Second Team All-Defensive
- 1975-1976: 19.0 points (46.8% shooting), 16.0 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game; only First Team All-Defensive selection
Come the 1977-1978 season, Cowens became the first player in NBA history to lead his team in all the major statistical categories (points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals) by averaging 18.6 points (on a career-best 49.0% shooting), 14.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game; since then, the only other players to accomplish this all-around feat are Scottie Pippen, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. After missing out on a double-double and the All-Star Game in 1979-1980, he bounced back with a final All-Star and Second Team All-Defensive season in 1979-1980: 14.2 points (45.3% shooting), 8.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. However, having suffered a myriad of injuries throughout his career, Cowens retired after the season at just 31. Nevertheless, two years later, he sought to make a comeback; since the Celtics had solidified their frontcourt with a “Big Three” of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, Boston traded Cowens to the Milwaukee Bucks for Quinn Buckner. During his lone season with the Bucks, Cowens played in just 40 games and averaged career-lows of 8.1 points (44.4% shooting), 6.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game before retiring for good.
Meanwhile, though he never quite replicated the acclaim of his rookie season, Unseld remained an All-Star-caliber player and opened his career averaging a double-double with at least 15 rebounds per game for five consecutive seasons. Arguably, he followed up his rookie year with an even better season in 1969-1970, averaging a career-best 16.2 points per game on 51.8% shooting, along with 16.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, but earned no accolades. Furthermore, this was followed by three straight All-Star seasons:
- 1970-1971: 14.1 points (50.1% shooting), 16.9 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game
- 1971-1972: 13.0 points (49.8% shooting), 17.6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game
- 1972-1973: 12.5 points (49.3% shooting), 15.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game
Following this string of productive years, he had a down year in 1973-1974 with only 5.9 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, the only time in his career not averaging double-digit rebounds; scoring-wise, however, he would only average in double figures once more in his career.
Nevertheless, Unseld bounced back with a final All-Star season in 1974-1975 on the strength of his lone rebounding title (14.8 rebounds per game) to go with 9.2 points (on 50.2% shooting) and 4.1 assists per game. The next year, he led the league in shooting at 56.1% for 9.6 points, 13.3 rebounds, and a career-high 5.2 assists per game. Then, in Washington’s title-winning 1977-1978 season (more on that shortly), Unseld put up 7.6 points (52.3% shooting), 11.9 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. As mentioned, he only had one double-double season in the back half of the decade, scoring 10.9 points (on a career-high 57.7% shooting) with 10.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game in 1978-1979. After two more seasons with the Bullets in which he had 8-10 points per game with double-digit rebounds, Unseld announced his NBA retirement at age 34.
All in all, Unseld played 13 NBA seasons to Cowens’ 11, resulting in a little over 200 additional games played. On a per-game basis, Cowens was the better scorer (17.6 vs. 10.8 points per game, albeit less efficient from the field), but Unseld was a slightly more proficient rebounder (14.0 vs. 13.6 rebounds per game) and passer (3.9 vs. 3.8 assists per game). Moreover, Cowens earned more All-Star Game appearances (8x vs. 5x), All-NBA nods (3x vs. 1x), and All-Defensive selections (3x vs. none), with both centers winning Rookie of the Year and MVP honors. In terms of how this translates into advanced metrics – on one hand, Cowens has a higher career Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 17.0 vs. 16.0, but on the other hand, Unseld accumulated more career Win-Shares (110.1 vs. 86.3). Based on the whole picture of these accomplishments, both diminutive giants are currently in the Hall of Fame (Unseld – 1988, Cowens – 1991).
Regular Season Statistics
| Dave Cowens | Player | Wes Unseld |
| 11 (1970-1980, 1982-1983) | Seasons | 13 (1968-1981) |
| 766 | Games Played | 984 |
| 17.6 | Points | 10.8 |
| 13.6 | Rebounds | 14.0 |
| 3.8 | Assists | 3.9 |
| 46.0% | Field Goal % | 50.9% |
| 78.3% | Free Throw % | 63.3% |
| 17.0 | PER | 16.0 |
| 86.3 | Win Shares | 110.1 |
| 8x | All-Star Games | 5x |
| 3x | All-NBA | 1x |
| 1x | MVP | 1x |
| 2x | NBA Titles | 1x |
| – | NBA Finals MVP | 1x |
| 3x All-Defensive, Rookie of the Year | Other Awards | Rookie of the Year |
| 1991 | Hall of Fame Induction | 1988 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
As cornerstones of two of the Eastern Conference’s dominant teams in the 1970s, Cowens and Unseld each led their respective teams to multiple Finals appearances and won a title during the decade.
Though not quite as dominant as the Celtics of the 1960s, Cowens made seven playoff appearances during his decade with Boston, winning a pair of titles in the process. First, in 1973-1974, together with the likes of fellow Hall of Famers John Havlicek and Jo Jo White, Cowens averaged 22.7 points, a team-high 9.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game in a seven-game Finals victory over the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson-led Milwaukee Bucks, including 28 points and 14 rebounds in the deciding Game 7. A few years later in 1975-1976, Boston once again prevailed in the Finals in six games over the Phoenix Suns, with Cowens contributing 20.5 points, a team-best 16.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.
As for Unseld, he played in the postseason in all but one of his NBA seasons (the last one) and guided the Bullets franchise to four Finals during the 1970s:
- 1970-1971: despite his 15.0 points and team-high 19.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game, the Bullets were soundly swept by the aforementioned Bucks
- 1974-1975: swept by Rick Barry and the Golden State Warriors; Unseld averaged 12.3 points, 16.8 rebounds,and 3.5 assists per game
- 1977-1978: broke through and narrowly beat the Seattle SuperSonics in seven games; named Finals MVP with 9.0 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game
- 1978-1979: lost a rematch to the SuperSonics in five games; another double-double for Unseld with 11.0 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game
In addition to 41 regular season meetings (of which Unseld’s team won 24, though Cowens often had better individual statistics), the two centers met once in the playoffs in the 1974-1975 Eastern Conference Finals. While the Bullets won the series in six games, Cowens averaged 20.8 points (though on only 39.0% shooting), 16.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game to Unseld’s 10.0 points (on an efficient 51.3% shooting) with 16.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
Playoff Statistics
| Dave Cowens | Player | Wes Unseld |
| 89 | Games Played | 119 |
| 18.9 | Points | 10.6 |
| 14.4 | Rebounds | 14.9 |
| 3.7 | Assists | 3.8 |
| 45.1% | Field Goal % | 49.3% |
| 74.4% | Free Throw % | 60.8% |
| 16.6 | PER | 15.0 |
| 9.4 | Win Shares | 12.7 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; Cowens and Unseld both won MVP awards in their first few NBA seasons, but declined in the latter halves of their careers due to the physical toll of banging bodies nightly with bigger players. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Dave Cowens | Player | Wes Unseld |
| 1970-1980 | Decade of Dominance | 1968-1973, 1974-1976, 1977-1980 |
| 726 | Games Played | 783 |
| 18.2 | Points | 11.7 |
| 14.0 | Rebounds | 14.9 |
| 3.9 | Assists | 4.0 |
| 46.0% | Field Goal % | 51.3% |
| 78.2% | Free Throw % | 63.4% |
| 17.2 | PER | 16.7 |
| 83.7 | Win Shares | 94.9 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
For Cowens, his decade of dominance is essentially his entire career excluding the one comeback year with the Bucks; thus, compared to Unseld’s best 10 seasons, the same statistical comparisons apply – Cowens was a better scorer, Unseld was a more efficient shooter with better rebounding and passing numbers, and the advanced metrics tell a mixed story.
My Thoughts
Similar to Elgin Baylor at small forward or Charles Barkley at power forward, it is immensely impressive that Dave Cowens and Wes Unseld were able to dominate among giants (literally) despite being undersized. Though Unseld certainly started off his career with a bang, accomplishing a feat in winning both Rookie of the Year and MVP that only Wilt Chamberlain has also been able to do, he was more of a rebounding and defensive force than a scorer (though was certainly an efficient shooter). As for Cowens, if you look at the numbers, one could argue he was just as adept at boards and dimes (in fact, both were masters of the outlet pass and among the best-passing centers ever), and also played rugged defense, but I think what separates him just a bit from Unseld was his scoring ability – at his peak, the Celtics great was a nightly 20-and-15 player, whereas Unseld only averaged 15+ points per game once in his career, i.e. Cowens had all of Unseld’s strengths, plus he could score. Given this assessment, I would rank Cowens as one of the top 10 centers in NBA history, with Unseld right up there in the next tier (i.e. #11-15).
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Dave Cowens
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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