Every NBA team’s greatest enforcer of all time

Milwaukee Bucks — Bob Lanier

The number one overall draft pick in 1970 out of St. Bonaventure, Bob Lanier was known more for his playing days with the Pistons through almost the entire decade of the 70s, but he finished the last five years of his career with the Bucks. In Milwaukee, Lanier continued to be one of the league’s seismic big men enforcers. Lanier and the aforementioned Bill Laimbeer got into it back in 1983. Oh yes, they did. The 6-foot-11 and 250-pound Lanier ended it swiftly, sending a rollicking punch that dropped Laimbeer and broke his nose. There was another time when Lanier one-punch KO’ed Bob Christian, a near 7-footer for the Hawks. One swing from Lanier was all it took to mess you up and mess you up good. (The NBA caught some flack during this time for being the “National Boxing Association.”)

Big Bob was an absolute beast with tree trunk legs. In addition to his lefty hook punches, he had an affinity for lefty hook shots that were basically unblockable. Before Shaq wowed everyone with his enormous shoes that looked more like skis, Bob Lanier was the NBA’s premier big shoe-man, rocking size 22’s that left people in shock and awe. And some 27 years before Malice at the Palace, there was a full-on bench-clearing brawl that broke out in a 1977 Pistons-Warriors elimination playoff game (back when the Pistons were in the Western Conference). The fight spilled over to the stands, and a fan threw a cheap-shot punch at the face of M.L. Carr. Always having his teammate’s back, Lanier pummeled the fan into oblivion. It was a different time back then. There were no suspensions or fines, not even a single ejection.