Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 18, 1994 TAG: 9410180102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: FORT MILL, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
Parish probably spent more time with the Boston Celtics than anyone except Red Auerbach. The 7-foot-1 center has spent 12 more years in the NBA than the Hornets. He trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in games and seasons played. He does have a new NBA record, however - perhaps.
Parish, 41, became a grandfather Sept. 11 when his daughter, Tomika, gave birth. Whether ``The Chief'' is the league's first grandpa still dribbling, no one's sure. ``We don't keep records on that,'' said one of David Stern's underlings.
It's obvious from the three-year, $5.5 million contract the Hornets gave Parish that more is expected than pivot tutoring for rising star Alonzo Mourning. For the Celtics, Parish played in five NBA Finals. He has three championship rings. He's scored 22,494 points, grabbed 13,973 rebounds and blocked 2,252 shots.
``I talked to Robert and told him he has to be a little selfish,'' said Charlotte coach Allan Bristow, the former Virginia Tech star whose NBA playing days began only three years before Parish went from Centenary to Golden State as a first-round pick. ``He has to do what he should do for Robert Parish first.
``We didn't bring him to particularly help Alonzo. We wanted the Robert Parish who's played basketball the last 10, 15, 20 years. If the maturity rubs off, great. Robert wouldn't have lasted this long and won that many championship rings if he weren't a special player.''
At the Hornets' recent preseason media day, Parish played the press like he handled the middle in a Boston triumvirate with retired Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. He would have liked to stay with the Celtics, he said, but it was obvious they were writing a new chapter in their history.
They'd play the last season in Boston Garden without him, and guard Dee Brown would be the club leader in longevity - four seasons. He was stunned the Hornets offered so lengthy and so rich a contract. He also considered Sacramento, and Phoenix was intrigued, too. He said there is one thing he won't miss about Beantown.
``No one has given me the finger here yet,'' Parish said. ``That happened up there on a daily basis.''
Parish said he's the NBA's oldest player because ``personally, I still have a desire to play. Once I realized that, I decided that even if I had to go somewhere else [as a free agent], I would. I think I'd worn out my welcome in Boston. Stevie Wonder could see that, and he can't see.''
He'd like to play at least two seasons, tying Abdul-Jabbar's NBA-record 20 seasons, but, ``I'm taking them one at a time.'' He's taking this one at $1.85 million as a backup to Mourning, who is sitting out at least another week of training camp with a strained foot tendon.
``I don't think I need to teach Mourning anything,'' Parish said. ``The only thing he's lacking is experience.''
Parish, however, could give Mourning a few lessons on how to play the game off the floor. The former Celtics great palms an interview like the ball. Asked about playing fewer minutes, he said, ``It's nice. I won't have to work as long.''
His move put a punctuation mark on another Boston dynasty, but Parish is no dinosaur. He credits his six years of practicing the ancient martial art of T'ai C'hi. ``It taught me patience, which I had never known before, and focus,'' he said. ``And health is everything. If you're beat up, and I'm not, it's harder to love the game.''
It's that attitude that closes the generation gap.
by CNB