Warriors great Nate Thurmond dead at 74

Nate Thurmond, an NBA Hall of Famer and seven-time All-Star who was a dominant force in the middle for most of the Warriors' first decade on the West Coast, died Saturday after a battle with leukemia. The 6-foot-11 Mr. Thurmond, voted one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1996, played 11 of his 14 seasons with the Warriors and had been a Community Ambassador for the team for decades. In addition to his All-Star selections, Mr. Thurmond was a five-time All-Defensive Team selection. "I'm just not a tricky basketball player," he told Sport magazine. In the same article, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was quoted as having told Basketball Digest: "He plays me better than anybody ever has." Wilt Chamberlain was the team's center in Mr. Thurmond's rookie season and led the team into the 1964 NBA Finals (where they lost to the Celtics in five games). Coming off the bench, Mr. Thurmond averaged 7 points and 10.4 rebounds and was named to the All-Rookie team. [...] when the Warriors began the 1964-65 season 11-33, Chamberlain was traded to Philadelphia and Mr. Thurmond moved into the starting lineup. In the team's first post-Chamberlain game, Mr. Thurmond scored 21 points and went on to average 16.5...