How do NBA players know when it is time to retire from the sport? For Hall of Fame Boston Celtics big man Robert Parish, the signs were clear. “I think it was my 20th year,” said the Celtics center via the Guardian’s Jacob Uitti.
Chief — as Parish was sometimes called — broke down how it became clear to him it was time to hang it up. “A telltale sign that your career is done or close to being done is when you have a monster game, and it takes you another seven-to-10 games to have another monstrous game,” he explained.
In his penultimate season, playing for the Charlotte Hornets, Parish related that he “noticed a big difference” in his level of play. “A big, big difference. Even in practices. I’d be kicking ass in practice but then it takes me another four-to-six practices to kick that same ass again!”
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“That’s another telltale sign it’s time to retire – when a player that is not on your level is giving you the business and you can’t do (expletive) about it,” Chief suggested.
Was it hard to pack it in after winning one more title with the Chicago Bulls the next season? “Not at all,” he said. “I knew it was time.”
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