Mel Hutchins vs. Bob Lanier Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Bob Lanier and Mel Hutchins, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Mel Hutchins played 7 years in the NBA, 7 less than Bob Lanier, who played 14. Mel Hutchins had the first of his seasons in 1951-52, while Bob Lanier had his rookie season in 1970-71. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14
Rookie Season
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	1951-52	1970-71
Team	Milwaukee Hawks	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
	Rebounds Leader	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	66	39.7	9.2	-	-	13.3	2.9	-	-	-	2.9	3.5	9.6	.365	-	-	-	2.2	3.4	.644
Bob Lanier	82	24.6	15.6	-	-	8.1	1.8	-	-	-	3.3	6.1	13.5	.455	-	-	-	3.3	4.6	.726
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob Lanier	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	1952-53	1971-72
Team	Milwaukee Hawks	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	71	40.7	11.7	-	-	11.2	3.2	-	-	-	3.0	4.5	11.9	.379	-	-	-	2.7	4.2	.654
Bob Lanier	80	38.7	25.7	-	-	14.2	3.1	-	-	-	3.7	10.4	21.1	.493	-	-	-	4.9	6.3	.768
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob Lanier	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	1953-54	1972-73
Team	Fort Wayne Pistons	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Pistons Lost W Div Round Robin	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	72	40.8	10.3	-	-	9.7	2.9	-	-	-	3.2	4.1	10.2	.401	-	-	-	2.1	3.1	.677
Bob Lanier	81	38.9	23.8	-	-	14.9	3.2	-	-	-	3.4	10.0	20.4	.490	-	-	-	3.8	4.9	.773
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	4	40.5	10.5	-	-	9.3	1.5	-	-	-	4.5	3.8	11.5	.326	-	-	-	3.0	4.3	.706
Bob Lanier	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	1954-55	1973-74
Team	Fort Wayne Pistons	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game NVP
Playoffs	Pistons Lost NBA Finals	Pistons Lost West Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	72	39.7	12.0	-	-	9.2	3.4	-	-	-	3.2	4.7	12.5	.378	-	-	-	2.5	3.6	.708
Bob Lanier	81	37.6	22.5	3.3	9.9	13.3	4.2	1.4	3.0	-	3.4	9.2	18.3	.504	-	-	-	4.0	5.0	.797
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	11	37.9	14.4	-	-	8.1	2.8	-	-	-	4.3	5.5	13.1	.417	-	-	-	3.5	5.1	.679
Bob Lanier	7	43.3	26.3	3.7	11.6	15.3	3.0	0.6	2.0	-	4.0	11.0	21.7	.507	-	-	-	4.3	5.4	.789

Season 5
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	1955-56	1974-75
Team	Fort Wayne Pistons	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Pistons Lost NBA Finals	Pistons Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	66	33.9	12.0	-	-	7.5	2.7	-	-	-	2.5	4.9	11.6	.425	-	-	-	2.2	3.3	.643
Bob Lanier	76	39.3	24.0	3.0	9.1	12.0	4.6	1.0	2.3	-	3.1	9.6	18.9	.510	-	-	-	4.8	5.9	.802
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	10	37.7	9.3	-	-	8.8	2.3	-	-	-	2.7	3.4	11.2	.304	-	-	-	2.5	4.1	.610
Bob Lanier	3	42.7	20.3	1.7	9.0	10.7	6.3	1.3	4.0	-	3.3	8.7	17.0	.510	-	-	-	3.0	4.0	.750

Season 6
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	1956-57	1975-76
Team	Fort Wayne Pistons	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Pistons Lost West Div Semis	Pistons Lost West Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	72	36.8	12.4	-	-	7.9	2.9	-	-	-	2.5	5.1	13.2	.387	-	-	-	2.1	2.9	.738
Bob Lanier	64	36.9	21.3	3.4	8.3	11.7	3.4	1.2	1.3	-	3.2	8.5	15.9	.532	-	-	-	4.4	5.8	.768
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	2	34.0	11.5	-	-	11.5	5.0	-	-	-	4.0	4.5	15.0	.300	-	-	-	2.5	3.5	.714
Bob Lanier	9	39.9	26.1	4.3	8.3	12.7	3.3	0.9	2.3	-	3.8	10.6	19.1	.552	-	-	-	5.0	5.6	.900

Season 7
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	1957-58	1976-77
Team	New York Knicks	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Pistons Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	18	21.3	7.0	-	-	4.8	1.9	-	-	-	1.7	2.8	7.3	.389	-	-	-	1.3	2.4	.558
Bob Lanier	64	38.2	25.3	3.1	8.5	11.6	3.3	1.1	2.0	-	2.7	10.6	19.8	.534	-	-	-	4.1	5.0	.818
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob Lanier	3	39.3	28.0	4.3	12.3	16.7	2.0	1.0	2.3	-	3.3	11.3	18.0	.630	-	-	-	5.3	6.3	.842

Season 8
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	-	1977-78
Team	-	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob Lanier	63	36.7	24.5	3.1	8.2	11.3	3.4	1.3	1.5	3.6	2.9	9.9	18.4	.537	-	-	-	4.7	6.1	.772
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob Lanier	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 9
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	-	1978-79
Team	-	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob Lanier	53	34.6	23.6	3.1	6.2	9.3	2.6	0.9	1.4	3.3	3.4	9.2	17.9	.515	-	-	-	5.2	6.9	.749
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob Lanier	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 12
	Mel Hutchins	Bob Lanier
Season	-	1981-82
Team	-	Milwaukee Bucks
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Bucks Lost East Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob Lanier	74	26.8	13.5	1.2	4.0	5.2	3.0	1.0	0.8	2.2	2.9	5.5	9.9	.558	0.0	0.0	.000	2.5	3.3	.752
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Mel Hutchins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob Lanier	6	35.3	16.0	3.0	4.5	7.5	3.7	1.3	0.8	2.3	3.5	6.8	13.3	.513	0.0	0.2	.000	2.3	4.2	.560