Larry Bird is 50!!!

[Purple Reign]

When I was growing up in the ghetto of San Francisco, the Fillmore to be exact, I was ridiculed by my classmates and neighborhood friends for being a Larry Bird fan. I would hear it all the time. "Larry Bird....why do you like that white boy"? I really could not explain what it was that drew me to Bird and the Celtics. But I think that now that I am a man, I believe my love for Bird was more social conscious than it was entertainment and sports related. It was the facination for me that someone that participated in the greatest sport in the world was so contrasted to the norm and was greatly excelling beyond our standards.

Here it was a white man in a quote "black man's sport" making the game of basketball his personal playground. He was clutch, he was efficient, he was a winner. There were those far more talented and those far more intellegent. But nobody got more out of less than Larry Bird.

Happy Birthday Larry Legend.... You brought a lot of smiles to a young urban San Francisco kid.

 

[Gargamel]

Eddie Van Halen and Bill Clinton are the only two I can think of who've aged quicker than Bird. He's an old lookin 50. He had a 70 year old spine in his 30s too.

 

[hoopsfan]

Just read in Bee's sports section today... this day in sports history:

1961: Philadelphia's Wilt Chamberlain scores 78 points and grabs 43 rebounds in a 151-147 triple overtime loss to the Lakers.

Remember...this was long before there was a 3 point shot!

 

[Merdiesel]

MJ is hands down the greatest player to ever play the game.

 

[hoopsfan]

MJ is hands down the greatest player to ever play the game.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

 

[KingsChick]

MJ is hands down the greatest player to ever play the game.

No doubt! No one can ever take his place!

 

[hoopsfan]

There was basketball before 1984.

 

[Mad D]

Little love for the 11 time champ (out of his 13yr career), Bill Russel..

 

[6th]

The game has changed so much. It is much more physical....i.e. the players can get away with much more. I also think that, in recent years, the "best players get the calls" mantra has made it easier for the better players to "look" even better.

Therefore, I cannot vote for MJ. I gotta go with Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain. He revolusionized the sport,,,IMHO.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

As a Kings and Celtics fan it pains me to say that Magic was the best ever. Could legitimately play all 5 positions at a championship level and he made everybody on the court better. If not for some boneheaded decisions in his personal life I suspect he would also have one or two of MJ's rings.

I'd also rank Russell over Wilt, you gotta factor in the fact that he basically dominated Wilt the entire length of his career. I won't penalize him for what he did to the Kings in this particular discussion

I'd also give Oscar the nod over MJ even though you're comparing apples and oranges thanks to the change in the era. But the man averaged a triple double over the course of his career when they didn't even keep track of such a stat.

My top 5 looks roughly like this:
Magic
Oscar
Russell
MJ
Bird

I'll admit that Bird gets on over Wilt for sentimental reasons and spots 2-4 are nearly interchangeable.

 

[Gargamel]

As a Kings and Celtics fan it pains me to say that Magic was the best ever.

If not for some boneheaded decisions in his personal life I suspect he would also have one or two of MJ's rings.

I don't think he would've had MJ's rings in the early 90s. The Lakers were over with by that time. However, Magic and Bird were gypped historically because their primes crossed paths and their teams' best years were played in an era where you had to beat at least one other titan to win a ring.

By the time Pippen came into his own in 91, the Lakers and Pistons had already lost any real championship edge. The Bulls were young enough to wait out the remaining 1980s holdovers. Suffice it to say, either the 80s Lakers or Celtics would've made short work of any of the teams MJ played throughout his title run. The 92 Knicks (lol) were the toughest team the Bulls faced and they could only win by playing like brutes.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

By the time Pippen came into his own in 91, the Lakers and Pistons had already lost any real championship edge. The Bulls were young enough to wait out the remaining 1980s holdovers. Suffice it to say, either the 80s Lakers or Celtics would've made short work of any of the teams MJ played throughout his title run. The 92 Knicks (lol) were the toughest team the Bulls faced and they could only win by playing like brutes.

"Short work" of the '96 Bulls?

... I can't see it. Win? Maybe. Short work? Not a chance in hell.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Gargy said the teams the Bulls played not the Bulls themselves. I agree with that assessment. The 90's NBA was extremely watered down.

 

[loopymitch]

There was basketball before 1984.

There was?

 

[Gargamel]

Gargy said the teams the Bulls played not the Bulls themselves. I agree with that assessment. The 90's NBA was extremely watered down.

I don't want to convey that those Bulls teams wouldn't be an elite team in the 80s. I was just pointing out that if you warp time and space, the 80s Lakers and the 80s Celts would've won 8 straight from 91-98 just like the Bulls would've had MJ's dad not been murdered. The 90s NBA was a house of cards for a Jackson/Tex/Pippen/MJ team. No one was even close. If any team took them to 7, it was probably more due to the Bulls momentarily losing focus.

 

[RaY Z]

like the majority MJ hands down...

i love michael jordan !

not just my childhood hero but pretty much everones childhood sports hero...

 

[rumpled]

Can't argue with MJ, of all the players listed that I've seen he got the most out of his career. In his prime Bird was up there on that same higher level of brilliance though. To me Kareem (great player, don't get me wrong) makes this list mainly because he played until he was like 60 and kept plating pretty well. Okay I just looked it up and Kareem played 20 seasons, MJ 15, Bird 13 and Magic 12. Over his last 4 years Kareem still got about 15 pts 6 rebs.

It's not hard to imagine Bird (or Magic for that matter) having about every record in the book if he was lucky enough to play 20 seasons at a high level. I just was watching that nbatv Bird/walton thing and he still missed the competition, you could tell. The ultra-competitive thing was what made him great because he had all the speed and athleticism of like a Peja. Which would be nice to have of course but not a MJ or Kareemlike advantage. Not to mention, when you watch those old games the awkward high fives between Bird and McHale and the mustache and shorts just cannot be funnier. Seemed normal at the time, I swear. Those guys all just wanted to win but MJ comes out on top because he got it done the most times.

I didn't see Bill Russell though

 

[hoopsfan]

not just my childhood hero but pretty much everones childhood sports hero...

Not everyone.

(And if you check out the record books...Wilt pretty much owns it.)

 

[Gargamel]

To me Kareem (great player, don't get me wrong) makes this list mainly because he played until he was like 60 and kept plating pretty well.

I gotta disagree because Kareem had already won 6 MVPs by 1980. He already had the all-time scoring mark in 1984 and the official all-time blocks mark by around that time too (they didn't tally blocks in his first 4 seasons). He will forever hold the record of longest period of time between Finals MVPs (14 years). That's why he's on that list even tho his longevity speaks for itself. He didn't have much choice holding on for that long. His agents mismanaged his fortune and his home burned down in 83. Remember that they weren't making that much back then. Magic and MJ were making only 2.5 million in salary in 1991.

I think the fact that Kareem's the most dominant player in NCAA history should factor into his legacy too. The NCAA took to outlawing the dunk when he was at UCLA (not that it stopped them from being nearly unbeatable).