R.O. Double
Holdin My Balls Since 83
Bird was hilarious.
Larry Bird stories
- Thread starter Da_Eggman
- Start date
-
- Tags
- goat larry bird legend trash talk
No because Bird is better overrall player than LeBron.
Hmmm I have to think about that. Bird was a better shooter and bett in the clutch. Lebron was a much better defender, passing I would say are the same, both we're great ball handlers.
Speaking of birds defense he was a trash defensive player. He ws known for playing the passing lanes but he rarely guarded SF. McHale was the one that usually guarded birds man. Bird would often guard the weakest front court player offensively.
SteelCitySoldier
TSC Fantasy Football Champion 2016
Subs for later reading.
street heat
merchant of death
"sorry Charlie!" is killin me. that dude was tight after that
you mustve missed my post saying lebron would need his best defensive season ever to match bird's defensive win shares over the same amount of games played...which also takes into account bird's last years with a bad back
lebron more athletic etc but the narrative of bird being a bad defender is pretty much false
and didnt pippen often take jordans guy?
You are crazy I watched bird. Dude was a poor individual defender but a decent to good team defender (which was the reason he was good at playing passing lanes) He never guarded SFs and when he had back issues he still guarded PFs just like he did before he was injuried. Perfect example when they played the lakers in the finals he was the one that guarded Rambis even though that was not his man. Worthy was his man but Mchale guarded him because worthy would eat birds ass up. Win shares mean shyt because even dirk has decent defensive win shares and he always guards the worst offensive front court player.
Bird did not have the defensive versatility that lebron has. I can only think of 2 other players who had the defensive versatility of lebron and that would be Scottie Pippen and Garnett. Those guys including lebron could guard 4 positions and actually Garnett could guard 5 at times for a short spell.
Pip didn't take Jordan's guy but he did guard the best offensive player in playoffs series. Such as Magic in 91. Penny in 96. Mark Jackson in 98. Now Ron Harper guarded Reggie Miller in 1998 while Jordan guarded Mullin.
Last edited:
Ive watched plenty of Bird. Rambis/Worthy were essentially interchangeable in terms of position. Worthy by far the better player tho granted. Either way, NBA isnt some pickup ball where you just guard who guards you all the time. Bird was not a trash defender as you stated.
The point is, LeBron is a better defender and more versatile, but Bird was not trash and there are metrics to prove it. Furthermore, Bird was incredibly intuitive with steals and being in the right spot. He wasnt like James Harden.
As a tangential point on versatility...Pippen and Garnett true...also gotta add Gary Payton to the list. He manned up MJ most of the 96 finals and Jordan had his least efficient finals in his career. Many other names to add too but Payton is on the legendary defensive list
We can agree to disagree but Bird was a garbage man to man defender just like Magic. Now was he trash like Nash, Dirk or Harden nope. Those guys dont even play passing lanes. But bird was great at playing the passing lane like Barkley, but even Barkley was a poor defender. Now when you pissed Barkley off he would try to get in your ass though. Anyway Mchale was the defensive stopper on that team. You could sick Mchale on bigs and SFs. Gary was great but due to size he couldn't guard big wings and PFs. Him guarding an older MJ helps but lets not forget that George Karl double and trippled team Jordan in that series and refused to let him post up Gary. Everytime he caught the ball in the post they would double. That is the same jordan who only avg 27 a game in that finals. Gary was one of the best double teaming players in the league. Seattles trappin zone like defense might have stopped Houston from going to here straight finals. Also gary caused havoc with his double teams on Hakeem that series. Every time dream would try to do a spin move or shake Gary would run and double forcing him to pass or get stripped. Plus kemp gave Hakeem fits.
Oh and Rambis and worthy were not interchangeable no more than Ac green and worthy. Worthy was the small forward and Ac green and Rambis were the Charles oakley dirty work PFs. Let's be honest here with the positions. That is like saying Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant are interchangeable on offense.
And you can't be a good defender if you can't play man to man. The reason for MJ being considered the greatest is not only because of his offense but because of his defense.....man to man defense that is.
shyt I live here in Dallas and if dirk was ever a good man to man defender like duncan was for all those years the mavs would have 3 rings. Being a good team defender means nothing if you have to be taken off your man.
shyt I live here in Dallas and if dirk was ever a good man to man defender like duncan was for all those years the mavs would have 3 rings. Being a good team defender means nothing if you have to be taken off your man.
MJ wasnt really old at that point, at all. MJ put up pts but like i said, he wasnt near as efficient as his other finals performances. This article just came out 3 days ago and I literally found it while I was writing this post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ooner-could-have-changed-the-1996-nba-finals/
Gary could lock down 1's and guard most 2's. There was no need for him to play 3's with the rest of their defense (most of which you noted). Hes one of the best defensive guards of all time, and certainly one of the more versatile ones. It'd be absurd schematically to put a PG on a 4 anyway for almost any team.
still don't understand why he was mad at lance
He wasn't that was just PC talk. Bird the same dude that lead the charge to have his celtics to start clothes lining laker players after a blow out in the finals. Dude the same Kat that called his teammates some sissies after they got blown out. Let's not forget that lil talk he had with Pacer players a few years ago after the heat were kicking their ass in the second round playoff game. shyt Bird really wanted to tell Stevenson next time instead of blowing in Lebron's ear clothes line that fool next time he goes to the hole.
Worthy was more dynamic and a better offensive player. Im talking in terms of size and interchangeability in terms of guarding them in reference to listing them at position. Worthy was 6'9 225 and Rambis was 6'8 215
Actually MJ was old he was 33 at the time. He wasn't the same player after the first retirement and relied more of shooting jumpers and posting up. Plus unlike his earlier years he would try o conserve his energy until the 4th so he could go on scoring bunches. He couldnt beat Gary off the dribble and tried to post him up. They interviewed Karl after the 4th game and I believe that Karl said he would double Jordan every play he got the ball in the paint. That is the reason Rodman killed them on the boards because the shot would go up and two or three people would be around MJ. But good find on hat article. The first three games Hersey Hawkins guarded MJ. Detlef was on pip and Gary guarded Harper because he could double off of him.
As far as Gary I am referring to his height so I wouldn't place him next to pip and Garnett in terms of defense because he never guarded SFs and PFs. But yes he was a great defender and guarded 2 and 1s. Once he learned how to knock down a jumper as a yong guard he helped Seattle become a perennial power in the west.