re: I agree with Magic Johnson. Larry Bird is The Greatest Basketball Player Ever

The skyhook is the greatest consistent shot in history....... amazing how other big men did not attempt this art.......

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I wasn't going to comment, but this is just so retarded. Bird in his first year, turned an entire franchise around,

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Sure. And he also had 3 future hall of famers on his team with a combined 20 all star appearances, plus a couple players with multiple ALL-NBA defense awards, and a NBA finals MVP.

LeBron had Boozer and Zyndrunas, and their 4 all-star appearances.

Yet, despite Bird having a slightly better rookie season than Lebron, they won many more games because he had such a better TEAM around him, they won many more games.

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Lebron had 4 years of adjusting to the players,

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Of course. LeBron's experience in the NBA was more valuable than Bird's college experience.

But I made the post to highlight that players hit their primes in their mid 20's, and 22-23 with a hundreds college games is going to make a better player than 18-19 straight out of high school.

So I was posting in direct reference to your asinine comparison between their first 4 years. Of course Bird had a better first four years; he was entering him prime. At that same age, LeBron was dominating the league to a whole other level.

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Experience counts. A lot. Ask employers interviewing college graduates for a management level job

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It does count, along with the natural development physically and mentally after one's teenage years.

So then why did you make the dumb comparison of their first four years when Bird had much more experience + 5 extra years of physical and mental development?

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Bird is 4-7 all time.

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At what??????

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Being a basketball player you hillbilly.

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Explain the 4-7 part..................

Bird vs. Lambier was classic.

LINK

I love how he nails Lambier at the end in the head with the ball. Bird said Lambier was so dirty he would slide his foot underneath you as you took a jumpshot to break your ankle.

Solid team
Wilt pf
Abdul jabbar c
Bird f
Jordan 2
Magic pg

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Bird in his first year, turned an entire franchise around, having no experience in the league

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The year before Bird arrived, Boston was 29–53; one year with Bird Boston won the Atlantic division over the heavily favored Sixers and we're #1 seed in the East. Going 61-21.

With these guys...



A team that returned four of five starters from an underwhelming 1978-79 Celtic squad that won just 29 games added Bird in 1979-80 - and voila, they won a league-best 61 games.

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The year before Bird arrived, Boston was 29–53; one year with Bird Boston won the Atlantic division over the heavily favored Sixers and we're #1 seed in the East. Going 61-21.

With these guys...

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So he's like a less durable, worse defense version of Tim Duncan?

If your trying to make a point it was Robinson.

That whopping 32-game improvement served as the league record until the 1989-90 Spurs broke the mark by three games. Yet San Antonio had a much worse record to improve upon in a West far weaker than the rugged East of 1979-80. That made it easier for SA to improve by 35 wins (21-61 to 56-26) in the rookie campaign of 7-1 center David Robinson exactly a decade after Boston's resurgence.

The Bird-led improvement was clearly a more impressive achievement, even if it was by three wins less, since by 1989 the league had also been much diluted by the addition of four new expansion teams in 1988 (Charlotte and Miami) and 1989 (Orlando and Minnesota). The NBA of the early 1980's was thus much more balanced and tough than it was 10 years later.

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If your trying to make a point it was Robinson.

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I was mostly being sarcastic, however they went 20-62 the year prior to Duncan being drafted and then 56-26 Duncan's rookie year.