The athletes have changed so much from era to era it's hard to really compare. Pretty much any athletic big man from today could be Wilt-esque if they played way back when.
The Larry Bird just being another guy if he was black also rings true. No doubt he was a winner, but he was an important part of a team loaded with Hall of fame guys. Do you think he could dominate against today's athletes? I bet Iguadola and Lebron have harder challenges every week than Bird.
It's easy to get nostalgic, but if we're taking all the studs in their prime to one court via time capsule i'm going to lean harder on the newer generation guys.
If you don't realize why Larry Fucking Bird was the great 3-4 in the history of the game, then you should probably sit out the rest of the discussion.
Bird defined efficiency offensively whether it was his shooting ability or to make things easier on other players by getting them easy opportunities ...
It's been said, and something I absolutely believe, that one way you can tell the best players is that they can be the most important player in the game with limited shooting. You talk to anybody that played in that era and they will tell you that both Magic and Bird were the best players on the court whether they shot or didn't. That's greatness.
The idea that Bird was great because of the players that he played with as being a strike against him is ridiculous. If anything, it speaks to how great he was as he was far more willing to share touches with what others could do.
For his career, Bird averaged 24-10-6 on 19 shots per game. Many have tried to crown LBJ as being superior to Bird ... and let's be honest, LBJ has played on inferior teams which has required him to do more ... so we should expect better numbers from him. LeBron is at 27-7-7 on 20 shots per game.
The big difference between the two is that Bird's got him on championships and his numerous trips to the Finals came against decidedly better competition than what LBJ has had.
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The Larry Bird just being another guy if he was black also rings true. No doubt he was a winner, but he was an important part of a team loaded with Hall of fame guys. Do you think he could dominate against today's athletes? I bet Iguadola and Lebron have harder challenges every week than Bird.
It's easy to get nostalgic, but if we're taking all the studs in their prime to one court via time capsule i'm going to lean harder on the newer generation guys.
Bird defined efficiency offensively whether it was his shooting ability or to make things easier on other players by getting them easy opportunities ...
It's been said, and something I absolutely believe, that one way you can tell the best players is that they can be the most important player in the game with limited shooting. You talk to anybody that played in that era and they will tell you that both Magic and Bird were the best players on the court whether they shot or didn't. That's greatness.
The idea that Bird was great because of the players that he played with as being a strike against him is ridiculous. If anything, it speaks to how great he was as he was far more willing to share touches with what others could do.
For his career, Bird averaged 24-10-6 on 19 shots per game. Many have tried to crown LBJ as being superior to Bird ... and let's be honest, LBJ has played on inferior teams which has required him to do more ... so we should expect better numbers from him. LeBron is at 27-7-7 on 20 shots per game.
The big difference between the two is that Bird's got him on championships and his numerous trips to the Finals came against decidedly better competition than what LBJ has had.