In honor of my all time favorite player growing up birthday today.
Question for everybody, how good would Larry Bird be in today's NBA?
I believe his production would take a dip, but not too severe. He might struggle some nights against teams with long athletic defenders like Ibaka or Garnett but at the end of the day his offensive game was so multi-dimensional that he would still be a super star
I doubt he would average 10 rebounds a game but he should still be able to put up 25 points a night and 5 or 6 assists.
Bird would be an effective player because of his great shooting and intense competitive nature. There are plenty of averagely athletic players who are/were successful todays game, Joe Johnson, Billups, Paul Pierce, Steve Nash. Kevin Love. Peja Stojakovic at one point averaged something like 25 ppg 5apg for 5 years straight, I believe. I have no doubt he'll be a Star, but I'm not sure a Superstar because being athletic does count and put you up another notch. There are exception like Kevin Durant who isn't the greatest athlete, but he is 6'11 with a 7'5 wingspan.
I don't think he'd be AS prolific as he was in the 80s in terms of scoring, not because of the athletes, but because of the defensive philosophies. Teams are more willing and eager to double now especially in the post where Bird did a lot of his damage. They're also able to because of the defensive rule changes as well. He'd still shoot lights out and he'd still have a counter for everything. I actually think he'd be an even more prolific passer because he'd be seeing more doubles.
I could still see Larry still putting up a line of something like 24-8-7 on good percentages in this era.
How do you know wouldn't have played with 2 HOF'ers? Did you see that in your crystal ball? And btw he played with closer to 4 Hall of Famers: Kevin Mchale, Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish and Bill Walton. As far as would he be as good today? He'd be as good if not better with the advances in sports science and strength and conditioning, the former enabling him to extend his career beyond 13 seasons 4 of which he with a horrendous back and required traction many nights. I my opinion Larry Bird was the smartest basketball player to ever play the game, and let us not forget that he played and dominated during the Golden Era of the NBA, when he tortured guys in the Eastern Conference like: Isaiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, and yea for a little while there... Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. He is still the greatest small forward ever, Lebron's time is coming and maybe in a couple of years I won't be able to say that, but today I can.
It's not like Jordan averaged 20 6 and 4 at age 40 or anything in the league while guys like Kobe, Pierce, T-Mac and VC in or around their primes...
Seriously how does this not have more negatives? Might be the worst post I've ever seen.
Bird would absolutely be effective in today's game. Let's not forget it was much harder for perimeter guys to score during the years he played. Bird was a good shooter and ball handler who would be able to get to the line easily if he played today.
Bird would be a combo forward that no one could match up with. He'd instantly be the 1)best low post scorer from a fundamental perspective, 2) best post passer 3) best mid range jump-shooter (think Dirk) and 4) probably th ebest basketball IQ. Combine the fact that he was a superb ball handler, excellent shooter from everywhere, a smart defender, and a legit 6'9" how would he not score ~25 points, get 8 boards and average 5+ assists. Still a first ballot hall of famer.
Dennis Rodman used to guard Bird. If Bird could put up major numbers on one of the greatest defensive forwards in NBA history I don't see why he couldn't do it in today's game.
In 1992, at the age of 35 AND riddled with back problems he averaged 20.2 PPG, 9.6 RPG and 6.8 APG. The game really hasn't changed to the extent in the last 20 years that he would become ineffective...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqZKSlrGfx8
Sorry, I couldn't embed this video.