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I do think the Celtics with Jordan in place of Bird.

Would win titles in

1981

1982

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988



As a result of this Jordan would have 7 rings instead of the 6 he actually has.


While Magic would drop to only having won one ring during his career.

I honestly can not see Jordan losing with that loaded Boston team to the Lakers as Bird did in 1985 and 1987.

It often gets underlooked how bad Bird played in the 1985 and 1987 finals compared to his usual standards.

coastalmarker99 wrote:I honestly can not see Jordan losing with that loaded Boston team to the Lakers as Bird did in 1985 and 1987.

It often gets underlooked how bad Bird played in the 1985 and 1987 finals compared to his usual standards.

counterpoint, young jordan had questionable kobe-esque (at kobe worst) shot selection so if he tried to go hero ball against lakers to outshine magic it could be a waste of celtics talent

What version of Jordan? At whatever age he would be that year?

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No question that MJ was a much more resilient scoring threat in the playoffs than Bird.

It'd hard to do this math though. Bird was the connective tissue on that offense. Swapping in Jordan is such a dramatic transplant, my brain can't picture what happens. We're not bringing in Phil or the Triangle, so it's even more difficult to envision what Jordan's fire power looks like in the context of that team.

But just talking health, we get the Celtics being better for longer. Even if we lose a few prime years to random retirements.

It also helps defensively once McHale is there as Bird had trouble defending wings in space, especially after his back injuries. Assuming that the Celtics play him at the 3, Jordan could have trouble with Worthy's size (but still is bigger and stronger than the Celtic guards). The Celtics should be better individually in both scoring and defense; Bird was a better secondary passer and rebounder than Jordan but with Parish and Maxwell/McHale it's not as big an issue as they have players that can step their rebounding.

The question is whether Jordan buys into the team ethos and culture the way Bird did. Remember his coaches prior to Phil Jackson had trouble getting him to avoid trying to take over all the time. He famously answered one that said, "There's no I in team," "But there is in win." I would guess they do win a couple more titles but I certainly wouldn't assume a team as great as the Lakers would get skunked in their prime.

I just can’t see Boston with Jordan beating the 85 or 87 Lakers.

I'd say 6. He'd probably get 2 more during Bird's prime years and then 1 late career ring too. Don't overlook 1988 when Bird had an awful conference finals against Detroit shooting 35% from the field in a series where every game was decided by single digits. I think that's a very likely title year for the Jordan Celtics.