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Who had a better supporting cast during their Championship Runs? Larry Bird or Magic Johnson

On the most macro level, Magic's Lakers won five over nine seasons while Bird's Celtics won three over six sessons.

Longer run with more rings & a higher win % point towards Magic having a better supporting cast.

SickMother wrote:On the most macro level, Magic's Lakers won five over nine seasons while Bird's Celtics won three over six sessons.

Longer run with more rings & a higher win % point towards Magic having a better supporting cast.

Magic had a greater longevity though right?

mdonnelly1989 wrote:

SickMother wrote:On the most macro level, Magic's Lakers won five over nine seasons while Bird's Celtics won three over six sessons.

Longer run with more rings & a higher win % point towards Magic having a better supporting cast.

Magic had a greater longevity though right?

Lakers Championship window was longer, 80-88 vs 81-86 for Celtics.

Career longevity is essentially a wash...

Bird: 897 games | 34.443 minutes
Magic: 906 games | 33.245 minutes

Lakers 2-1 head to head Finals record would also point towards Magic having a better supporting cast.

It depends on the year but Kareem was still elite till about 85 or 86 so overall I'd say Magic had the better supporting casts.

Lakers had:

Kareem: 20 / 8 / 2 blk. All NBA through 1985-86.

Cooper: All-D 8 years

Wilkes: 2x All star

Worthy: 7 x all-star

Nixon: All-star. 16/8

Green: all-star, all D


Celtics had:

Archibald: 3x all star

Ainge: all star

Johnson; all star, 4 x all D

McHale: 7 x all-star, 6 x all-d, 1 x all nba. 20/8/2 blk

Parish: 17/10. 9 x all star, 2 x all nba

trelos6 wrote:Lakers had:

Kareem: 20 / 8 / 2 blk. All NBA through 1985-86.

Cooper: All-D 8 years

Wilkes: 2x All star

Worthy: 7 x all-star

Nixon: All-star. 16/8

Green: all-star, all D


Celtics had:

Archibald: 3x all star

Ainge: all star

Johnson; all star, 4 x all D

McHale: 7 x all-star, 6 x all-d, 1 x all nba. 20/8/2 blk

Parish: 17/10. 9 x all star, 2 x all nba

Don't forget the NBA Sixth Man Bill Walton as well as FMVP Cedric Maxwell. They also had the Len Bias for a couple of days.

Dutchball97 wrote:It depends on the year but Kareem was still elite till about 85 or 86 so overall I'd say Magic had the better supporting casts.

Even 1987 Kareem in the playoffs was a very good player. ‘87 Kareem played one of the greatest closeout Finals games in NBA history. Even 1988 Kareem shows up highly positively in squared2020’s RAPM project: https://squared2020.com/1987-88-nba-rapm/

Both were blessed with great supporting casts; you could take those two out of the league completely and both LA and Boston would be contenders (maybe behind Philly especially post Moses but equal to anyone else) and that's not to take anything away from those two ATG players. It was an era of 2-3 superteams and everyone just hoping to get hot for a series and steal one.

SickMother wrote:

mdonnelly1989 wrote:

SickMother wrote:On the most macro level, Magic's Lakers won five over nine seasons while Bird's Celtics won three over six sessons.

Longer run with more rings & a higher win % point towards Magic having a better supporting cast.

Magic had a greater longevity though right?

Lakers Championship window was longer, 80-88 vs 81-86 for Celtics.

Career longevity is essentially a wash...

Bird: 897 games | 34.443 minutes
Magic: 906 games | 33.245 minutes

Total games is a bit misleading. Bird was hurt more often in the playoffs and after 88 (where he also was hurt in the postseason) was out of his prime

Magic was healthier through the playoffs and remained a top 3 player until 91

falcolombardi wrote:

SickMother wrote:

mdonnelly1989 wrote:
Magic had a greater longevity though right?

Lakers Championship window was longer, 80-88 vs 81-86 for Celtics.

Career longevity is essentially a wash...

Bird: 897 games | 34.443 minutes
Magic: 906 games | 33.245 minutes

Total games is a bit misleading. Bird was hurt more often in the playoffs and after 88 (where he also was hurt in the postseason) was out of his prime

Magic was healthier through the playoffs and remained a top 3 player until 91

Right. Which is why Magic is pretty much always higher on All Time lists than Larry. Mostly just thought it was interesting how close their career G/MP totals were considering their historical link.

Longevity seemed like a weird tangent in the first place since OP refers to "Championship Runs", so post 86 for Bird & post 88 for Magic are irrelevant to the question.

I see Magic's supporting casts as elite from 80-87. Bird's I would say were elite from 84-87 though injuries caught up to them in 87.

Comparable casts - vastly, vastly different conferences. With a few exceptions, the 1980s Western Conference belonged nicely in the NCAA tournament

tihsad wrote:Comparable casts - vastly, vastly different conferences. With a few exceptions, the 1980s Western Conference belonged nicely in the NCAA tournament

Elite cast + “elite” WC = Magic

I don't know if we consider this part of supporting cast but I would also take Pat Riley over K.C Jones for coaching

My silly composite team adding Modern Warririors because you need 3 point shooting to beat the best teams.
Kareem McHale, If sky hook isn't enough you also get McHale's moves from a taller McHale. McHale won't go soft at rebounding.
McAdoo Parish, extends Parish's shooting range.
Mychal Thompson, Nater and Kupchac, and Robey Walton, not a bad player
Rambis, AC Green, Wedman, a Rambis that can shoot, nice depth.
Worthy ML Carr, a Worthy that doesn't mind getting dirty and knows how to play defense.
Magic Bird Draymond, Draymond knows how to pass to Curry and Klay
Wilkes Ainge, 1987 Ainge can hit 3s

Maxwell Cooper, the are both long and Skinny and arguably the best defenders on their team. 1987 Cooper shoots 3s. Coopaloop plus Maxwell's post moves. A taller Cooper.

Byron Scott, Dennis Johnson, Klay, this taller DJ can shoot.
Nixon, Archibald, Sichting, Curry. Nixon gives Curry the speed he lacks. Archibald slithers through the big men and kicks the ball out.
Gerald Henderson, depth
12 players deep

Without Klay and Curry maybe the compsite 1980s Laker Celtics can be beaten by 3 point shooting. With Curry and Klay added and creating chaos in defenses and spacing that team can not be beaten by a real team.

Or an 1982 Laker team that borrows 1984 Bird, Parish, Maxwell because the Lakers may be soft and Borrows Curry to give the team 1 3 point shooter and gives Magic Draymonds understanding of Curry.
Kareem. Center
McAdoo Parish center power forward
Rambis Bird power forward
Wilkes, a 2nd Cooper and Maxwell small forward, power forward off guard
Magic with Draymond's understanding of Curry, point small forward, point off guard
Cooper Off guard, point guard on defense
Nixon Curry, point guard
Got that best fast break ever, plus Celtic offensive rebounding and toughness, plus Curry shooting 3s and distorting defenses.

I added a 2nd Cooper to Wilkes Maxwell to give them a 4th guy that can play guard. Teams should have 3 1/2 guards
That should be enough to be the best real teams without the crazy depth of the team above.

Only 7 players as the 1982 Lakers were once fast Eddie Jordan got injured. 7 players is 34 minutes a game each. Cooper and Rambis played less than 30 minutes a game. Lakers 8 through 12 combined played 10 minutes per game half of which were played by Landisberger.

In the 1981 Rockets Celtics finals the Celtics averaged 1/2 a 3 made on 3 3s attempted per game.
1982 Lakers final the Lakers averaged 1/6th of a 3 made on 1 1/2 3s attempted per game. They only hit 1 3 in 6 ganes.