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Bird was considered the better player from 1979-1986. Magic was considered the better player from 1987-91. Overall, Magic is generally considered the better player and is usually ranked higher in GOAT debates. Bird was a better scorer, better shooter, better 3-PT shooter, better FT shooter, better rebounder and equal as a passer. He was arguably better defensively. What did Magic do better than Bird to justify his higher all time ranking?

Is this a serious thread?

Hair Jordan wrote: What did Magic do better than Bird to justify his higher all time ranking?

Basketball

70sFan wrote:Is this a serious thread?

Yes. What did Magic do better?

Scoring lmao

Playmaking and ball handling lmao

Kinda big thinghs lol

Magic as best player in the league came later and he had a better cast, thus won more and had more flash.

Otherwise, the basic point of the OP is correct. Outside of some obvious areas -mostly having to do with being a PG- Bird is better at almost everything else.

Being the on-ball distributor. That's it. And it's also not nothing.

Ol Roy wrote:Being the on-ball distributor. That's it. And it's also not nothing.

Being a much more resilient playoff scorer is also not nothingh

Also framing it as magic being just the better on-ball playmaker while technically correct is also very misleading framing as he is just a superior overall playmaker due to his ballhandling

Hair Jordan wrote:Bird was considered the better player from 1979-1986. Magic was considered the better player from 1987-91. Overall, Magic is generally considered the better player and is usually ranked higher in GOAT debates. Bird was a better scorer, better shooter, better 3-PT shooter, better FT shooter, better rebounder and equal as a passer. He was arguably better defensively. What did Magic do better than Bird to justify his higher all time ranking?

Magic was 3 years younger than Bird, and still outplayed Peak Bird in the Finals.

Magic was a better ballhandler and distributor, because of his ballhandling and athletic advantage he could run an offense better. Led the league in steals, better at attacking the basket.

Better rebounder when accounting for position. Higher percentage scorer.

More clutch, better playoff performer.

falcolombardi wrote:

Ol Roy wrote:Being the on-ball distributor. That's it. And it's also not nothing.

Being a much more resilient playoff scorer is also not nothingh

Also framing it as magic being just the better on-ball playmaker while technically correct is also very misleading framing as he is just a superior overall playmaker due to his ballhandling

Superior is an understatement. Bird does not even create anywhere near what players like Steph do. He's just notnearly as good at basketball as people pretend. Being able to thread pretty passes doesn't matter when the pretty passes are taking out far less defenders over a game than whoever you're being compared to.

LakerLegend wrote:

Hair Jordan wrote:Bird was considered the better player from 1979-1986. Magic was considered the better player from 1987-91. Overall, Magic is generally considered the better player and is usually ranked higher in GOAT debates. Bird was a better scorer, better shooter, better 3-PT shooter, better FT shooter, better rebounder and equal as a passer. He was arguably better defensively. What did Magic do better than Bird to justify his higher all time ranking?

Magic was 3 years younger than Bird, and still outplayed Peak Bird in the Finals.

Magic was a better ballhandler and distributor, because of his ballhandling and athletic advantage he could run an offense better. Led the league in steals, better at attacking the basket.

Better rebounder when accounting for position. Higher percentage scorer.

More clutch, better playoff performer.

2nd-year Hakeem outplayed peak Bird in the finals the year before.

falcolombardi wrote:

Ol Roy wrote:Being the on-ball distributor. That's it. And it's also not nothing.

Being a much more resilient playoff scorer is also not nothingh

Also framing it as magic being just the better on-ball playmaker while technically correct is also very misleading framing as he is just a superior overall playmaker due to his ballhandling

I thought about mentioning that ... two sidepoints

1) Magic was playing a lot softer in-conference competition. Playoff competition is not neutral and LA's might be all-time soft.
2) Magic has a not insignificant regular season TS Add lead - that is Magic nearly doubles . Scoring apex Bird was a very efficient (RS) scorer ... he accumulates the bulk of his career TS add over 4 seasons (85-88) and nearly half of it over two (87-88). Bird was a more prolific scorer ... but Magic was substantially more efficient over his career.

Hair Jordan wrote:Bird was considered the better player from 1979-1986. Magic was considered the better player from 1987-91. Overall, Magic is generally considered the better player and is usually ranked higher in GOAT debates. Bird was a better scorer, better shooter, better 3-PT shooter, better FT shooter, better rebounder and equal as a passer. He was arguably better defensively. What did Magic do better than Bird to justify his higher all time ranking?

His approach to offense allowed him to take better control over his team’s offensive performance and generally seems to have been more impactful than Bird in his approach.


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Magic seemed to have less durability issues come PS.

Magic was a better playmaker.

Magic was a better ball-handler.

Magic was a better transition player.

Magic had less volatility in his game-to-game scoring and didn't hit the low points that Bird did at times.

I have no numbers to back this up, but by my eye, he was a better finisher at the rim.

70sFan wrote:Is this a serious thread?

Please take a look at who the OP is to get your answer.

LakerLegend wrote:

Hair Jordan wrote:Bird was considered the better player from 1979-1986. Magic was considered the better player from 1987-91. Overall, Magic is generally considered the better player and is usually ranked higher in GOAT debates. Bird was a better scorer, better shooter, better 3-PT shooter, better FT shooter, better rebounder and equal as a passer. He was arguably better defensively. What did Magic do better than Bird to justify his higher all time ranking?

Magic was 3 years younger than Bird, and still outplayed Peak Bird in the Finals.

Magic was a better ballhandler and distributor, because of his ballhandling and athletic advantage he could run an offense better. Led the league in steals, better at attacking the basket.

Better rebounder when accounting for position. Higher percentage scorer.

More clutch, better playoff performer.

Lots to disagree with here. Athletic advantage? Do not see this at all.

Better rebounder? If you want to play the relative to position game then Bird is the better passer.

Clutch…? More than Bird?

SNPA wrote:

LakerLegend wrote:

Hair Jordan wrote:Bird was considered the better player from 1979-1986. Magic was considered the better player from 1987-91. Overall, Magic is generally considered the better player and is usually ranked higher in GOAT debates. Bird was a better scorer, better shooter, better 3-PT shooter, better FT shooter, better rebounder and equal as a passer. He was arguably better defensively. What did Magic do better than Bird to justify his higher all time ranking?

Magic was 3 years younger than Bird, and still outplayed Peak Bird in the Finals.

Magic was a better ballhandler and distributor, because of his ballhandling and athletic advantage he could run an offense better. Led the league in steals, better at attacking the basket.

Better rebounder when accounting for position. Higher percentage scorer.

More clutch, better playoff performer.

Lots to disagree with here. Athletic advantage? Do not see this at all.

Better rebounder? If you want to play the relative to position game then Bird is the better passer.

Clutch…? More than Bird?

Both players were more athletic than people give them credit for. Bird threw down some dunks you never saw from Magic. Bird averaged 10 RPG for his career even though he was fighting with McHale and Parish for boards. Bird and Magic both have tons of clutch moments to choose from. FWIW

The fact that Magic could by default dribble the ball the length of the court all game long is the most stark contrast to me

I liked Bird more as a player, Magic won more but a) he was playing in a weaker conference so he had an easier route to the final
b) Magic had better teammates

LukaTheGOAT wrote:Magic seemed to have less durability issues come PS.

Magic was a better playmaker.

Magic was a better ball-handler.

Magic was a better transition player.

Magic had less volatility in his game-to-game scoring and didn't hit the low points that Bird did at times.

I have no numbers to back this up, but by my eye, he was a better finisher at the rim.

Definitely a better finisher in traffic and just a better player in the paint. Not that Bird was terrible in that area since he was also a master passer in there but Magic was on another level. Also in terms of bullying defenders and flinging passes everywhere from the high post.