How Would Larry Bird Rate Against Todays' Players?

[Cavsfansince84]

I'm not sure if you are referring to current LeBron or prime LeBron but I think it goes without saying that he'd be better than recent LeBron who probably isn't even a top 5 player anymore.

He would be a way better player than prime Lebron lmaooooo

If you honestly think he would be way better than prime LeBron then you should have Bird as your goat.

[itrsteve]

Top 5 player
Top 1 sh*ttalker

[nate33]

He was my favorite player when i started watching BBall, but yall are overdoing it.

EVERYTHING evolves and hes way to slow for the game now. He would be a great spot up guy but would be tortured on defense. He would be pick and rolled to get him on scorers who would murder him.

Nobody can guard any good iso scorer man-to-man these days with the current rules. Today, defense is much more team-based. It's way more important to be a good help defender than a great man-to-man defender. And prime Bird was a great help defender.

Bird would probably be a lot like prime Paul Millsap on defense, or a poor man's Draymond Green. He'd always be in the right spot and he have the strength to defend the post against just about anybody save Jokic, Embiid or Valanciunas

[jazzfan1971]

Top 5 player
Top 1 sh*ttalker

Joe Ingles: 'Hold my beer.'

[Hobo4President]

He'd be the best player in the league

[Marrrcuss]

He was my favorite player when i started watching BBall, but yall are overdoing it.

EVERYTHING evolves and hes way to slow for the game now. He would be a great spot up guy but would be tortured on defense. He would be pick and rolled to get him on scorers who would murder him.

Nobody can guard any good iso scorer man-to-man these days with the current rules. Today, defense is much more team-based. It's way more important to be a good help defender than a great man-to-man defender. And prime Bird was a great help defender.

Bird would probably be a lot like prime Paul Millsap on defense, or a poor man's Draymond Green. He'd always be in the right spot and he have the strength to defend the post against just about anybody save Jokic, Embiid or Valanciunas

He was molasses even in the mid 80s. How he got that steal against Detroit was beyond me, but i went wild.

Too unathletic for today.

Remember, fat men used to inhabit the NBA in a decent quantity.

[SpreeChokeJob]

Bird was a stone cold assassin with shooting ability and size. It wasn’t until his injury that the younger teams had a chance to advance.

[FreeThrowLine]

Prime Bird on the current Celtics are going to the finals

[hauntedcomputer]

Some guys can play in any era. Bird is one.

[MoneyMo]

Better than Lebron. Probably best player in the league

I'm not sure if you are referring to current LeBron or prime LeBron but I think it goes without saying that he'd be better than recent LeBron who probably isn't even a top 5 player anymore.

He would be a way better player than prime Lebron lmaooooo

lmao prime Lebron is far greater than Bird man. Get serious

[JohnnyKILLroy]

Prime bird on the Rockets they go to the finals

[NRSV]

I honestly don’t love the Luka comparisons. Luka’s handle is way better and Bird is a way better shooter and more efficient. Plus the amazing defense.

Bird is a strict 4 today who can play 5 in the right lineups. Luka wouldn’t dare.

[Marrrcuss]

I think yall are romanticizing Birds outside shot a bit. He's a career 37.6 % 3 point shooter. He was given open 3s.

He was in the era where you didnt take a million bad 3 pointers. Remember, Steph changed the game and now logo shots and contested 3s are fine. The game has been changed for the better, right?

[HumbleRen]

Listen man, Bird with the spacing we have today lol ? Forget about it.

That's Luka on steroids.

[Archx]

I honestly don’t love the Luka comparisons. Luka’s handle is way better and Bird is a way better shooter and more efficient. Plus the amazing defense.

Bird is a strict 4 today who can play 5 in the right lineups. Luka wouldn’t dare.

Luka is playing 4 on defense when Mavs are rolling with only 1 big guy. And he's actually been doing really good in the post, holding his own.

I don't like Doncic comparisons either. I think Luka is a better pure playmaker and has handles Bird could only wish he'd had. But then again, Bird was much older when he even entered the league, we're like still 2 years away from making any kind of decent comparison.

[G R E Y]

I feel sorry for fans who never had a chance to watch Bird play live. The highlights give good glimpses, but the totality of his game is missed if you hadn't seen him.

He was athletic in the coordinated shoot from whatever angle and finish every which way at the rim sense. He was confident in all aspects of the game and has an almost prescient sense of the play that was about to develop, hence not only the steal but the perfect pass back to DJ as he was turning around and balancing to stay juuust inbounds. The behind the back passes in close to McHale, the full court pin point passes, the clutch shots and the guts to take them, and the making everyone around him better.

He could out trash talk anyone in the game today and was about the toughest player THEN let alone in today's game. Played through a lot of pain, and with today's emphasis on the body, well, he'd be a stronger physical specimen with an already unrivaled inner core.

Part of that core, and what I think held all the skills both physical and intangible together is the way he saw the game, the way he thought through the game and each play within it. He could make adjustments and split second reactions to whatever new unfolded. And that he saw it and did it before fans did made watching him all the more enjoyable. SO many "HOW did he DO that?!" and "Did you SEE THAT?!" plays.

I don't care what position he'd play today. He'd be a top player. It's what makes him one of the GOATs.

[BoatsNZones]

Larry Bird in a league with soft rims that rewards pace+space over all else? Good luck. He would absolutely dominate.

[shotsquatch]

The people saying Bird was too unathletic to play in today's league are crazy. If Joe Ingles and Kyle Anderson can stay on the court, then there's no question Bird would be able to. If Luka can dominate the game, then Bird would be a perennial MVP candidate.

People vastly overestimate the relative importance of athleticism compared to other aspects of a player's skill-set. Being a 99th percentile NBA athlete is only a requirement for guarding the other 99th percentile NBA athletes -- but guess what, by definition there are maybe ten players in the entire league capable of doing that at a high level!

Guarding elite NBA players is not even remotely a requirement for success. It doesn't matter. Nobody can stop those guys. Nobody has an advantage when they switch onto Steph Curry or Kevin Durant. Larry Bird would be just fine.

[Jack Dempsey]

Bird may be best to ever play skillwise and had a Top 5 Basketball IQ. The one thing that hold him back was his body. Give him LeBron's physics and he's the undisputed GOAT.

[chrisab123]

If Luka and his doughy body can be a force then Bird would dominate.