KnickMan wrote:I always felt Bird was a "unicorn" in his own right. A 6'9 guy who could handle the ball, pass like a guard, rebound the ball and shoot from anywhere on the court; plus he was a solid off the ball defender and gave maximum effort on that side of ball. With todays emphasis on the 3pointer I can only imagine what he would average in points. He was like MJ and Kobe in that he was a stone cold killer.
How do you guys think Bird would rate in todays game? What active player today would you compare him to? To me he is like a combination of Jokic and Doncic. I know I am comparing him to other white players, but neither of those guys are not the most athletic players in the league yet they represent probably the most skilled. That was Bird to a T.
I started watching the Celtics regularly the year before Bird entered the league.
I moved to california when Gatling was a rookie; so I missed Bird's last season. Bird was a supporting cast for Reggie Lewis that last season.
I cut the coard so I am not real clear on Doncic. I will have to substitute players I know for Doncic. Jokic is definitely a good comparison for Bird except Jokic is bigger than Bird and Bird was better than Jokic at everything Jokic is good at. My Bird comparison is 2 parts Jokic 1 part Chris Mullin and one part Steve Nash and 1 part the meanest junk yard dog arround. Bird had a vicious intensity more intense than Draymond and LeBron. Bird would scratch and claw for a rebound.
You can elbow Bird in the face. He doesn't care. He just plays on. He will elbow you back in the face later when the refs aren't looking but the ruff stuff does not bother him but rather just makes him play better. The rebounding wars were much more intense in the Eastern conference 1980s NBA than they are now or were in the 1980s Western Conference. If Add to go into a life or death battle in a back alley or a war fox hole and have one NBA player with me as my friend the guy I want with me is Bird. Bird is tougher, and more determinded to win and makes great split second decissions and sees and reads everything correctly.
Bird was 6' 9" in socks and 6' 9" on paper but 3 out fo 4 NBA players that are 6' 9" in socks get listed as 6' 10" or 6' 11". Bird was not just shorter than Jokic, he was thinner than Jokic. Bird arms were a bit shorter than a average for his height.
Bird was a good leader. When the team's best player dives to the floor for loose balls his teammates will also play hard. Nash probably head better court vision than Bird but I am not completely convinced. Bird was the most amzing passer that I have ever seen. Bird was a better passer the Jokic. The floor is more spaced out now because of all the good 3 point shooters. Jokic dribbling alnong the side of the key (the paint) is not the same as Bird dribbling along the the side of the paint because in Bird's time dribbling along the side of the paint would be dribbling threw a crowd. Now there is no crowd swiping at Jokic's dribble. Also Bird was a great scorer better than Jokic and passing out to 3 point shooters was not how the game was played in the 1980s so Bird would be doubled if he had the ball relatively close to the basket. Bird's assisist numbers are lower than Draymonds. People let Draymond dribble because Draymond won't score. Magic (6' 7" in socks 6' 9" officialy) Magic had long arms and a nice technique of using his body to sheild the dribble from defenders. If the defender trying to swipe at the ball was on Magic's left then Magic is dribbling on the the right side of his body.If the defender trying to swipe at the ball was on Magic's right then Magic is dribbling on the the left side of his body. Bird's foot speed was only a little better than Jokic's foot speed. Bird's dribble could be shut down and that was the book on how to defend Bird. Crowd Bird, Take away Bird's dribble. Letting Bird wander arround with I live dribble is a really bad idea like letting Nash wander arround with a live dribble. Bird will find the mistake in the defense just like Nash would find the mistake in the defense. The reason Bird's assists are low compared to the legend of his passing is because it is easier to take away Bird's dribble than it is to take away Nash's dribble. Anything that nash could do with60 pound weights attached to his ankles, Bird could also do. Bird's dribble was fancy enough but it was a slow dribble and a high dribble. Having your hand closer to the ground is an advantage when dribbling. A low dribble is harder to swipe.
Draymond is a very good point forward. Draymond can get cheap assists by passing to open 3 point shooters. Bird got a few cheap assists passing to McHale and Maxwell who then did the harder work of hitting well defended shots. Really I don't think passers should get assists for passing to well defended teammates that then just beat a good defense. To some degree guys awarding assists don't always award assists on tough shots.
If Bird had a higher speed dribble he could have racked up Nash like assist numbers. Jokic also could get really high assist he could drive and kick at point guard speeds. Draymond is a better passer than most point guards but Draymond also can't drive and kick at point guard speeds; and Draymond is not much of a scoring threat because his drive shots often bounce out after hitting the rims. Bird and Jokic successfully finish more of their slow drives than Draymond does. Jokic and Bird and LeBron miss some assists by scoring instead of passing. Bird was deadly pulling up out of his drive and flipping in all sorts of shots often off balance well defended shots.
Bird gets criticism for being unable to keep small forwards in of him. Bird's feet were to slow to defend quick guys driving. Bird defended power forwards just fine. You don't ask Dirk to defend Paul Pierce. But sometimes Bird was asked to defend Dr J or Dominique Wilkins. That did not work very well which is why McHale and Cedric Maxwell who were clearly power forwards on offense had to defend the small forwards on defense.
Bird is really a power forward even if he can shoot like an off guard and pass like a point guard. Bird was a power forward! Screw consensus opinion about Bird's position. Consensus opinion was wrong. Bird's inside scoring moves were even better than his outside scoring moves. Bird was a power forward! Bird was a power forward! Bird was a power forward!
The degree to which Bird played out of position was just an annomolly created bybtge Celtics having two other great power forwards, Maxwell and McHale. Yes Maxwell was great and Maxwell did in fact deserve his 1981 finals MVP. The celtics team I watched the year before Bird arrived would have been unwatchable without Cedric Maxwell.
During Bird's rookie season Nate Archibald recovered from his injuries and became an all-star point guard again. So Archibald ran the offense not Bird. Gerald Henderson senoir became a good back up for Archibald and he ran tge offense when Archibald sat.Buckner was OK. Dennis Johnson became a fine floor General and ran the offense later. Dennis Johnson's court vission was poor but he was snart. Ainge was a very good passer and had very good court vision and served as Johnson's assistant. Sichting was a smart point guard with good court vision but Sichting was too slow to beat his man off tge dribble but still Sichting was a decent back up point guard.
Bird passing was quick hitting passing. Bird was not ball dominant. Bird let the guards run the offense but when they passed him the ball he could make amazing fast 2nd passes.
If I combined the faster 1981 Bird with the more perfected 1987 Bird the resulting player would definitly be the best player in the NBA if he played now.But if then combined 4th year LeBron who could dribble arround people with ease with current LeBron who can stiff arm his way to the basket and power through the arms of defenders the resulting super LeBron would be better than super Bird.
If I just take 1987 mid season Bird and drop him into the current league I think 1987 Bird would be better than anybody else playing today.
