those stats are more meaningful in the context of the era. Teams scored 110 a night every night. One can make a lot of arguments about Bird, but Antoine Carr and Adrian Dantley aren't good ones, for my money.
Bird played with a bunch of Hall of Famers. Everyone overlooks that because he's the Great White Hope.
Kevin McHale, at the time they were battling the Lakers, was infinitely better than all those guys you listed. Mychal Thompson? Really?
The fact the NBA has been doing that forever just shows that Indy probably thinks LBJ raped that skank in Tallahassee.
Except that the NBA has been doing those jerseys forever. Thanks for playing. Now, go cry some more about a whore getting hers.
If the pace of the game then were what it is now , that would matter. It isn't so it doesn't. Larry Bird is the hoops version of Rocky Marciano.
I guess I missed that. I retract my statement about him being a douche. Or perhaps it shows that Indy neither watches nor cares about the NBA. It was funnier the first time.
That analogy doesn't work. Rocky Marciano never lost because he never fought anybody worth a shit, and history recognizes this. Or at least I recognize it. Bird played in a majority black league, and excelled in a majority black league. And if you don't like me comparing Bird's numbers to today's players because of pace, then fine, compare them to his peers. Magic was the only other guy filling a box score like that. Now was/is Bird beloved because of his race? Absolutely. But you could take all that away, and you're still left with an all-time great player.
Only if he deserves it. Marciano was a tough guy and a hard puncher for a guy his size, but he was 5-11 and 188lbs. Cassius Clay would have toyed with him like he was a mediocre amateur for as many rounds as he pleased, and Marciano never would have hit him with a direct shot. Joe Louis -- when he wasn't 178 years old -- would have knocked him out in the fourth or fifth round. Jack Johnson would have knocked him out whenever he damn well pleased. If you told Jack Johnson before the fight that all the white women were leaving after the 8th round no matter what, Johnson would finish him in seven. That's just how Jack Johnson rolled. George Foreman might well have killed Rocky Marciano. Literally ended his life. And, yes, even the unheralded, underappreciated, historically underrated Larry Holmes would have him look awkward and slow and would have kept a jab in Marciano's face as long as he wished to do so. Tyson? Fight would last 17 seconds. Lennox Lewis would string him along further only because Lennox Lewis was a lazy douche with no killer instinct, but, honestly, it would be tough for Lewis to *avoid* knocking Rocky Marciano out. He would have had to go out of his way to keep from dropping him like third period french. And anybody who says differently about any of the above fighters is wrong and a [dadgum] moron, and you should tell them the same.
The Lakers were better in '86-'87. They only won in '88 because of WWE style refereeing in Game Six against the Pistons.
in no season was Parrish a HoF quality player. He was a player. McHale was HoF quality. Ainge wasn't. DJ wasn't. Walton wasn't. Are you saying there were no HoF players on Magic's Lakers? Does HoF mean anything? I think Bird's in there? Is that because he's white and hick? They won 3 titles because he's a hick? I understand you want to minimize what the guy did, but he did it. There isn't any coach in the history of basketball that would take Dantley over Bird. In fact, the number that would take more than about 10 guys over him is probably ridiculously small.
so? That's apparently no standard, as Bird's in there too and he's apparently Antoine Carr. Those pesky MVP's are just crap too. It's all just votes and only white guys win those. It's just an award for the best white player in the league, which is why a shlepp like Jabbar has 6.
Steve Nash has multiple MVPs. There has never been a day when he was one of the 20 best players in the league.
