Is Larry Bird the Greatest NBA Player Of All Time?

MJ is the best ever but if you're creating an all time starting 5 to play, Bird should be the starting SF because he makes his teammates so much better. The backcourt of Magic and MJ seems set to me but I can see different arguments for the 4 and 5.

fwiw wrote:

MJ is the best ever but if you're creating an all time starting 5 to play, Bird should be the starting SF because he makes his teammates so much better. The backcourt of Magic and MJ seems set to me but I can see different arguments for the 4 and 5.

Agreed ^.

4 would have to be Tim Duncan. I really don't see anyone being close.

5 is tough.

One might say Russell because you'd have plenty of scoring on this team so he might make it better than someone like Chamberlain, Shaq... However, Russell really was too small to be very dominant in today's era.

Shaq? Chamberlain? Probably not one of these guys to make the team as strong as possible. Although one could easily argue that these are the most dominant 5s ever.

I'd say Kareem if you really wanted to make the starting 5 as strong as possible.

Korver is 6'7", Bird is 6'9", they both played 3 guard, and they played in the same conference in college. There isn't much of a disparity between them as far as athleticism goes. All the other players on "best ever" lists were bigger or more athletic than their opponents, but Bird had to be craftier and more skilled in order to dominate.

Not a bad list, but hard to compare many of them. West did everything one could ask, and would have had just as many championship rings as Jordan except for the fact that year after year he had to go up against an overall more talented and better coached team in the Russell-led, Auerbach-coached Celtics. So how do you factor that?

One Man Wolf Pack wrote:

Probably not the best of all time but he fits somewhere in the following list of all time greats who actually won a title:

Jordan

Wilt

Russell

Big O

Magic

Kareem

Jerry West

Elgin Baylor

Elvin Hayes

Rick Barry

Hakeem

Kobe

Isiah

Shaq

Duncan

Maybe should soon include D. Wade/LeBron

z runner wrote:

Not a bad list, but hard to compare many of them. West did everything one could ask, and would have had just as many championship rings as Jordan except for the fact that year after year he had to go up against an overall more talented and better coached team in the Russell-led, Auerbach-coached Celtics. So how do you factor that?

One Man Wolf Pack wrote:

Probably not the best of all time but he fits somewhere in the following list of all time greats who actually won a title:

Jordan

Wilt

Russell

Big O

Magic

Kareem

Jerry West

Elgin Baylor

Elvin Hayes

Rick Barry

Hakeem

Kobe

Isiah

Shaq

Duncan

Maybe should soon include D. Wade/LeBron

I don't see how DWade would ever be on the list. All the other players on the list, they were THE man of their era. DWade is probably top 5 in today's game, but his team has been terrible before LeBron and after their championship with Shaq.

French Lick wrote:

LB would not even make the NBA today.

bird would excel in the NBA these days.

the NBA has not improved, to many players obsessed with getting flashy dunks to get on sportcenter, even john wooden said 2 years before he died the team play in the NBA is now horrible.

do they even play defense in the regular season, it usually does not look like it.

Bird was a player who was far better than his numbers. Jordan, Chamberlain, and Kareem were players whose numbers basically told the full story - they had great numbers and they were great. Russell like Bird was better than his numbers, Magic maybe a little bit so too but not quite to the same extent as Bill or Larry.

Bird may or may not have been the best, but a lot of people (especially young people these days) will argue he's not even close to MJ. That's not at all true, if we consider Bird in his prime. Bird at the end of his career? No, not even close to the best ever. Bird in his prime? Maybe.

MJ is the most over rated player in the history of the league. He benefited from expansion.

MJ was best ever.

I know most people here probably hate him, and this will be met with vehement denial, but when creating an all-time starting 5, Lebron would start at the 3 forward, undoubtedly.

1-Magic

2-Jordan

3-LBJ

4-Duncan/Nowitzki

5-Lots of options. You could go with any of the centers you mentioned: Russell/Shaq/Wilt/Jabbar/Maybe even Hakeem O.

The NBA today is so much more athletic than before. Lebron is a tremendous athlete and will be one of the undisputed best players ever when he retires. He's head and shoulders above everyone else in the NBA today.

Also, just wanna say, I made the 33rd post. As an NBA fan, I'm really happy about that.

You had to take a side in the Celtics/Lakers 80s, and I picked the Lakers because of a leftover grudge from the days of my beloved Buffalo Braves.

But Bird was amazing.

The word CLUTCH does not do the guy justice. He took the mold of Havlicek and just smashed it and made it better. He looked like a slow, fat, can't-jump, waste of space...but the guy did everything well. I mean, for a guy who couldn't jump, he was always in the right place, and he always new what to do with the ball. Talk about making every one around you better.

I was so glad when he finally got old and broken down because I hated the Celtics and I got sick of the frustration he caused.

I won't say he was the greatest of all time, but He's righ there with Magic, Chamberlain and Jordan. It drops off after that, in my opinion.

I'd go with:

Greatest in their prime:

1. Chamberlain

2. Bird

3. Jordan

4. Russell

5. Johnson

6. Abdul-Jabbar

7. O'Neal

8. Robertson

9. West

10. Robinson

Greatest in their career:

1. Russell

2. Jordan

3. Chamberlain

4. Johnson

5. Bird

6. Abdul-Jabbar

7. Robertson

8. O'Neal

9. Olajuwon

10. Erving

forgot Shaq in the above group.

Bird is head and shoulders above Lebron. Better shooter, better passer, better rebounder, better in the clutch. Lebron has athleticism but that's it.

NBA Observant wrote:

Bird is head and shoulders above Lebron. Better shooter, better passer, better rebounder, better in the clutch. Lebron has athleticism but that's it.

Lebron can get to the rim at will and shut anyone down on defense. Probably the two most important qualities as a basketball player. When it's all said and done, people will realize how great he is.

Can we make this thread about Webb too... I'd like to be able to talk about all my favorite irrelevant, mediocre, white athletes in one place.

No. Have you ever watched an NBA game from the 80's? They're hi-larious! I'm not saying that there weren't good players then (obviously there were), or even that Bird wasn't awesome (obviously he was), but even a World Championship team from that era would have a hard time matching up against any current team from the NBA. It's ridiculous how much better the competition is now.

I dont think anyone can really argue with your starting 5. I think there are powerforwards I would start ahead of Dirk. Karl Malone, KG,

Hakeeem has to be there