Dr. J: "Larry Bird was a basketball genius posing...as a hick from S. Lick"

For some delicious viewing, watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vHEWOqdyTg&feature=related

Great memories, W. But the capper for me will always be his falling out-of-bounds, in the air transfer to his left hand for the underhanded flip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN5Gf4O9OiY

Sam

That's my favorite Larry Bird shot as well.

My favorite Larry Bird exploit isn't available on youtube, to the best of my knowledge.

He was a rookie (maybe a sophomore, I can't remember). The ball was on top. Larry flashed across the middle of the lane, from left to right. The entry pass to him was high, he needed to jump for it, and in mid-air, without looking, he zipped a blind pass over his left shoulder to Maxwell who had been in the corner and was cutting baseline from right to left. Max blew the bunny, which is why it was never saved as a highlight, but that pass completely blew my mind and convinced me I was watching a player whose courtsense and IQ transcended the reasonable expectations of his peers. That pass showed me he wasn't just a great shooter or just a great rebounder or just a great competitor. And he hadn't even been in the league for 2 full years at that time.

bob
btw, if you look at the steals Bird made in the links above, you'll notice how many of them were left-handed. Larry used whichever hand made the most sense, not the one he personally favored.

.

I could watch those videos all night long! We were blessed.

we were blessed indeed, bobc.
these vid's are blocked at work - can't wait to get home to see them !!

Michael

Bird is easily the best forward (SF and PF) that I have seen in the last 30+ years.

TJ

I'd put him in as the best forward ever and one of the top three all time greats that I have seen. Pure instinct...court sense and a long long mean streak. Plus just a monster with his training regimen.

I think he might be a little better than Pierce,look for the one "Don't mess with Larry Bird"

Cow

Just watched that today! Against the hated Pistons!

jeb saw it the first time myself recently,forgot that effortless slow unathletic way he could kill you once he got going.....he really was amazing.

i can't get enough ... if you can't either, here's another one ~!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jBWiol12SA&feature=related

Michael

Red doesn’t get enough credit for how he acquired the Hick. Red’s draft strategy that brought Larry Bird to Boston deserves to be remembered for its astuteness, foresight and outright perspicacity. In some ways it was more remarkable than the trade that secured Bill Russell’s services.

Red drafted Larry a whole year before Indiana State had its Hickory moment in the NCAA tournament, before the historic rivalry between Magic and Larry broke out. It was the very cusp of the rebirth of basketball. We should remember that, at the time Red drafted Larry, the Celtics had hit rock bottom.

There were the horrible losing seasons, Havlicek’s retirement, the lack of hope for the franchise, the revolving ownership door ( I believe John Y. Brown came and went between the drafting of Bird and his last minute signing, but I may be mistaken), the floating offer from the Knickerbockers, the rapidly expanding league with intense competition for talent, so many factors that confronted the Godfather of basketball, not to overlook his own advanced age (ahem, ahem), and his awareness of what tremendous effort it took to rebuild a team from scratch.

No one knew if Larry was eligible for the draft. The rules had changed with a new collective bargaining agreement. Red had seen Larry play and come away saying, “I think I found another Rick Barry.” Red had his brain trust look into draft eligibility and they said it seemed legal, but couldn’t be completely certain because no one had tried it yet. Red took a chance and had Jan Volk call the league office. Volk talked to league lawyer David Stern, a self-acknowledged Knicks fan, who gave the Celtics the go ahead and fortuitously kept his mouth shut.

No one knew how good Larry would be. Six teams had a chance to draft him, including Indiana (file under truly inexplicable things), including Portland which had two picks in the top ten, including the Knicks (file under what may have happened if Red had moved to NY). No one knew? Red knew.

No one knew if Larry would sign. Red and Dave Cowens went to see Larry play in the 1978 tournament. Red told Larry he could be the first man to play in the NCAA and the NBA in the same year. Then, Red said something that Larry took the wrong way, implying apparently that Indiana State would make a quick exit. Larry decided to use Red’s words as motivation and returned for his senior year.

No one knew whether Red could sign Larry after the 1979 NCAA Final. There wasn’t much time and it was going to take a lot of money; as it turned out, the largest contract given to any rookie in any sport at the time.

Red had used a similar draft strategy before, in 1953, selecting Frank Ramsey, Cliff Hagan, and Lou Tsioropoulos, who had graduated from the University of Kentucky but were returning to play out their final year of eligibility after military service. At the time Red announced the pick, Frank Ramsey in the first round, legendary Knicks owner Ned Irish piped up, “You can’t do that!” Red gave that Cheshire smile and told Irish, “Read the rules.” So old Ned read the rules, grabbed his head in his hands, and moaned, “You can do that!”

He was so perspicacious, yet just when you wonder if Red should be memorialized on Mount Rushmore, you think about whom he drafted two selections after Bird was chosen: Freeman Williams. Oh well, nobody’s perfect.

Hi Spike,

Hope you had a good summer and keep these stories coming!

You made me use the dictionary with perspicacious, good one.

another one to thank you for the history and your writing, spike !
Michael

I love when ppl belittle Larry Legend on other sites, then I post one of his youtube HL vids... a lot of ppl change their minds.

I always wonder just how freaking greater Larry coulda been with a talented and athletic body like Derrick Coleman. A motivated Derrick Coleman easily cracks the top 5 PF of all time and possibly the top 20 of all time. He was that talented AND that freaking lazy/unmotivated to be great.

and me, never having registered Derrick Coleman on my radar. i'll have to look him up ...

he had a couple of very good yrs in New Jersey with Kenny Anderson and Drazen Petrovic during the early 90's when Chuck Daley was the coach.

He had pretty good court vision for a PF, could handle the ball pretty well, like an early 90's Charles Barkley loved the 3pt shot a little to much but could finish well around the basket and board. I'm sure he could been a much better defender had he committed himself.

Saw DC a lot in college at Syracuse. His missed FS late in the NCAA final game as a frosh helped Indiana to the title (and a keith Smart jumper)

DC seemed to just be on the brink of stardom as a pro but never really got there. And in later years a little too much tonage cost him what skills he did have which were quite a few.

beat

thx for the insights on the previously unknown (to me) DC !

Michael