If you replaced Magic w/ Bird on the Lakers how many rings do you think they win.

[coastalmarker99]

I think with Bird replacing Magic on the Lakers.



That they win titles.


In


1980

1981

1982

1984

1985

1987




The Lakers still winning in 1988 is a toss-up for me considering how bad Bird's back was that year.

[coastalmarker99]

Obviously, Bird won't run the fast break in LA as well as Magic could ('87 was their best team according to Magic but by then they were league-average in pace.





So I personally think the Lakers wouldn't need Bird to run fast breaks they weren't as reliant upon, or in 1988 when they were sub-league-average pace)




While the Lakers would lose Magic's leadership and passing skills.


Bird was an amazing shooter plus his defence was better.

[coastalmarker99]

I also wonder how Magic would have fared on the Celtics in Bird's place.


Magic

Ainge

Johnson

McHale

Parish


Is a nasty team and you just know Red would have built the team around Magic's strengths such as running the fast break as he did with Russell.

[Wally450]

I think Bird gets the Lakers past the Rockets in 86.

[coastalmarker99]

I think Bird gets the Lakers past the Rockets in 86.



I can see that happening as 1986 was peak Bird and then they would go on to face Magic's Celtics in the finals.




Through it should be noted that Magic in that WCF against the Rockets in 1986 did average.



22 PPG / 16 AST / 8 TRB / 2.4 STL on 52 percent shooting.



And the Lakers still ended up losing in 5 games.

[coastalmarker99]

I am interested in how many finals people think Magic would go to with the Celtics throughout the 1980s.



Does he beat the 76ers in 1981?


Does he beat the Pistons in 1987?

Does he beat the Pistons in 1988


I can see Magic on the Celtics making it to the finals in 1984 1985 and 1986 and maybe 1987 and 1988.

[coastalmarker99]

Kareem was still effective until 1986.






And Bird finished top 2 in MVP votes every year from 1981 to 1988 so he was clearly better right from the get-go than Magic was.



Bird

Kareem

Worthy

AC green

Michael Cooper



Is a very scary team to go up against.





Bird and Kareem would most likely make it to the finals in

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984'

1985

1986

1987

1988

[coastalmarker99]

Here are some things to consider


The Lakers had a .67,2 winning percentage against the Eastern Conference between 1980-1989.

The Celtics had a .75,4 winning percentage against the Western Conference the same years.

The entire Western Conference had a .53,2 winning percentage against the Eastern Conference during the 1980s.

[Jasper]

interesting thread ...
Bird was and the Celtics were a defense 1/2 court offensive team/ keeping opponents off guard with transition bball.
Question would be were would Worthy play and who would be the PG ???
If Worthy shifted to the PF and PG was a pusher as was Magic I'd say Bird would get 6 rings.

Putting Magic on the Celtics would be a disaster : Chief and McHale were 1/2 court guys that were 1/2 the offense.

[colts19]

Bird, McHale, and Parrish were considered the greatest front court of all time. Would Bird, KAJ and Worthy have been considered the greatest frontcourt of all time. Probably.

[jlip]

Depends on injuries

[mr4speed]

Bird, McHale, and Parrish were considered the greatest front court of all time. Would Bird, KAJ and Worthy have been considered the greatest frontcourt of all time. Probably.
That frontcourt of Bird, Kareem and Worthy is scary! Impossible to know how things play out, but Bird's shooting range stretches the defense and Worthy and Kareem would feast without double teams, because you have to cover Bird. If you double Kareem or Worthy, Bird would feast on open shots. The question above about who would play PG is a good one. Norm Nixon was a very capable PG. Would he have stayed with LA? Nobody can replace Magic but Bird's passing would be better than Rambis, or Wilkes or Worthy and LA would have loved Bird's game.
I am convinced Bird was more concerned with getting teammates involved than putting up bigger numbers and could have fit into almost any team. In the SI issue of March 3,1986 there was an article titled "As Nearly Perfect As You Can Get" and one point mentioned was when McHale went down with a heel injury ( this was in 86 not 87) Bird in the next 8 games, without McHale, just put more load on himself and put up the stat line of 30.8 points, 13.1 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game. I went back to chart his shooting and he shot 92 of 169 shots for a 54.4%. Hey, with Kareem wearing number 33, would Bird have been wearing 32??

[Pointguard]

Kareem wasn't easy to get along with. And had trouble with being second fiddle. He more than likely retires in '82 or '84 as he was going to retire in '79. No way on a non-running team do they draft Worthy while having Kareem. Who do you take out of the post? Bird? Magic doesn't get enough credit for harmonizing Kareem and Worthy. Worthy got the quicker set plays. Kareem the later developing plays. But Magic made that work.

People have no idea how crafty Aurabach was. He was the premier team builder in the sport, ever. Red likely gets Worthy or Alex English as the scoring option. Mchale stays, Ainge and the Chief are gone. Moses Malone and possibly Moncrief would be the acquired guys for the fast break pace. No way does the greatest GM Not get some horses. A team of Magic, McHale, Moses Malone, and Moncrief would be the M&Ms of the NBA. Make you melt in the stands.

[EllEffEll]

For starters: The OP lists 1981 as one of the years he thinks the Lakers could have won a title. I don't necessarily disagree, however, if not for the debacle of the Houston series in 1981, does Pat Riley ever get to coach the Lakers?

As bad as that series loss was for the Lakers, it set in motion a very odd chain of events that resulted in Pat Riley getting a shot as the MFIC.

In 1983, they were simply defeated by a superior Sixers team, one of the all time greatest and should be in the conversation for GoAT NBA team, so I am glad to see that was apparently acknowledged.

In 1981, they fell apart and it was embarrassing, but in 1984 the Finals loss to the Celtics was the basketball equivalent of being cuckolded on national television for several consecutive days. To their credit, they came back a far better team than they had ever been. Thank you Kevin McHale for clotheslining Rambis. But what is the character of the teams had their superstars played on the other teams. I think this is much more significant than the simple X's and O's of the proposition.

1981 and 1984 were devastating initially, but without those humiliating defeats, I question that the Lakers would go on to be the team they became.

So many things would have gone differently had Bird and Magic simply been on opposite teams that I find it easier to imagine a world where Mothra defeats Godzilla.