Larry Bird discussion

[QUOTE=miles berg]What is the average FTA/game in 1988 -vs- the average FTA/game in 2008?

I would just like to know.[/QUOTE]


1987-88- 29.1

2007-08- 24.9

[QUOTE=D.J.]1987-88- 29.1

2007-08- 24.9[/QUOTE]

Where did you get those stats?

[QUOTE=plowking]Where did you get those stats?[/QUOTE]


Basketball reference. It was the league average for those seasons.

That is a very, very interesting and telling stat Dr. J.

Anyone want to bet this guy started this thread in hopes it would turn into a, "OMG YOU DIDNT NAME KOBE OR WADE AS TOP PLAYERS BLAH BLAH BLAH" lol.

[B]Where did all the Kiddos Go? :rolleyes: :roll: [/B]

[QUOTE=Sir Charles]:applause: :roll: :ohwell:

[B]Bird Would School the NBA filled with thugs that can jump cool but don`t know how to think, playr and lack fundamentals[/B][/QUOTE]
this is the second time you mentioned todays nba players as thugs. the nba doesnt have a bunch of thugs were are you getting this from? i cant even think of a thug in the nba now.

[QUOTE=plowking]Yes you are right, the stat lines I posted were absurd. Let me try again:

Kobe: 45, 8, 9 on 57% shooting

Wade: 11, 2, 4 on 39%

Lebron: 17, 6 and 3 on 42%


That looks a lot better.[/QUOTE]
lol good one

I posted this in another forum's thread about basketball, and why "white Euros" are doing better in the NBA than "white Americans":

[QUOTE]Because foreign countries focus on fundamentals, something anyone can learn if they put in the hard work, regardless of how athletic you are (you do have to have some degree of athletic ability, of course, but you know what I mean).

In America, it's all about money, and David Stern made the mistake in thinking that what we want to see is flashy, above-the-rim basketball. Before he embraced the triangle offense and developed a consistent jump shot, Michael Jordan, even though I consider him the most dominant athlete in the history of team sports, was largely to blame for this. Before MJ took off, the Pistons, Celtics, and Lakers were winning with well-executed, efficient, fundamental basketball. But "Be Like Mike" didn't exactly imply running the three man weave or pick and roll drills. So you had a generation of young boys who would go on to be today's NBAers practicing their dunks on 7-foot rims instead of developing their jump shot or ball handling skills or the art of the bounce pass.

MJ's enormous popularity and Stern's intent to capitalize on it had a trickle down effect. A new trend began. NBA franchises bought into the idea that this above-the-rim style would put more fans in their arenas, and everyone wanted to draft the next Air Jordan. College basketball programs and coaches are judged largely by the number of players they put into the NBA, so a lot college coaches began recruiting based on a kid's vertical leap. The less athletic kids rode the pine and were never really developed. Top high school basketball programs earn that designation because they get their players recruited. So during tryouts, the kid with the nice jumper and basketball instinct is passed over for the kid who can dunk.

Lost amidst this revolution of new, exciting ball being dominated by freakish athletic specimens, was fundamentals. But what Stern, NBA franchises, college programs, and high school programs all failed to realize, is that there is, and will only ever be, one Michael Jordan.

So unless they're there to simply be a big body or a one-dimensional 3-point specialist, white Americans have basically become obsolete in today's NBA. The few that do make it into the league are generally less athletic and don't posses the fundamental skills they should have received in college that their European counterparts have been drilled on since their youths.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f74/white-americans-nba-820805/#post24673306[/url]

Might be a bit deep for this forum, but I think it presents a sound argument for Larry Bird in today's NBA.

ahh the good old days.

yeah too bad Bird can't play with these cats today though :hammerhead:

[QUOTE=allball]yeah too bad Bird can't play with these cats today though :hammerhead:[/QUOTE]

:roll:

[B]He was guarded by [COLOR="Red"]6`10 Horace Grant [/COLOR]and destroyed him in the Post: [COLOR="Blue"]6-10 / 2,08. Weight: 245 lbs[/COLOR][/B]

[B][I]A [COLOR="DarkGreen"]34 Year Old Bird[/COLOR] Schooling [COLOR="Red"]25 year old PF Horace Grant [/COLOR] in [U]POST PLAY[/U][/I][/B]

[B]A Bird..today would be a 240 lbs 6`9 1/2 Smallforward that is more:

-Skilled than any player in the League
-Both Handed Passing and Shooting
-Best Shooter in the League
-Best Passing Forward in the League
-Best Rebounding Skilled Player (no the top rebounder but skill wise the Best) not to mention SF
-Most Creative and Talented Player: Which would Even Have More Impact because the Game is Slower (like the E. COnference of the 80s) which will have him become an even better Team Defender.
- Smartest Player of all time in Today`s Unfundamental Game, Smartest Player there Would Ever Be.
- Has all the fundamentals: All!
- Clutchest player among All
- Most Competitive Player in the League (hates to loose more than Any)

A 81 to 86 Prime Bird (ages 22-30 span) would average 28-32 (50-54% FG), 12-10 RPG, 8-9 APG with ease and in his 30-35 year spanhe would average 22-26 PPG (47-50%), 9-10 RPG, 7-8 APG.

Bird would be the Best Player in the League as Jordan said: The Most Complete and Smartest Player He Ever Saw :eek: :violin: :confusedshrug: [/B]

[url]http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=NTqDdZz2dHM[/url]

[B]Taking to School (Teaching Some Basic Post Play) in the Post on: Short and Weak [COLOR="Red"]6`10 ft Horace Grant[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Red"]6`10 ft Horace Grant [/COLOR]

[COLOR="Blue"]6-10 / 2,08. Weight: 245 lbs[/COLOR][/B]

[B][I][COLOR="DarkGreen"]BIRD AT AGE 34![/COLOR] and [COLOR="Red"]Grant at age 25[/COLOR][/I][/B]

[B]A Bird..today would be a 240 lbs 6`9 1/2 Smallforward that is more:

-Skilled than any player in the League
-Both Handed Passing and Shooting
-Best Shooter in the League
-Best Passing Forward in the League
-Best Rebounding Skilled Player (no the top rebounder but skill wise the Best) not to mention SF
-Most Creative and Talented Player: Which would Even Have More Impact because the Game is Slower (like the E. COnference of the 80s) which will have him become an even better Team Defender.
- Smartest Player of all time in Today`s Unfundamental Game, Smartest Player there Would Ever Be.
- Has all the fundamentals: All!
- Clutchest player among All
- Most Competitive Player in the League (hates to loose more than Any)

A 81 to 86 Prime Bird (ages 22-30 span) would average 28-32 (50-54% FG), 12-10 RPG, 8-9 APG with ease and in his 30-35 year spanhe would average 22-26 PPG (47-50%), 9-10 RPG, 7-8 APG.

Bird would be the Best Player in the League as Jordan said: The Most Complete and Smartest Player He Ever Saw :eek: :violin: :confusedshrug: [/B]

[QUOTE=Sir Charles][url]http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=NTqDdZz2dHM[/url]

[B]Taking to School (Teaching Some Basic Post Play) in the Post on: Short and Weak [COLOR="Red"]6`10 ft Horace Grant[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Red"]6`10 ft Horace Grant [/COLOR]

[COLOR="Blue"]6-10 / 2,08. Weight: 245 lbs[/COLOR][/B]

[B]A Bird..today would be a 240 lbs 6`9 1/2 Smallforward that is more:

-Skilled than any player in the League
-Both Handed Passing and Shooting
-Best Shooter in the League
-Best Passing Forward in the League
-Best Rebounding Skilled Player (no the top rebounder but skill wise the Best) not to mention SF
-Most Creative and Talented Player: Which would Even Have More Impact because the Game is Slower (like the E. COnference of the 80s) which will have him become an even better Team Defender.
- Smartest Player of all time in Today`s Unfundamental Game, Smartest Player there Would Ever Be.
- Has all the fundamentals: All!
- Clutchest player among All
- Most Competitive Player in the League (hates to loose more than Any)

A 81 to 86 Prime Bird (ages 22-30 span) would average 28-32 (50-54% FG), 12-10 RPG, 8-9 APG with ease and in his 30-35 year spanhe would average 22-26 PPG (47-50%), 9-10 RPG, 7-8 APG.

Bird would be the Best Player in the League as Jordan said: The Most Complete and Smartest Player He Ever Saw :eek: :violin: :confusedshrug: [/B][/QUOTE]

So how come there are more free throws being taken in the 80's the now Sir Charles. I thought todays game is soft and full of thugs.

[QUOTE=plowking]So how come there are more free throws being taken in the 80's the now Sir Charles. I thought todays game is soft and full of thugs.[/QUOTE]

[B]The Game was faster paced in general do to superior Ball Handling and Passing Game on Forwards althoug in the East Coast it was a bit different more close to the late 90s Games and actual Game:There was a tendacy (especially in the West) to choose Faster and Quicker SFs and PFs.

For example the 6`11-7`1 Centers that adapted to the Powerforward spot like of those in the last 10 years where less common (the McHales, Kevin Willis, Roy Tarpley`s) and where called CFs not Powerforwards. Before we had the Barkley, Worthy, Malone, Larry Nance, Ralph Sampson type of Powerforwarrds that Where [U]Faster and More Potent[/U], that could [U]DRIVE TO THE BASKET at any MOMENT like a Train[/U] and [U]Play at a Fast Paced Alll Day Long[/U].

Today`s PFs are Slower more McHale like if you want to say [U]but CAN`T PLAY WORTH SHI*T IN THE POST COMPARED to :rolleyes: [/U] that of McHale.

What we have today is Hard Working Bad Centers at Average and next to them FC`s that back in the 80s Game would be Centers...This has made the league slower.

Players back then where also Faster, Better Ball Handlers, Sleeky, Had Superior Foot Work and Superior Ball Movemtn Notion for Fast Breaks etc.[/B]

[B]Here is your Soft 80s League:

[U]Normal 80s Fouls[/U][/B]

[url]http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=kYtjs0FqxoM&NR=1[/url]