Celtics Hall-of-Famer Larry Bird recently sat down with ESPN.com’s Nick Friedell to discuss and compare his NBA era of the 80’s to the game today.
In an earlier interview, Bird mentioned that he had always believed his era to be the greatest in NBA history, but now he is less sure of that claim. When asked to elaborate, Larry Legend had this to say:
“Because everybody that plays, no matter if it was ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, they think their era’s the best. Well, prove it to me. Like I said earlier, I think we have more stars than they do now. On every team, they had at least one, maybe two. I’m talking about Dominique Wilkins — you just go down the line. But in saying that, I don’t think our era’s any better than anyone else’s, when it comes right down to it.”
When asked to compare the talent levels of all around players from then and now, Bird did not pick a side, but he quickly gave praise to Draymond Green and his college program at Michigan State.
“There’s some guys I really like to watch play. Draymond Green is fun to watch. All of those [Michigan] State guys are because they defend, and they play, they play together — that’s how I like the game to be played. Move the ball, cut, pass; if you do the right things, you’ll get it right back.”
Bird, who is now President of the Indiana Pacers, went on to say that he does not like to compare eras, but he believes NBA players today are just as good as they were in his time. That’s some valuable input for one of the NBA’s most popular debates.
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