Spike Lee: Larry Bird Most Overated Player in NBA History.

ESPN | 3/21/04 | CWB

[I'm ALL Right!]

This will NOT be all over the news...why? Because it's a black man degrading a white man. Now when Rush did it, he was obviously a bigot, and IT WAS NEWS!

[Chances Are]

Yeah, Dennis started it, but Isiah very, very ably put his foot in his mouth with absolutely no help from anyone else.

The fact that Bird handled the entire episode with the aplomb he did was noted on a cover story of Sports Illustrated the following week ("The Legend of Larry Bird Continues To Grow", or something similar).

CA....

[MadeInOhio]

"Let's see how many sports reporters call up Bird and ask him for a reaction. Let's ask Bill Walton if he'll publicly trash Spike the way Tom Jackson trashed Rush."

Excellent point and post. And we both know the odds of Bill Walton slamming an outrageous comment by a fellow lib are about even with those of the proverbial snowball in hell.

"I think a letter/e-mail to ESPN is appropriate asking them what the difference is between Spike's comments and Rush's other than the race of the accuser and the accused."

I'll give you the answer ESPN doesn't have the courage to give: Lee's reported comments are meanspirited. Rush's weren't.

[FlyVet]

Hmmm....I remember seeing a film clip of Larry Bird saying Johnson was the best he's ever seen. Of course, that was right after the the Lakers had beat them in the championship game.

[international american]

Fact is they both said it about each other on more than one occasion. They loved to play against one another, and were personal friends. Many times, Bird would hit an incredible shot, and point to Johnson, and vice versa:)

[John Lenin]

Larry Bird wasn't known as Mr Clutch for nothing. I can't even count how many games Bird won making last second shots being draped by defenders.

[ScoochDude]

Kareem maybe "invented" the skyhook, but he certainly did not invent the dunk, and Magic rarely finished off fast breaks. Magic "perfected" the no-look pass.

Dr. J invented flight, Jordan perfected it.

Larry Legend, btw, was the complete package.

[Charles Henrickson]

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar invented the SLAM DUNK!

No.

Wilt "The Big Dipper" Chamberlain was the first great practitioner of what was then called the "stuff" shot.

Actually, there are two varieties of dunks. One is the inside, down-low power stuff. The other is the high-flying slam dunk. Here is the lineage of the four greatest at each type:

Power stuff: Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Artis Gilmore, Shaquille O'Neal

Flying dunk: Connie Hawkins, Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan

On the power stuff, Abdul-Jabbar was different from the other three, in that he was skinny and more graceful from outside--the sky-hook was his signature shot. Chamberlain, Gilmore, and O'Neal were the three strongest men ever to play the game and were purely inside players.

[FlyVet]

1987 "Bird Steals the Ball"

Ouch. As a Pistons fan, that one still smarts. About the only dumb play I ever saw Thomas make.

[wideminded]

The acting was good, but the film was lame. What Korean would call himself a n***er?

A very similar incident is described in The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Spike Lee stole it. This was when he was angling to make a Malcolm X movie.

[Dan from Michigan]

1987 "Bird Steals the Ball"

I still remember that. :(

[The South Texan]

Spike Lee: One of the most overrated directors/actors in Hollyweird history.

[cwb]

It was a sad commentary all the way around. Being from Detroit, this was one of the two instances (the other, when Isiah and team walked off after Bull's win) that Isiah let me down. I still respect all that he has done, but in his effort to defend his rookie teammate he made things as bad by agreeing to "some extent" with what Dennis said.

[MizzouTigerRepublican]

Marivich didnt like to rebound or play defense. Bird was the complete package. He did even play some defense being named first all team all NBA on defense one year.

[RobbyS]

If they were playing by 1955 rules, and dunking was discouraged, and traveling was forbidden, Michael Jordan would have been a mediocre player.

[MizzouTigerRepublican]

I cant believe that you don't have Charles Barkley on there or Hakeem Olajuwon. Hell even Shaquille O'Neal would break Jabbar in half. Shaq has 3 rings. Not all the older players are the best. There are some players in todays game that would abuse these oldies but goodies.

[MizzouTigerRepublican]

well I wouldn't say great character. He did have a child from his first marriage that he never did talk to or see. She talked about it on the ESPN sports century show on Bird.

[sharktrager]

Magic had more triple doubles than any player in history, by far, and played all 5 positions during a game in the finals.

I don't see how he could possibly be seen as overrated.

[SendShaqtoIraq]

"Did Thomas say that? As I remember he was dragged, as the team captain, into the mess because of what Rodman said."

He probably did say it, but not when you think. It was probably last summer when Larry performed his first service as the new president of the Indiana Pacers. He fired Isaiah Thomas. THANK YOU LARRY!

[Vermont Lt]

I was lucky to have tickets to many of the playoff games in 85 and 86. I saw the Celtics blowout of the Lakers in the finals one year. We stood outside and waited with the kids for autographs after the game. They were all gentlemen.

Bird was amazing. Magic and Kareem were amazing. There is no reason to point one out as better than the next. They were all great.