No. 8 - Larry Bird

It’s not a stretch to say that if not for some bone spurs and a bad back, LeBron still might be chasing Larry Legend for status as the game’s greatest small forward.

Beginning in 1980-1981 through the 1987-1988 season, Bird scored at least 332.90 in my system and topped 400.00 points in the 1983-1984, 1984-1985 and 1985-1986 seasons. His Celtics were consistently dominant, but to score in the 400s, you have to put up numbers. Bird led the NBA in PER twice, win shares twice, Box +/- five times and VORP four times. The only players to lead the NBA in VORP more often than Bird are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James and Michael Jordan. The only players to lead in Box +/- more often are Jabbar, David Robinson and James.

For as great as the Celtics were in the playoffs, Bird’s postseason stats aren’t as strong. He never led the NBA in PER in the playoffs. He led in win shares twice, Box +/- three times and VORP five times. He was a shade less efficient, but still great.

His best season in my system was 1985-1986 when the Celtics had a squad of five Hall of Famers. Helping Bird that year was shooting guard Dennis Johnson (No. 94 on my list), Bill Walton (No. 90), Robert Parish (No. 38) and Kevin McHale (No. 36). Despite having to share the ball with all that talent, Bird led the NBA in regular season PER, win shares, Box +/- and VORP and playoff win shares, Box +/- and VORP. He missed a clean sweep of the season and playoff advanced stats by finishing fourth in playoff PER that year. Hakeem Olajuwon was third, Magic Johnson second and …. Spud Webb was first.

In the 1987-1988 season, Bird averaged a career-high 29.9 points to go along with 9.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists. The points per game fell to 24.5 in the playoffs, though, and his shooting percentage tumbled to 45 percent. Bird had bone spurs in both feet. He tried to play through it but opted for surgery six games into the 1988-1989 season. He had a solid season in 1989-1990 – though still way below his standards –before developing a bad back in 1990-1991. After playing just 45 games in 1991-1992, Bird retired at the age of 35 after just 13 years.

If you look at Bird’s rankings, he is fourth all-time in single season rankings and five-year rankings. He slips to seventh in 10-year rankings and then 17^th in career rankings. Bird was late getting to the NBA. He opted to finish his college eligibility rather than turn pro early so he didn’t enter the NBA until he was 23. Then he was gone after 13 years. It was 13 straight years of winning. Bird’s Celtics won 74.4 percent of the games he played in. Only Kawhi Leonard at 76.4 percent is higher. He just didn’t do it long enough to get into the top five.

Larry Bird bio info
Career	1979-1992
Games	897
Points	24.3
Rebounds	10.0
Assists	6.3
FG Pct.	49.6%
All-Star games	12
NBA MVPs	3
NBA titles	3
Playoff seasons	12
Playoff games	164
Points	23.8
Rebounds	10.3
Assists	6.5
FG Pct.	47.2%
Hall of Fame	1998

Top 100 rankings
	Points	Top 100 ranking
1-year	485.96	4th
5-year	2,161.85	4th
10-year	3,646.53	7th
Career	4,151.17	17th

               

Larry Bird at his peak
1985-1986	Bird	Top 5	Points
PER	25.6	25.49
Win Shares	15.8	15.04
Box +/-	9.1	8.02
VORP	8.7	7.64
Total Advanced Stats	59.2	50.46	117.31
Playoff PER	23.9	25.36
Win Shares	4.2	2.55
Box +/-	10.3	7.69
VORP	2.4	1.26
Total Advanced Stats	40.8	38.84	105.05
Reg. Season Win %	81.71		81.71
Playoff Win %	83.33		83.33
MVP Voting (75 points)	765/780		73.56
Playoff MVP (25 points)	25.0		25.00
Total Score			485.96

               

Bird’s 10 greatest seasons
1985-1986	485.96
1983-1984	454.23
1984-1985	423.26
1980-1981	376.52
1981-1982	354.89
1987-1988	347.77
1986-1987	345.64
1982-1983	332.90
1979-1980	293.58
1989-1990	231.78

Career winning percentage
	W	L	Pct.
Regular Season	660	227	74.41%
Playoffs	97	61	61.39%