This is a tough one....neither Magic nor Bird were good individual defenders (though Bird has a few second team All-NBA defense selections because quick hands and anticipation allowed him to rack up steals)..I think Bird was a better TEAM defender because he knew how to play to the defensive principles of his team which allowed him some slack because of the above-average and versatile defensive capabilities of Parish and McHale...the showtime Lakers were good rebounders but defense wasn’t a strong suit, it was adequate- but a potent offense was where it was at, they wanted to run, using the one strength provided by Earvin Johnson that teams found challenging to defend.....Bird had a more polished shooting game; Magic was more proficient in getting others involved, though Bird wasn’t too bad at that either...Johnson’s worth to his team was arguably greater than Bird’s simply because the offense ran through him and, most importantly, Magic just made everyone on the floor better— the classic case study in that is this: James Worthy was a good player, a solid forward with a quick spin move, sharp first step, a wicked finger roll and could run out on the wing for Magic...however, Worthy is just another good player without Magic; with Magic, Worthy is the Hall of Famer he is today...it’s a tough comparison, both do different things well, some things better than the other....I think Bird is the greatest NBA player ever to get the most out of very average athletic ability; The Hick from French Lick admitted us much, hearing it plenty that he “can’t run, can’t jump, slow feet.”—which makes his accomplishments all the more impressive....Magic Johnson, IMHO, is the greatest team player in NBA history, through skill, great vision of the court, great leadership qualities , and an emotional spirit that drove his team to greatness.....like I said, tough one, athletes like to settle it with the scoreboard of rings, and we know who has the advantage there...I’m not as rigid, and I grew up in L.A. during the 80s, so my biases may come into play, but I’m a fair man....despite this long rant, I can’t decide who’s “better”....
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BillHicksFan (10155)
4 years ago
Pretty good analysis. Magic was an awful defender, despite having Michael Cooper and Byron Scott always defending the better player. But I'll have to disagree about bird being a good defender regardless of awards. if you watch a lot of the games you'll see he did what Allen Iverson would later do, constantly leaving his man to intercept the ball. Bird could do that because they had many great defenders, especially Dennis Johnson and Kevin McHale who I think were probably the best at their position defensively. Kevin was also the best post player, but James Worthy was an excellent college and professional basketball player who was a pretty good defender, came up big in those big games, didn't have the flash's game and was probably overshadowed by magic and Kareem.
I also don't like comparing different eras, so I'll just compare what I've watched. In the last 30 years I would say LeBron James is the greatest basketball player ever. And I had a lot of doubts at first, especially considering all the attention he had in high school. I didn't like the decision but that guy has done more with less. He plays the game the right way.
Bird was definitely one of the smartest players of his time. must have been nice to have Bill Walton coming off the bench. That guy was a genius of a player and probably could have been considered one of the greatest centers of all time if he didn't have all those injuries.
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Vastuntitled (5546)
4 years ago
Just to be clear, I wasn’t suggesting Bird was a good defender, only that he picked up a few All-NBA Defense second team nods because of an above-average amount of steals he accumulated, which is easier to do when you’re allowed to take chances because you have Parish and McHale behind you...after Tiny Archibald’s exit, with the regular lineup of DJ, Ainge, Parish and McHale, Bird was definitely the worst defender of the starting five....hell, even little 6-1 Jerry Sichting was a better defender, as evidenced by his face defending a right hand from the 7-3 Ralph Sampson in a Finals game, but I digress....
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Zilkin (401)
4 years ago
I didn't watch them play in the 80ties except on highlights and some games on YouTube but I would say that both Bird and Magic are kind of overrated when it comes to individual skill just because they dominated 80ties. They had the best teams in the 80ties. Jordan had the best stats of his career in the 80ties, better than any player from that era until now but he could not win because he was the lone star before he got a good team later on. Same goes for some other players like Barkley, Stockton, Hakeem and so on they all had great stats but no team. Both Bird and Johnson had at least two other hall of fame all stars playing along side so that kind of makes things easier. Basketball evolves constantly and players add to their moves, physical condition and so on. Kobe is absolutely more skilled than either of them and so was Jordan.
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