Adebisi_Said
Truth is Power
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Probably 85-86, he was more 1b in 84 and 85 when Kareem was playing some great PS basketball especially for that age
He was kind of in a leash before 84 due to sharing ball handling duties with Norm Nixon, the 87 season was when he had no leash and it stayed that way until he retired
Bird was the more skilled player but Magic was the superior PS performer, that's even adjusting for defensive and team competition which I worked on recently for a ton of players. Magic had easy WC competition but brutal finals competition but still wound up 5-4 in the process. He was injured in one finals and had a choke job in another against a stacked Celtics squad, could have played better vs 83 76ers but otherwise there's not much to criticize Magic for in the finals.
Bird and his teams (who were very stacked, too stacked not to come away with more rings) could have done better particularly in the early 80s when they should have won almost all of 1980-1983 but came out with just 1 ring that they barely got (5 of the 7 games in the 1981 ECF were by 1 or 2 points), they could have at least met the 83 76ers (no shame losing to them) but got swept by the Bucks instead. It wasn't as bad from 84-87 with the 2 rings being par for the course, Bird was generally playing better in the PS during this stretch as well
Magic is also a better defender than his reputation would suggest, although neither him or Bird should be classified as two way players
I would rank Magic above Bird but both are on the lower end of the top 10 for me
Magic might have had the weakest half court game of all the GOATs but he had one of the absolute best full court games so it works out. I'm more high on his ability to raise his game (or at least be consistently) and his top tier intangibles to go along with being 6'9 than I am on his relatively (compared to other GOATs) underwhelming skillsetTotally agree, you see a evolution of Magics game after norm nixon left, whereas Kareem and Worthy handled the half court game previously, magic starts to step up, it was perfect passing of the torch....
To me Magic and Kareem(who I consider GOAT) are my favorite players ever however looking back Bird was better than Magic all things considered, Magics lack of half court game compared to Jordan, Bird, Kareem, or even someone like Bernard King leave a bad taste in my mouth.....
Magic might have had the weakest half court game of all the GOATs but he had one of the absolute best full court games so it works out. I'm more high on his ability to raise his game (or at least be consistently) and his top tier intangibles to go along with being 6'9 than I am on his relatively (compared to other GOATs) underwhelming skillset
He was kind of in a leash before 84 due to sharing ball handling duties with Norm Nixon, the 87 season was when he had no leash and it stayed that way until he retired
Bird was the more skilled player but Magic was the superior PS performer, that's even adjusting for defensive and team competition which I worked on recently for a ton of players. Magic had easy WC competition but brutal finals competition but still wound up 5-4 in the process. He was injured in one finals and had a choke job in another against a stacked Celtics squad, could have played better vs 83 76ers but otherwise there's not much to criticize Magic for in the finals.
Bird and his teams (who were very stacked, too stacked not to come away with more rings) could have done better particularly in the early 80s when they should have won almost all of 1980-1983 but came out with just 1 ring that they barely got (5 of the 7 games in the 1981 ECF were by 1 or 2 points), they could have at least met the 83 76ers (no shame losing to them) but got swept by the Bucks instead. It wasn't as bad from 84-87 with the 2 rings being par for the course, Bird was generally playing better in the PS during this stretch as well
Magic is also a better defender than his reputation would suggest, although neither him or Bird should be classified as two way players
I would rank Magic above Bird but both are on the lower end of the top 10 for me
Magic might have had the weakest half court game of all the GOATs but he had one of the absolute best full court games so it works out. I'm more high on his ability to raise his game (or at least be consistently) and his top tier intangibles to go along with being 6'9 than I am on his relatively (compared to other GOATs) underwhelming skillset
Interesting write up. But bringing up Bird's stacked team is interesting.Probably 85-86, he was more 1b in 84 and 85 when Kareem was playing some great PS basketball especially for that age
He was kind of in a leash before 84 due to sharing ball handling duties with Norm Nixon, the 87 season was when he had no leash and it stayed that way until he retired
Bird was the more skilled player but Magic was the superior PS performer, that's even adjusting for defensive and team competition which I worked on recently for a ton of players. Magic had easy WC competition but brutal finals competition but still wound up 5-4 in the process. He was injured in one finals and had a choke job in another against a stacked Celtics squad, could have played better vs 83 76ers but otherwise there's not much to criticize Magic for in the finals.
Bird and his teams (who were very stacked, too stacked not to come away with more rings) could have done better particularly in the early 80s when they should have won almost all of 1980-1983 but came out with just 1 ring that they barely got (5 of the 7 games in the 1981 ECF were by 1 or 2 points), they could have at least met the 83 76ers (no shame losing to them) but got swept by the Bucks instead. It wasn't as bad from 84-87 with the 2 rings being par for the course, Bird was generally playing better in the PS during this stretch as well
Magic is also a better defender than his reputation would suggest, although neither him or Bird should be classified as two way players
I would rank Magic above Bird but both are on the lower end of the top 10 for me
Interesting write up. But bringing up Bird's stacked team is interesting.
Could you describe his rookie year? They had a massive win total jump, with the only difference being that Nate Archibald was healthier in 1980 (he missed games in 79 I believe).