Larry Bird TELLS ALL!

I'm MPs so Kevin McHale was able to get a sit-down interview with his former teammate and all-time great and be a small forward Larry Bird let's see what they have to say of course they're gonna talk about it and I'm gonna chime in I got a lot of which one you won here Oh which time you want to hear about him beat well for me it is get a chance to play you know always watch them go up against seeking them and I looked at and Sam I saw you playing against him I knew he was six nine but I you know instead look to him as a small forward Sam but when I got a chance to line up against yeah that's a big small fool I didn't know that sighs well I was just stupid cuz I didn't believe it - looked at Larry Bird he wasn't that big to me he wasn't that fast wasn't athletic I thought I could guard him in and I learned a true lesson about the art of the triple threat absolutely and that's one of the issues that many modern-day basketball fans have with Larry Bird and they'd be quite frank would do it was an issue that many basketball fans had understanding how he could be so great back in the 80s please keep in mind that back in the 80s I was a small child but I was very cognizant of the rivalry between the LA Lakers and the Boston Celtics my father followed the Lakers as well as being a Knicks fan and I also followed the Lakers so of course as a small child labor to someone that you rooted against but when you grow into your fullness and you mature as a person you learn how to respect and understand the greatness of others and when Sam Mitchell stated that he learned the art of the triple threat what was he saying he went up against a player who had mastered shooting dribbling and passing so that kept him off-balance defensively Liebert was not going to give you what you wanted he wasn't going to try to force the dribble to the basket if he saw that your footwork was quick enough to keep up with him he will stay on the outside and make jump shots and make you play him put it for the jumper and then blow by you and then he will keep you off was the fact that he could pass equally well with both left and right hand he was ambidextrous and he was a droid with both passing with the left or right hand that is what kept his defenders totally off-balance and before you know it you look at the the stat sheet and he has 27 9 and 9 through three quarters and yes I do believe that he's a greater player than LeBron James I mean LeBron James his fans get upset with that and see the athlete that LeBron is absolutely not but as a player talking about basketball IQ and skill set he's a better shooter but a passer and better rebounder LeBron is a better one-on-one defender at least at one point in his career he was right now LeBron is playing worse defense Ben library probably ever played in his career okay well anymore our man Kevin McHale had a chance to sit down with Larry Bird let's take a close look as teammates talk about history [Music] [Applause] we're just hitting with the screen [Applause] I was just thinking about you know all the stuff that we went through it went through so much stuff the other two team hey Larry Brett will be so dominant today especially with the way that the NBA accentuates long-range shooting and has taken away a lot of the physicality the overt physicality I think a lot of it has been kind of made up with the fact that the players are faster today and in better condition due to the fact that they've learned so much more about how to improve the human body Bert would be even better today he ended his career with about 21 and a half thousand points as most people who know the history of the NBA they know that bird's body started to break down on him in the late 80s had he been around today with some of the conditioning techniques he would have easily scored over 30,000 points 35,000 points even but his career was directly linked with Magic Johnson to the point where after magic retired he no longer wanted to play what do you think the biggest difference is between you know our era and today's there what do you like about today's era and what don't you like first well before Larry Bird answered let me ask what's better about today's era is the face up game the players today can handle the basketball in a face-up situation better than players could back in the 80s the average player back in the 80s they were much better in the post every elite scorer had a post game whether it was Bernard King Dominique Wilkins called Malone Charles Barkley Moses Malone even the guards Michael Jordan mitchrichman they all could post up players today can't post up it's a major problem and it's the reason why seemed like the Golden State Warriors are so effective because once again everybody plays the same style of basketball in order to nullify it seem like Golden State you have to slow the game down you have to make it more physical you have to you have to post up it seemed like New Orleans had buddy cousins stayed healthy they would have been a problem for Golden State as long as they would have utilized the low poles play and slow the game down play them up take away the 3-point shot make them Drive hope that you have a man at the basket to block their shot bring the ball back up you have Rondo you have drew holiday slow the game down executing a half-court dominate them dominate them down in low post try to wear down Durant and draymond Green those two Momma's Boys and hope that you can get them to snap mentally there are ways to beat the style of today but most of these coaches they just follow them behind what the best team does you can't do that you can't beat the best team at what they do and that's what's missing in today's game is the diversity of styles you have more diverse styles of play back in the 80s but the face up game of day is much better players dribble much better on average than the players did back in the 80s first of all I really like the game now I think and also the long range shooting today is of course much better I think they cleaned it up as far as the grab and the holding the cheap shots I think they're really on top of it you know when you're out there playing you like to have freedom and they have that now obviously the three-point shot is stretched out to court a little bit now you heard what Larry said he said they've taken away a lot of the grabbing to hold in the cheap shots there's much more freedom on the court now that's his way of saying that's his way of saying in a very nice way that this era today would have been much easier for him to play in because it was very hard just for player I can't even get the basketball in clutch situations because of the way that they would grab you especially if he tries to run the baseline you have about two or three guys trying to bump you out of bounds or try to hold you and grab your jersey things of that nature that they just don't allow today we play we always worried about the minute was so clogged because we was really trying to pound it down side all the time the three-point line has been taken advantage of I think it's open the court up there's more space out there and some of the players that have a lot of skill you can see the skill in nightly basis mmm now you know three-point line came in near first year my second over the second at a three-point line when did you start kind of like working on your three ply just no Kevin we never really worked on it yeah I mean and that's the point that I try to make incessant ly on this channel when people come on in the comments talking about LeBron James is a better three-point shooter than Lyrebird or Michael George they just didn't do that back then now you can give players of today credit for being better long-range shooters because the style of the game has necessitated that they work on their long-range shooting more but conversely you have a guy like LeBron James who had to go out to Hakeem Olajuwon house to learn how to post up and he utilized the post up for his three years after that in Miami and then after that he's totally given up on posting up and that's one of the reasons why the Cleveland Cavaliers are struggling so much is because they're trying to play a young team style of offense when they should be trying to play an older team style of offense and post up slow the game down the corner shots in the one out at the top thing I really top the key they're the shots that I like to take I can remember Danny talked about using it back then and he thought you could shoot 35:36 from the field from threes and do better if you shot 50% you know from the twos well it's not a surprise to hear Larry Bird say that Danny Ainge was thinking on that level back then because that's part of what makes him a great executive today is that he was a forward thinker that's one of the reasons why Danny Ainge was able to last in the NBA for so long Danny Ainge not only did he was here a high level participant on the Boston Celtics teams in the 80s he also went to play with the Portland Trail Blazers for a couple of years in the early 90s and got to the finals with them and then left them and went to the Phoenix Suns and got back to the finals so Danny Ainge is a player that if they had a role player Hall of Fame he'd be a Hall of Famer [Applause] and I was laughing because I was in the all-star game with you when you walked in and asked who's gonna get second place in the three-point contest when you like thank you hi there what were you thinking with that when you when you made that announcement to the room just messing with all those guys like you always did yeah you know I had no clue I never I never really practiced me me and Danny used to shoot some before we went out there but I'd say you're Larry Bird got the right name cuz he damn sure look like a bird and then I just like a vulture there but everybody sitting there everybody's real quiet you really did you knew the guys but you never were around yeah and nobody's really say anything so I walk in and look around and it just came out I had no clue you [Music] know it's just part of the competition Craig Hodges was probably the greatest three-point shooting contest shooter of all time he had the greatest performance in the history of the three-point contest I think he scored 24 points in an era where they only had five tri-colored balls now you have an entire rack of tri-colored balls but back then he played in an era where they had one tri-colored ball per rack and I believe that he hit something like 20 straight shots what do you brothers can correct me on that well I'll never forget that that was crazy you know it's so much easier Kevin to go in a gymnasium and shoot threes and by yourself or a few people around you see how he shot the basketball that's why his shot was so tough to block because he was six nine and a half and he took the ball all the way almost behind his ear very tough to block his jump shot once again he would have been he would have been so much more effective even today than back in that era so it's silly when guys come on the internet and talk about how Burt would be a backup player today that he would be doug mcdermott yeah Larry Bird would be the best passer in today's game and he'd probably be the best scorer in today's game because you can't you can't really put your hands on him like he could back then he was a greater version of a Dirk Nowitzki imagine a player like Dirk Nowitzki who could pass like Steve Nash you cannot tear in you're right there 20,000 people looking at chess it's a whole different ball game and I knew that going in I thought I had a great advantage just because of that I remember because we were sitting there and you were putting the balls on the rat like you were going through it and you even when you told me you said it's it's weird to take the ball here to reality glasses if you were trying to get the feel of getting the ball off the rack and I fit about that because you didn't you didn't you started practicing a few days before we all starting with that three-point contest I remember because you were saying I'm gonna win this check [Music] I remember everything the tech was all it was like 10 grand 10 grand they're saying I'm gonna get just a grand Larry Bird not it's way too big 3 here the long-distance shootout [Music] you didn't practice on that much now and I know going in that remember in the locker room Robert said something there's no way in hell I don't win that three-point contest so I'm you're right there Robert Parish led to more underrated big men of all time also a karate expert if I remember correctly big ass 7-foot to karate expert anyone three in a row once again people look back at those scores from the 80s and the three-point contest and they say oh wow they were winning with low scores like 15 and 16 but back then they did not have that one rack but they all call it balls on it and plus the day yes the players are better in long-range shooters because they practice it more over all the players are better long-range shooters but the best shooters of that era we're just as good as the best shooters of this era we take a Dale Ellis to Larry Bird at Craig Hodges you bring them to today they could shoot with anybody just like if you take a Steph Curry a Kyrie Irving a LeBron James Kevin Durant and you transplant them back to the 80s they were dominating the eighties just like they do today it's asinine when people say that such as such player couldn't play today it's just dumb if you go from the era of integration forward the best players are the best players if Draya West was playing today he'd be just as good as Steph Curry Jay was a frige 27 a game with no three-point shot so it is what it is that's a white boy swag right did you count you exact company point yeah their knives I knew the crowd you know but I didn't know if I really tied or one of the I'd be funny as hell he put his thing up in the air and the ball and the ball pops out I really didn't care what the score was born into I just know I had to make shots you were so relaxed when you play basketball there was something about you you just enjoy playing bass line knew that but you like to talk you talk some trash and we did some stuff but you played intense but you you were just really where did you get that from I have no idea Kevin I was so nervous before then games I couldn't wait till they started but once I stepped on the court I'll shoot layups everything just calm down I mean I was very fortunate that that happened a lot of all-time great athletes state-backed they'll say that they were extremely nervous before the game where right when it started they will calm down though russell stated that he would literally vomit before every game not just play awful in the finals book even before every regular-season game he got bad hyped up for competition that he would throw up before every single regular-season game you know there's team dr. Kevin I tell people they don't believe me but we'd be playing really well and and then press voices what would you think we made a one thing yeah I was thinking about my grandmother wonder what she's doing today is totally out of the arena I'm just playing my feel and following and a similar sentiment was per what used to be propagated by Bruce Lee he used to talk about a Zen Buddhist philosophy known as the Bible if I remember correctly on this Wolfson alright if I'm pronouncing it incorrectly someone can correct me spell w you - Hsin and one of you brothers please look that up if I'm remembering it wrong you can correct me it's known as no mind meaning that your mind should be there but not be there so that you can get the greatest benefit out of being in the situation that you're in basically is just the concept of staying in the moment you hear many great players touch on that whether it's Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant even Steph Curry Bruce Lee talked about it as well and he utilized that concept in his martial arts while he was sparring an opponent or fighting an opponent or what-have-you he believed that that's how you maximized whatever craft it was that you were participating in or that you were trying to perfect whatever event you were in in that moment was to not be totally cognizant and overly focused on what you were doing so that you could relax and perform as well as you could oh and and people don't understand that but that's how I did a lot of times mine you know we run apply I knew what the play was but my mind might be somewhere else and you know they talked about them zones that people get in it forts when we got into some you know as we get going and my mind was so far away from basketball and that happens and it's just it's unreal and they don't make a lot of sense but it's truth all the things we've played what did you the best team that we that we had together no doubt about in 1986 thousand so off the charts the 86 Celtics I had the greatest frontcourt most likely in recent NBA history because all four of their front court members Berg McHale Parrish and Walton could pass extremely well as well as obviously being very potent offensively [Music] difference in the combination good that's the team of course that swept the Bulls in the first run at 86 playoffs where everybody states with no I shouldn't say everybody let me specify Shannon Sharpe would if Michael Jordan that good how come he couldn't beat the Celtics in the first round 86,000 one of the all-time great teams [Applause] this is a rarity in sports I don't think it's ever happened at a celebration I started before the end of the game [Applause] our teammate unbelievable Billy Late Late to really win a lot of games yeah an execution playing together and trusting one another has a lot to do with the receiver if you can get the ball and get in the right spots to make plays it makes a lot easier yeah no question I think there was a joy that you played with it is that that's why you would fun to be around you'd love to compete in love to play basketball I like the way into you and once again that to me is what puts him above LeBron James I'd know at his peak it's his ability to make those type of clutch shots now LeBron is a little bit underrated in regards to his clutching this because he does tend to freeze up and big moments or I should say he had a period in his career I'd say from about 2007 all the way to 2011 where he would freeze up in big moments and that's that's where Byrd separates from him in my view because Byrd actually got better in those moments so I mean it's close if someone were to say that they believe that LeBron is better than Byrd to me that's debatable but it's certainly not something that is not something that is unbelievable it does bear credence LeBron brings a lot to the table he's a great scorer great passer even though he's a little bit overrated as a pastor because he does turn the ball over a lot but the thing is that he's unable to play in an offense it does not revolve around him he's unable to play in a system that's not the LeBron James system and we saw that in 2011 that's one of the reasons why he was so ineffective in pressure moments against Dallas because everything wasn't running through him he didn't know what to do when he didn't have the ball he just sat there and looked at d-wade he didn't know how to move out the ball and then he lost rhythm and he lost confidence players like Byrd can give the ball up to a Dennis Johnson to a Kevin McHale and Robert Parish a Danny Ainge going a weak side moving out the ball cut make layups make great passes long-range shots that's the difference [Music] you know we always felt we're gonna win at home but going the road beating anyone and let's get on that bus and then talking about the game and I always thought that was the greatest I've been very fortunate I'd be able to build a full circle and it's been nothing but learning experiences I've been burnt grateful to the NBA for everything that they've done for me this help everybody gets an opportunity to do it because plans different coach conscience different from doing GM success nothing was fun is playing I was it you know playing him the ball in your hands and getting yourself mentally prepare for each game that was the ultimate yeah and Larry Bird by the way just to give a little background on him he came from a household where his father suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from being in the military and ended up taking his own life now the effect that that had on Larry Bird who knows that may have caused some fragmentation and has been his mind originally he did try to go to Indiana University to play under Bob Knight who has a background in associated with the military Bob Knight also was the these Bengali the Guru of mr. macho chef Sookie who was one of his main protegees and it's possible that Liebert was being forwarded to Bob Knight because Bob Knight had certain had certain understanding of how to manipulate star players like that due to having a certain training and MK handling etc as I tell you brothers you're gonna come to find that many of the top coaches in college and professional sports they understand how to manipulate people mentally psychologically and many of them have a military background Bob Knight I believe coach with army and if I'm wrong about that knows one of the military branches but if I'm wrong about that one he buzz can correct me and I know that much reshef ski was one of his protegees now Magic Johnson as we know was ferried through Michigan State and he played for I remember correctly mr. Judd Heathcote and Michigan State even though it's in the news now for the the Olympic coach Larry Nasser molesting the girls they have a long history of being involved directly with the CIA I believe that they were that they were at the front university for something called the Vietnam project but that's another video for another day but the CIA has always been closely associated with Michigan State [Music] also please keep in mind that Isiah Thomas also played under Bob Knight anniversary of him winning three in a row at the three-point contest Larry Bird a three-point shooter I'm not surprised about that he was a great shooter but like he stated they just did not accentuate that shot back then because they believe that why why stand outside at long range like that and take those long three-point shots when the mindset was to pound it inside or get as close as possible you know but like I've been telling many of you brothers always keep in mind and be cognizant of the mkay handling angle once again the library wasn't going to play for mr. Bob Knight but he couldn't deal with it he did not like the surroundings he kind of got skittish with the amount of people that were at Indiana University so he left he and the plan for Indiana State after which he posed on the cover of Sports Illustrated utilizing the finger of Hippocrates so was a were Larry Bird and Magic Johnson linked or put under some sort of twinning programming some sort of mirror programming where they were meant to act as at the opposite ends of the spectrum of each other who knows but we do know that Isiah Thomas went through Indiana University played mr. Bob Knight and then came to the Detroit Pistons where eventually he was coached by former CIA associate Chuck Daly alright so as I always tell you brothers everything is connected you know what for me is I mean watching him win in the fashion he did you know we've watched people win different type of three-point contest is but to be able to hold your finger up no expression about you Sam yeah people start saying then Larry is too true the way in the fashion he wanted yeah a lot of times is only at the end of a player's career that you start to understand but you know particularly if you're in an immature state if you're adolescent or what-have-you that you approach things emotionally but as you grow into manhood hopefully you do anyway you start to evaluate things from much more pragmatic perspective and that in that ways when you can appreciate greatness more and look I'm not saying that all of these guys are monarch athletes all the star players I should say I'm not saying necessarily that Isaiah Thomas and Larry Bird Magic Johnson are all monarch athletes but many of the most prominent athletes are and even even if they were not subjected to quote/unquote satanic ritual abuse as children the the methodology of utilizing M K handling techniques over people in general is always pertinent when you're trying to guide people to a certain goal and that's why you will certainly see the preponderance of coaches who were associated with the military constantly constantly exhibiting their quote unquote skills whether it's in football basketball baseball etc you'll see that a lot with this coach Belichick Bill Parcells Chuck Daly etc etc Bob Knight might reshef ski the list the list goes on and on for the dramatics or no style think about it the one thing of basic drop the mic you think about the three-point shooting contest today but the hype around it is because of what Lampard did he brought the excitement back for that and he showed that a true art of shooting the three what I agree I agree I think that he had a lot of white boy swag but it is what it is that was a very nice feature piece

Channel: ChroniclesOfJudah 144

Views: 197,505

Keywords: Larry Bird, LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, Isaiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, Lonzo Ball, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors, Floyd Mayweather, Muhammad Ali, Conor McGregor, Kevin McHale, Boston Celtics, Kyrie Irving, Robert Parrish, Isiah Thomas

Id: p-EOpTpJe0c

Length: 28min 31sec (1711 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 13 2018