The unique skills that made Larry Bird a GOAT candidate | Greatest Peaks Ep. 4

the first episodes of this series have been about big men because the game was built for their dominance back then less spacing and no three-pointer placed a premium on rim protection and on interior scoring there were a few non-bigs who could hang with the giants julius irving's aerial wizardry earned him the mvp in 1981 and oscar robertson won the award in 1964 as a 6'5 guard but larry bird was like none of these players he was something entirely unique that the basketball world had never seen before and hasn't seen since you are watching what greatness is all about where's larry bird in all this [Applause] this series tackles one question who was the best at his best we started the aba merger and go through the best multi-year stretches examining the legends who provided the most on court impact these are the greatest peaks seven minutes bird burst onto the scene in the 80s with his own brand of basketball alchemy at six nine he could play in the post but was also a world-class outside shooter who could pass let's start with the most basic part of this equation his post game bird's most traditional back to the basket move was a lefty hook he loved physicality note the little hip check to claim space and he could roll this over most offenders if it wasn't available he'd start head faking opponents into some wild finishes and larry would throw combinations fainting right then to the middle only to step through and then what is that reverse off the window this fakes like a jab that softens his man and then this crazy rainbow from two feet and he was constantly manipulating defenders with the ball like this to open up tiny nooks he could work with at times it felt hypnotic like charles xavier whispering in defenders heads where are you going this is choreographed embarrassment because bird had the league shook with his shooting and they were on high alert because he could rock you in your face with this quick fadeaway this was larry's money maker in these spots and like most of his game it was quick hitting catching defenders off guard by flowing right into the release he's already started the move here before catching it and bird even turned that fade away into the og step back at times kiki vandaway is often credited with popularizing the move with this little two-step but bird was the first star to unleash it regularly and certainly with sharper footwork than kiki it served larry well because defenders respected his fakes and he was comfortable falling away you'll notice that a bunch of these are long twos birds first coach bill fitch discouraged three pointers and it wasn't until about 1985 that larry started launching more than one per game bird was pretty much the best all-around shooter of that era sprinkling in a variety of outside jumpers and no one could match his 90 free throw shooting and 40 3-point shooting although his volume from deep was low steph curry takes more threes in a typical season than bird did from 1984 to 1987 combined and so it's not totally clear how much long ball larry left on the scoreboard from 85 to 87 larry was far more effective from downtown versus weaker defenses probably because they left him open in these spots more like he was just a normal player against defense is at least two points worse than league average bird shot 47 percent on three attempts every 36 minutes but against defense's two points ahead of league average he shot only 34 with a hefty dip in volume some of this is likely noise but his attempts also dropped in the playoffs during his peak years so i'm not sure how comfortable he was just manufacturing threes despite mangling his finger in a college softball game he had good touch on all kinds of little floaters and flips headed to the hoop he did this with both hands regularly making horse shots like this and he was dexterous enough to make all kinds of off-balance leaners too but these shots were born out of necessity remember that rainbow from two feet earlier it's because bird has no explosion at the rim he often uses his body as a shield to find a cleaner release even left-handed and these contortions were to make up for a lack of verticality bird actually missed a ton of layups oh it's walton uh where was i yes the the miss bunnies he often took one dribble in these spots instead of getting all the way to the rim for a loaded up contest because even at six nine he was at a disadvantage against biggs ready to jump you may know that legendary game in portland where he played left-handed this is mostly a tall tale because he regularly needed his left hand to finish here in the post he's going southpaw for a cleaner look because he's carved out space to his left and can't explode at the rim or leap over defenders this rim finishing is bird's real glaring wart as a scorer and his inability to finish into or through size and contact was a reason why his free throw rate was never great the upfake frees him but even against mediocre rim protection he avoids contact to find a layup here he spins clear but resorts to a floater from point blank range at his apex bird was a huge regular season score 28 points per 75 untrue shooting percentage seven percent ahead of the league but his best three-year stretch as a playoff scorer from 1984 to 1986 was closer to 24 points per 75 on plus 5 efficiency we see a similar story in the regular season against stronger defenses using those splits from earlier his scoring dipped from nearly 27 points per 75 down to under 23 with a drop in efficiency this is still good production but the drop-off is on the larger side for high-end scorers and i think it speaks to bird's inability to generate easy shots against stronger defenses what those numbers don't capture is his scoring flexibility constantly moving without the basketball look at all these tricks to shed bobby jones an all-time defender and these cuts force attention that opens a post up on one block and on the other and the move is quick and that's classic bird his shooting means you have to chase him and his post game leads to denials but then he counter cuts and that is a slick finish bird was an expert at finding little cracks in the defense like this not at layups and you can see this perfectly in transition here bird likes to float to the wing for three but as the ball turns the corner bird knows that brings help and basket cuts right behind it and of course he makes that nonsense he relentlessly pursued advantages did you catch it the ball is reversed so he swings his leg across his defender to seal and go a good passer hits him for layup there but that's okay because the attention allows a clear iso touch for robert parish bird's off ball game lets him fit next to other great scorers who need the rock like kevin mchale but it also helps him mesh with good passers who learn to see what bird sees larry slows down here to keep his man outside of an empty paint and dennis johnson turns that into a bunny they had this read down and it's possible because all these defenders are worried about bird curling up for an open shot this made helping off bird difficult and he parlayed that activity into fantastic offensive rebounding rooting inside players when they were on the wrong side of him he anticipated shots and would sneak into position look at that work to get inside someone else's man and he was more comfortable finishing these after sealing off opponents but for all of his movement and absurd shot making there was another ingredient to larry bird's alchemy that transformed him into an offensive legend it's one thing to fly off screens as a threat to shoot but bird supercharged his value by seamlessly audibling those two passes he may have been the best passer on the move in nba history and that meant scoring routes turned into layups for teammates larry blurred shots into passes and punished defensive reactions to his movement like this and he never stopped the ball even on a simple extra pass like this he adds the screen because he's a step ahead there's so much anticipation to his game this is like a touch entry pass already knowing robert parrish's right hand is the soft spot in the defense of course that made him a touch pass master and this means you have to know where pieces are before the ball arrives he knows perishes the mark the whole way down the court obviously this vision made bird deadly in transition before defenses were set too good says don nelson any teammates willing to run with bird benefited from his attention and the delivery on some of these passes would make ups jealous this clip's blurry but you can still see the whole package patiently waiting for a cutter to fill the lane holding the defense by looking away then snapping a strike to the streaking walton we've discussed byrd's manipulation of defenders with the ball but his go-to trick was the shot pass where he drew coverage and created better passing angles pick and roll wasn't a big part of his game then but he ran it more in 86 and 87 and that ball fake was so good it distracted mikael too in the half court larry's on ball passing typically stemmed from his back to the basket game he welcomed double teams in these spots and could skip it over defensive rotations or he would just gut teams who weren't disciplined about doubling off cutters when he had a step he could make tight laydown passes with the best of them drawing defenders in for a shot pass and knowing where his teammate would be bird wasn't a perfect passer besides some limitations off the bounce he could be a bit out of sync on his entry passes at times like many greats he took all kinds of chances and was too aggressive on some of them and every once in a while he'd miss an advanced layup pass he probably had danny ainge there and coming down on this fast break the first look is open but of course bird is so good he sends it home anyway finally the man was the best outlet passer i've ever seen these weren't simply about starting fast breaks they spawned layups out of thin air bird was always thinking about the next possession as the ball went through the net and how to exploit a defense's backline age is closing to the corner here and bird still thinks to instantly look for him on a fly pattern after this make that's just absurd all of this made him the second best playmaker of the 1980s we'll get to the best of the next episode making life easier for his teammates in a variety of ways he even turned loose balls into easy points ready to drop dimes from his back when he dove on the floor and all of this helped drive boston's offense to elite heights from 1984 to 88 the celtics efficiency was 5 points per 100 better than league average one of the 10 best stretches ever so despite birds post-season scoring hiccups boston's playoff offenses were quite similar 11th best among teams was stretches like this even with kevin mchale out for over 30 games from 1986 to 88 boston's offense was six points ahead of the league behind bird and company evidence of his colossal impact his constant movement and high motor translated to the defensive end too after hopping around here until he found open pasture bird hightails it back to prevent a fast break and larry's defensive preference during the peak of his career was helping off his man in the paint to plug gaps or double team when needed that court vision served him well in this role he's rotating the second his guard gets a step and bird's wild jab alters it just enough his lack of lift made these help attempts only marginally effective he often rotated in time but he wasn't springy enough to really swallow up shots but basketball is a game of percentages and bird's constant presence was just enough to turn layups into misses at times and sometimes these reactions helped make plays a touch easier for his teammates larry was just there constantly and at 6 9 was large enough in spots to protect the rim fairly well for a forward he had a small block radius and would offer little resistance if caught flat footed but bird also made a surprising number of stands at the hoop here stonewalling a young michael jordan just like an above average big wood only bird played small forward in a lot of these lineups so his paint presence became a solid positive next to two other bigs his incredible hand-eye coordination allowed him to target blocks as the ball was released and he averaged about a block per game during these peak seasons he also augmented his rim protection by taking charges before it was in vogue and his early positioning and out-guessing games forced turnovers on drives like this now bird has been historically panned for his band defense but i actually don't think it was too damaging he was a touch too eager at times and could succumb to upfakes but against most big forwards of that day he held his own on the outside bird's slow foot speed was a bit of an issue against slashers but basketball was played inside 18 feet back then so even with those clunky steps teams couldn't really punish him this was a fairly typical man possession for him over playing the drive and throwing up a decent contest although just like in the post he could get into hot water biting on up fakes in these spots here's larry using mind games against a dangerous guard jabbing toward the ball and then playing the drive left and his reflexes were insane his hands are down when this pass is thrown and those reflexes made bird a playmaker around the ball making little kick out passes difficult like a hockey goalie deflecting pucks out of the air he also turned basic entry passes into an adventure at times with what looked like a sort of basketball spidey sense those hands were strong and quick with nasa-like precision and if you blinked you'd miss their magic at times and this phenomenal coordination made that low block tactic possible and it also made his post doubles really effective ambushing unsuspecting big men here's a possession roaming off his mark on the perimeter trying to disrupt action and then bouncing around the edge of the paint plugging gaps here it's this cutter because the spot up 3 wasn't a threat then and of course those hands made the double team effective there's a cat and mouse quality to some of his possessions where he's hoping to induce a mistake instead of just playing it straight up so bird's tail are made for zoning up two players like this where he can read a passer's eyes and it all makes sense that the most memorable play of his career is a steal birds eyeing this pass before isaiah thomas had the ball isaiah has said he never even saw larry here and then of course a layup pass with three seconds left and big red cannot believe what he just saw most of bird's defensive tricks weren't big gambles but sometimes he did whiff so there was a minor tax to pay for his level of aggression but larry rarely made errors or missed key rotations he'd usually pounce in help situations like this and overall i think it's easy to see why he made consecutive all defensive teams from 1982 to 1984. this value bubbles up when we look at bird's handful of missed games in 1987 and 1988 the celtics were only a point per game better than their opponents without bird or roughly a 45 win pace but with him they were plus 7 or a 61 win pace the changes in 1989 when larry missed the entire season were nearly identical perhaps more notable is what happened when mchale missed large chunks of time the celtics were a 64 win team with kevin and without him they played at a 57 win pace in 31 games that means that boston was still a borderline championship team without mchale yet maxed out as an all-time team at 67 wins because bird could fit next to a star who ostensibly played his own position that's incredibly impressive to me and evidence that he's one of the most scalable players ever able to fit next to a variety of high-end talent our historical all-in-one metrics are quite high on his peak especially this version of box plus minus that's more sensitive to his playmaking impact we should also note that some of his value comes from strong defensive rebounding and he was always looking to throw a body on someone or fight for the ball in tough spots although this style did take a toll and playing too many minutes meant he always risked wearing down during deep playoff runs larry's body did ultimately break down at 31 but before then he re-imagined what basketball could be there still hasn't been anyone like him since and while his defense wasn't always pretty activity in anticipation made it fairly effective for his time sure slightly better scoring would have put him in his own class on offense but even without that larry bird is one of the five greatest offensive players of all time for more historical content and to support this channel head over to patreon.com thinking basketball and check out thinking basketball the book on amazon that goes deeper on a number of ideas explored in this series there are also longer discussions on many of these players on the thinking basketball podcast and if you're curious about stats from this video there's an entire stat series on this channel otherwise thanks so much for watching i hope you enjoyed this one and that wherever you are you're having a great day five seconds to go matches with a hook shot scores with two

Channel: Thinking Basketball

Views: 305,414

Rating: 4.9688301 out of 5

Keywords: NBA, NBA film analysis, NBA Analytics, Thinking Basketball, NBA highlights, NBA film breakdown, NBA scouting reports, scouting reports, Best NBA players, Best NBA players all time, Top NBA players, Greatest NBA players of all time, NBA GOAT, Best NBA players ever, NBA peaks, Best NBA peaks, NBA history, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, HD highlights, 90s NBA, 80s NBA, 70s NBA, Larry Bird, GOAT passers, best passers ever, off-ball, basketball IQ

Id: S8n5tPbWB50

Length: 19min 45sec (1185 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 14 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Gkalaitza]

Some points from the vid:

• Top 5 offensive peak ever

• Second best passer of the 80s

• Best shooter of the 80s

• Great scorer but a little overrated on that aspect, lack of verticality limited his finishing % on the rim and forced him to resort to all shorts of bball jiu jitsu that did still worked most of the time. So scorring stats dropped somewhat against better deffenses or in the playoffs

• Greatest on the move and "off ball" passer ever

• Greatest outlet passer ever

• Amazing off ball player that along with the passing and lack of ball dominance made him probably the most scalable all time great (aka could fit perfectly anywhere and with any team and all time great team mate ,even ball dominand ones)

• Great but not amazing defender at his peak that deserved the all defensive teams. Savant like positioning and hand placement and reactions. Gambled a bit too much at times and had slow feet but that wasnt punished that much in the 90s (probably would have been a bigger problem today)

[u/Heor326]

GOAT basketball youtuber

[u/hoffmanmclaunsky]

Must watch for anyone who is at all interested in analytics or basketball history. Thinking Basketball is also a very good podcast, and while I haven't read the book, I'm sure it is as high quality as the rest of Ben Taylor's content.

[u/bodiaa]

Ben really can't miss. Love this series.

[u/Paschal1]

Best analysis on youtube

[u/jaybay321]

This is some of the best basketball content ever.

[u/gustriandos]

I feel like sealing is an underutilized art. This transition seal reminded me a lot of lebron and wade

[u/Persona9994]

This content is so great. How come the rest of the series is only ~50k views?

[u/ChrisCrossX]

By far the best basketball content!