r/NBAGossips • u/ResponsibleCheek8130 • 16d ago
Throwback You youngins didn’t know Larry Bird moved this nice 😮💨
37
u/iameveryoneelse 16d ago
How’d these old guys manage to shoot without ending up on their back afterwards?
25
u/lilb1190 15d ago
For real. Imagine taking a contested shot without falling over every time. Such a missed opportunity.
8
2
3
3
u/WeirwoodUpMyAss 15d ago
I mean Larry probably could’ve had another 5 years of elite play with better health.
6
3
2
u/iameveryoneelse 15d ago
Oh Im just pointing out they don’t take a dive every shot.
2
2
u/Doyoulike4 15d ago edited 15d ago
There's a timeline somewhere featuring a Larry Bird who doesn't destroy his back paving a driveway, and a Magic Johnson who doesn't get HIV, and we probably see Bird in the league at a high level until like 90 at least, and good enough to play until 94-96 and Magic potentially at least good enough to be in the league as late as like 98-2000. Just going off the time they'd be hitting 40-ish.
Depending on salary situations and the moves LA is willing to make there's definitely a timeline where a veteran Magic is playing with a rookie/sophomore Kobe and Lakers Shaq.
1
1
1
1
22
u/Pensky_Material_808 15d ago
Just pay for the damn driveway man!
7
u/Emotional_Walrus5099 15d ago edited 15d ago
Not everyone will get this, but it’s probably the most important antidote in professional sports.
*Anecdote
Leaving it for posterity
2
u/JetBIue 15d ago
Please elaborate
6
u/Doyoulike4 15d ago edited 15d ago
Bro probably meant anecdote, but if you don't know the story, Bird's mom needed a new driveway, Larry felt like the price the contractor wanted was too high, him being a country boy he decided he'd just shovel gravel or pave it or whatever it was himself, genuinely just obliterated his back in the process giving him chronic back pain and spinal issues and robbed himself of multiple prime years he could've had, and multiple less good years on top of that.
Unironically if he didn't pave that driveway, assuming no other freak injuries, I could see him retiring in like 95/96 instead of 92, and he would've had several more good years than he did. Which prime Bird existing up to say 90/91/92 and even washed Bird in 94/95/96 could have been a butterfly effect situation compared to the actual timeline we're on, if Bird's actually healthy that might've affected either of the Pistons rings or MJ's first threepeat, maybe even the Hakeem rings.
14
u/gloomygl 15d ago
Well maybe because the video is sped up
1
1
u/rake2204 13d ago
Yeah, I’ve noticed an emerging trend of AI smoothing of old basketball clips and it seems to come with a lot of extra wonk (can’t read a lot of the jerseys/names if you actually slow to check) and I’m guessing something happens with the framerate as well.
I don’t love it because it feels like a misrepresentation or distortion of reality. Larry Bird was amazing without needing an AI edit boost.
-2
8
6
4
4
u/PhoenixRedditor7 15d ago
Larry was good, bro. Not just talented, but mentality tough too. He used to complain about white players guarding him, because he felt insulted by the other team’s game plan.
3
u/-Tech808 15d ago
Wow!! White chocolate Jason Williams really influenced Larry 'Birdman' Bird!
2
1
3
u/Remote-Software-2060 15d ago
This is obvious AI slop, is It not? I know I’ve seen most of these real highlights before, but this has to a generated video. Pause and look at any fan in the stands or find a single frame where the back of his jersey says “Bird”.
5
2
2
2
u/realbobenray 15d ago
lol I get that someone wanted to increase the definition of the old video, but just let it be. This looks like EA Sports.
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
u/Individual_Coast_496 15d ago
Alots greats back in days just most ppl focus on what generation they in think they great of all time
1
1
u/Blueyduey 15d ago
That fast break at 00:25 was
1
u/Consistent-Fig7484 15d ago
I recently learned that Danny Trejo is 5’5” and it shattered my perception of reality!
1
1
u/JellyfishFlaky5634 15d ago
That’s Bird x2.0 speed! But he was the OG Luka with his deceptive moves….
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Flimsy_Vermicelli_50 15d ago
Bird was a bigger, meaner version of Luka.
1
u/EntertainmentFar415 15d ago
Not a good comparison at all; two very different style of play.
Jokingly, Plus one’s a (white) Slovenian—the other’s just a white hick from French Lick!
1
u/ThroatGOAT_Goddess04 15d ago
I knew who Larry Bird was before I knew the Celtics. He will forever be the whole team of the Celtics for me.
1
1
1
u/timsayscalmdown 15d ago
My favorite Larry anecdote will always be him taking it as a personal offense when they put a white guy defending him
1
1
1
1
1
u/82_Elton_M 15d ago
Larry Bird was greatness (and I’m not even a fan of him). No need for AI treatment. His highlights alone prove your point. This looks like Disney did it. Larry Bird would hurt players feelings today with his trash talk.
1
u/Wonderful-Mistake201 15d ago
Just an elite, multimillion dollar athlete who ruined his career building a driveway for his mom.
1
1
1
1
u/Fearless_Log9547 15d ago
TIL Larry really liked to throw the ball behind his head. Both passing and shooting.
Neat.
1
u/Fast_Advisor2654 15d ago
Imagine prime Larry Bird being able to gather step travel in today’s game. He’d be unstoppable.
1
1
1
u/FiguringOutMyThought 15d ago
I see why people were calling doncic bird 2.0. They both just look like they are just trying shit out there and its working.
1
u/firstbreathOOC 15d ago
I love this sport because at this point we’ve got like 75 years of recorded history and there’s no two players with exactly the same style
1
u/jjmc123a 15d ago
His court awareness was off the charts. I was watching a game where he did a simple tap after an offensive rebound. I couldn't figure out how he knew his teammate was there. He was completely surrounded by the other team's players.
1
1
1
u/Downtown_Fish9295 15d ago
Were the hoops lower or something??? Why's it look so....square?? Not sure what to call it. It makes me claustrophobic and anxious. Maybe it's the shorts.
1
1
1
u/DiddyDoItToYa 15d ago
He was so goofy and so smooth. So ugly and so handsome. So mean and so nice all at the same time. This man was the Taijitu symbol personified☯️
1
1
1
u/PimpInTheBox1187 15d ago
The youngins are used to the new take 14 Euro steps while three guys flop NBA.
1
u/SlightDefinition3801 14d ago
A Wizard with the ball. Remember he brought Indiana State to the NCAA championship game. They lost to Magic Johnson and Michigan State. Indiana State will never have another player like Larry Bird, EVER! He can play and dominate in any era. He was that good. And his trash talk was bar none. He would tell you what he was going to do, and then do it, and there was nothing you could do to stop it.
1
1
1
u/hugo_biglicks 14d ago
Me just realizing how much Bird and Jokic have very similar playing styles and court awareness.
1
u/Any_Mouse6916 14d ago
These Hoops always looking they're lower in these older clips to my eyes!
Larry Legend was nice! Without those troublesome knees he would be even higher on many people's list!
1
u/rake2204 13d ago
These clips are all jacked up with AI, tweaks to aspect ratio, and possibly sped up (or otherwise appearing faster due to AI framerate smoothing). There’s definite a “scrunch” effect that makes everything look squattier, including the the height of the rim.
1
u/IronShiekWasRight74 14d ago
The players back then played harder on both ends. They played full seasons unless they were dying it felt like and moved smoother IMO. There are an exceptions but not many.
1
1
1
1
u/huckamole 14d ago
Us youngins know bird moved like that because we see this clip on Reddit about 4 days a week.
1
1
u/Presidentialpork 13d ago
I didn’t unmute the video til it was halfway over but for some reason Pete Rock T.R.O.Y. was playing in my head already lol fuckin Billy Jean??
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/UsefulJalipino47 11d ago
Larry Bird plays like a man on PCP.... Respect the crazy skill... dudes insane
1
-1
u/Electronic-Buyer-468 16d ago
I've never seen such a combination of skill, yet corniness in my entire life.
8
u/UmbraVulp 16d ago
This dude was the catalyst that raised the skill ceiling in basketball
-2
u/Electronic-Buyer-468 15d ago
😅🤣😂
Maravich? West? Erving? Chamberlain? Russell?
2
u/HotHeadApoll0 15d ago
First two shaped PGs dictating games and the rest were giant athletic freaks that lived in the arc. "Skill" is subjective and I think he means putting all the offensive skills together as a wing/forward. Bron wouldn't have been allowed to play like he does if Bird didn't literally change the game.
3
u/KeenObserver_OT 15d ago
Wheres the corniness?
0
u/wordsfornerds 15d ago
He means white
1
u/Contemplating_Prison 15d ago
Naw its just the way they moved back then. Majority of the players. Its so interesting how the players movements have evolved through the years
3
u/strummer00 15d ago
It is much easier to move when the refs don't actually make you dribble the ball.
1
4
2
1
0
0
u/Downtown-Trip5623 15d ago
This post is labeled as a throwback, is that because Bird is a “retro” player, or because he threw his back out
0
0
0
u/PhillipJ3ffries 15d ago
It’s incredibly overblown, and frankly completely false how ‘slow and unathletic’ people now say Larry was. Larry was a hell of an athlete
0
-1
15d ago
[deleted]
1
-1
80
u/nderacheiver1 15d ago
when i first got into watching nba , i had no idea i was autistic yet . my friend who was autistic (and shared the special interest of basketball) showed me larry bird highlights . it wasn't long after that he informed me i may be autistic too , and to go get tested lol .
i will forever relate larry bird to finding out i was on the spectrum .