Bird vs Magic - Who is better all-time? (1 Viewer)

[Ghost Rider]

I'll go with Bird.

Better scorer, rebounder, did more with less (as stacked as those Celtics were, he never had a Kareem to play next to for 10 years), played in a tougher conference, etc.

Sure, Magic won more titles, but that is a team accomplishment, and I submit that if you swapped Robert Parrish with Kareem, Bird would probably have as many rings as Jordan, while Magic would be lucky to have more than one or two. As players, I think Bird was just a little better.

 

[kutta]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history. He could play all five positions, and was virtually unguardable. We will see another Jordan and Lebron and Bird some day, but we will never see another Magic.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Person who started the thread talked up Bird but Magic is off to a 4-0 start in the poll. Odd.

 

[Koya]

Magic. More versatility, greater over all impact on the team and the game. Great as Bird was, Magic just brought that much more to the table.

From a matchup perspective a 6'9" point who is among the best passers ever, is just something that's only happened once. Such a huge advantage for any team.

 

[nottingham Forest]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history. He could play all five positions, and was virtually unguardable. We will see another Jordan and Lebron and Bird some day, but we will never see another Magic.

Sorry, Jordan poops on magic. Magic's supporting cast was greater than Byrd's and Jordan's.

 

[Mario Kart]

Put Bird on those Lakers teams and Magic on those Celtics teams, I'd put good money that Bird's Lakers have a few more titles.

 

[zamboni]

Could go either way and neither is wrong IMO

I give a tiny edge to Magic for his performance in the Finals clincher as a rookie - dominating at center for an injured Kareem.

 

[CurlyNight]

Magic! He came with showtime and changed the whole game!

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Magic = everything Bird could do + point guard.

Lebron = almost everything Magic could do + bigger and better defensively.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history. He could play all five positions, and was virtually unguardable. We will see another Jordan and Lebron and Bird some day, but we will never see another Magic.

Sorry, Jordan poops on magic. Magic's supporting cast was greater than Byrd's and Jordan's.

No.

Magic Johnson is the best basketball player I've ever seen. I saw Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell towards the end of their careers, but neither was as good as Magic. Jordan is, at best, 3rd.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Could go either way and neither is wrong IMO

Agreed. I figure Magic will get many more votes, but I'm more interested to see the arguments both ways.

 

[Fennis]

Magic and its not even close.

 

[lakerstan]

I'm biased as I grew up a huge Magic Johnson fan, but I think Magic's versatility and unselfishness put him above Bird. But Larry was a great player and probably had to work a little harder.

 

[Abraham]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history. He could play all five positions, and was virtually unguardable. We will see another Jordan and Lebron and Bird some day, but we will never see another Magic.

 

[Raider Nation]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history.

He wins this pole, but he barely played a lick of defense, which disqualifies him from your claim.

 

[The General]

I'd think Magic will get more votes but they look pretty even. STATS

 

[thecatch]

Magic = everything Bird could do + point guard.

Lebron = almost everything Magic could do + bigger and better defensively.

Magic was nowhere near the shooter.

 

[fantasycurse42]

I think this one is almost pointless to argue... Besides basically being impossible to mention one without the other, these two are so close that it doesn't matter which side you argue. Both all time greats and if you put one as the 3rd best ever, I'd almost argue the other needs to be 4th on your list.

 

[lakerstan]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history.

He wins this pole, but he barely played a lick of defense, which disqualifies him from your claim.

Selling him a little short there. He was top 20 in all time steals (top 5 several years) and has 200 more than Bird.

 

[DrJ]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history.

He wins this pole, but he barely played a lick of defense, which disqualifies him from your claim.

Selling him a little short there. He was top 20 in all time steals (top 5 several years) and has 200 more than Bird.

Yeah, I don't think Bird was really an elite defender either. Both of these guys were more offensive forces. I'm going with Magic because I think he's more unique and creates more mismatches, but it is definitely about as close as it gets.

 

[Raider Nation]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history.

He wins this pole, but he barely played a lick of defense, which disqualifies him from your claim.

Selling him a little short there. He was top 20 in all time steals (top 5 several years) and has 200 more than Bird.

Yeah, I don't think Bird was really an elite defender either. Both of these guys were more offensive forces. I'm going with Magic because I think he's more unique and creates more mismatches, but it is definitely about as close as it gets.

The defense criticism wasn't about Magic vs. Bird. It was to refute the "best player ever" claim. He had no shot of locking down a quick guard. They usually hid him on lumbering forwards.

 

[Tom Servo]

If you're drafting an all time team, you couldn't go wrong with picking either one.

 

[DrJ]

Magic actually did lead the league in steals per game in his 2nd and 3rd seasons as well. So it's not like he wasn't capable of playing defense. But then he seems to have focused far more on his offensive game as his career unfolded.

 

[Raider Nation]

And I LOVE Earv, for the record. But he's not the best ever. That's just silly.

 

[Popinski]

Magic was better. I think he was the greatest offensive player ever. But both him and Bird tend to be a bit overrated from a historical perspective.

 

[DrJ]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history.

He wins this pole, but he barely played a lick of defense, which disqualifies him from your claim.

Selling him a little short there. He was top 20 in all time steals (top 5 several years) and has 200 more than Bird.

Yeah, I don't think Bird was really an elite defender either. Both of these guys were more offensive forces. I'm going with Magic because I think he's more unique and creates more mismatches, but it is definitely about as close as it gets.

The defense criticism wasn't about Magic vs. Bird. It was to refute the "best player ever" claim. He had no shot of locking down a quick guard. They usually hid him on lumbering forwards.

Yeah, agreed on that.

 

[identikit]

Could go either way and neither is wrong IMO

I give a tiny edge to Magic for his performance in the Finals clincher as a rookie - dominating at center for an injured Kareem.

That was my tiebreaker as well.

 

[DrJ]

I will say though that the Magic is GOAT because of the 5 position thing is at least somewhat interesting. The rookie finals game thing, the fact they had him playing PF when he came back from HIV. It's at least an interesting discussion, as opposed to any argument trying to be made for Bird as GOAT.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Could go either way and neither is wrong IMO

I give a tiny edge to Magic for his performance in the Finals clincher as a rookie - dominating at center for an injured Kareem.

This performance puts it over the top for Magic in my book. Well, that and he and I went to the same HS (no bias).....

 

[Abraham]

Magic was better. I think he was the greatest offensive player ever. But both him and Bird tend to be a bit overrated from a historical perspective.

Interesting. I think they are both underrated, particularly Bird. The shooting that durant does now where everything he throws up goes in reminds me of bird...and he did it for years at a time.

 

[sports_fan]

Magic = everything Bird could do + point guard.

Lebron = almost everything Magic could do + bigger and better defensively.

Magic was nowhere near the shooter.

Magic had a higher TS%, eFG% and got to the line at a better rate.

 

[StrikeS2k]

To be fair, Bird blew Magic away as an NBA coach.

 

[zamboni]

To be fair, Bird blew Magic away as an NBA coach.

And as a late night talk show host, without even hosting.

 

[Guster]

Magic beat AIDS and basketball teams, that's gotta give him the edge and I'm a Celtics homer

 

[Cunk]

Bird is my choice. It's almost like he had eyes on the back of his head.

 

[ScottNorwood]

Magic beat AIDS and basketball teams, that's gotta give him the edge and I'm a Celtics homer

Are you implying that Bird couldn't beat AIDS?

 

[Guster]

Magic beat AIDS and basketball teams, that's gotta give him the edge and I'm a Celtics homer

Are you implying that Bird couldn't beat AIDS?

Back pain was enough to send him lying down on the side of the bench...

 

[Dentist]

If i'm starting a basketball team from scratch, I'll take Magic Johnson, but I personally prefer Larry Bird

We've seen another near Larry Bird in Dirk Nowitski.

We're probably seeing a better Magic Johnson in LeBron James just without a lot of the flair.

I know that if a poll were made that Jordan is always the consensus goat and all... but if we're using the who would you take if you could start a team from scratch... honestly LeBron and Magic are the only 2 guys that I would consider taking before getting an elite 7 ft center like Shaq, Hakeem, Wilt, Russell... and then I'd consider MJ

 

[Abraham]

If i'm starting a basketball team from scratch, I'll take Magic Johnson, but I personally prefer Larry Bird

We've seen another near Larry Bird in Dirk Nowitski.

We're probably seeing a better Magic Johnson in LeBron James just without a lot of the flair.

I know that if a poll were made that Jordan is always the consensus goat and all... but if we're using the who would you take if you could start a team from scratch... honestly LeBron and Magic are the only 2 guys that I would consider taking before getting an elite 7 ft center like Shaq, Hakeem, Wilt, Russell... and then I'd consider MJ

This is well said. Big difference is magic can guard Dwight Howard and Lebron can guard Chris Paul.

 

[cstu]

For 35 years people have been arguing over this. It's not going to be decided here.

 

[Dentist]

For 35 years people have been arguing over this. It's not going to be decided here.

no, this is the last time... this one's definitive!

 

[BeaverCleaver]

Bird is my choice. It's almost like he had eyes on the back of his head.

There was a pass he made to McHale when his back was to the basket and it looked like he did have eyes on the back of his head.

 

[Jayrod]

I have probably put more thought into this than the average FBG, starting with the all-time NBA draft we did a few years back.

Honestly, my initial reaction used to be Magic for a lot of the reasons mentioned. However, I came to realize it was more because Magic was charismatic and Bird was not. But after digging through their numbers and accolades and watching a bunch of career highlights I've been convinced it was Bird.

My first and biggest reason is Kareem. Kareem is a top 5 player of all time. Magic wasn't even the greatest player on his own team. I know he was way past his prime, but even old Kareem was light years ahead of Bird's #2, McHale. McHale was on par with Worthy. Parrish is one of the least qualified HOFers in the hall, IMO. Supporting cast made things easier on Magic than Bird.

My second main reason is defense. Bird was all NBA defense 2nd team twice. One of his greatest plays wasn't a shot, but a steal and assist to beat the Pistons. Neither were amazing on the ball defenders, but Larry was a much more effective overall defender than Magic.

And my last reason is that while Magics main talent was passing, Bird was practically as good at it as he was. And in Bird's greatest quality, shooting, Magic was poor. Magic was a better ball hanler, but again, Larry was hardly poor with the ball in his hands. And the rebounding edge clearly was in Larry's favor.

All that said, my conclusion is that the only thing Magic was more talented at than Bird is dribbling and he had a better supporting cast. And Bird was such a greater shooter a better defender, better rebounder and almost as good a passer, that I just think he was a better all around player.

 

[ScottNorwood]

In reality, we don't even need to have this debate. I've done us the favor of running the analysis through a high-end super computer, which calculated the result with 99.999999489% precision. See the full analysis below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URobcuTcBFU

 

[Joe T]

Bird.

Who would win a game: 5 Birds vs 5 Magics?

The Birds would dominate without a doubt. Better all around players.

 

[sports_fan]

In reality, we don't even need to have this debate. I've done us the favor of running the analysis through a high-end super computer, which calculated the result with 99.999999489% precision. See the full analysis below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URobcuTcBFU

Interesting they chose not to use Magic in this simulation.

 

[Jayrod]

Bird.

Who would win a game: 5 Birds vs 5 Magics?

The Birds would dominate without a doubt. Better all around players.

Kind of hard to win a game if you aren't as good at scoring or defending.

 

[DrJ]

I have probably put more thought into this than the average FBG, starting with the all-time NBA draft we did a few years back.

Honestly, my initial reaction used to be Magic for a lot of the reasons mentioned. However, I came to realize it was more because Magic was charismatic and Bird was not. But after digging through their numbers and accolades and watching a bunch of career highlights I've been convinced it was Bird.

My first and biggest reason is Kareem. Kareem is a top 5 player of all time. Magic wasn't even the greatest player on his own team. I know he was way past his prime, but even old Kareem was light years ahead of Bird's #2, McHale. McHale was on par with Worthy. Parrish is one of the least qualified HOFers in the hall, IMO. Supporting cast made things easier on Magic than Bird.

My second main reason is defense. Bird was all NBA defense 2nd team twice. One of his greatest plays wasn't a shot, but a steal and assist to beat the Pistons. Neither were amazing on the ball defenders, but Larry was a much more effective overall defender than Magic.

And my last reason is that while Magics main talent was passing, Bird was practically as good at it as he was. And in Bird's greatest quality, shooting, Magic was poor. Magic was a better ball hanler, but again, Larry was hardly poor with the ball in his hands. And the rebounding edge clearly was in Larry's favor.

All that said, my conclusion is that the only thing Magic was more talented than Bird is dribbling And Bird was such a greater shooter a better defender, better rebounder and almost as good a passer, that I just think he was a better all around player.

I don't know about this being close in passing. Some of these Magic assist numbers are absurd, especially in the playoffs.

 

[DrJ]

In reality, we don't even need to have this debate. I've done us the favor of running the analysis through a high-end super computer, which calculated the result with 99.999999489% precision. See the full analysis below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URobcuTcBFU

Interesting they chose not to use Magic in this simulation.

Bird was cheaper.

 

[Kev4029]

Magic. IMO, is the best player in NBA history. He could play all five positions, and was virtually unguardable. We will see another Jordan and Lebron and Bird some day, but we will never see another Magic.

Just because he took a jump ball to start one game, doesn't mean he could play center.