lor@ucla-cs.UUCP (03/21/85)
I am wondering how the bird got a place in last week's TIME magazine. TIME featured the greatest player EVER in each sport: Ruth in baseball, Brown in football, Gretzky in hockey, Pele in soccer .... Bird has been the best player in the past 2 years; he is averaging more than 40 points in the past week, but come on, he isn't the number ONE basketball player ever. * Wait until he averages 50.1 points/game a SEASON, gets 30 points/game, 23000+ rebounds and holds almost all NBA scoring records in a 13 year career. * Wait until he gets 11 championship rings and 5 MVPs in 13 seasons. * Wait until he gets over 33000 points, averages over 20 ppg every season, and wins 6 MVPs in a 16 year career. * Wait until he averages triple-doubles in a SEASON, gets into the 800-800 club, and makes people say 'Oscar Robertson is the best all-around player BEFORE Larry Bird' instead of vice versa. * Wait until he holds 36 individual records in the NBA, as Gretzky does in the NHL. Gretzky can be considered as the greatest ever for what he has accomplished in the past five seasons. Can Bird match that? Don't forget, just two seasons ago everybody said that Moses Malone was THE PLAYER in the NBA - Octobull, should play in a higher League, a class by himself, the ultimate dominant player. Now almost everybody forgets Malone is still playing. Right now, only the big-three: Russell, Chamberlain, and Abdul-Jabbar have a legitimate claim as #1 in basketball. -- Eddy Lor ...!ucbvax!ucla-cs!lor lor@ucla-locus.arpa