“Larry Bird could provide me with his demeanor, work ethic and versatility”: Michael Jordan explains the Boston legend’s pick as the starting Power Forward of his Dream Team

Years after his retirement Michael Jordan was asked to recreate his own Dream Team. As his starting Power Forward, the Bulls GOAT decided to pick Boston legend Larry Bird over all-time greats like James Worthy, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and Charles Oakley.

Over the past several decades, the USA has been the most dominant basketball playing country. And if you’re a basketball fan, you know for a fact that the United States assembled arguably their greatest teams back in 1992 for the Barcelona Olympic Games and called it “The Dream Team“.

That team, co-led by Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, had some of the game’s biggest names – Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson and many more superstars. And as you must’ve rightly predicted, this USA Men’s Basketball team was a tough force to reckon with and won a gold medal at the event, staying undefeated in all their 8 games.

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Back in 2005, right after his third and final retirement, MJ sat down for an interview with “Cigar Aficionado”. And His Airness was asked to recreate his own Dream Team. Alongside Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon, MJ picked his 1992 Team USA teammate, Larry Bird, as the Power Forward for his Dream Team.

Michael Jordan explains Larry Bird’s selection on his Dream Team

During his 2005 interview, Marvin R. Shanken asked Air Jordan:

“Michael, I’m now giving you the opportunity to create the Dream Team of Michael Jordan, of all players of basketball. You’re on the team, and you can name four other guys at different positions. That doesn’t mean there aren’t 20 other great guys for those positions, but you can explain your picks.”

Alongside Magic, Pip and Hakeem, His Airness selected Boston legend Larry Bird as the Power Forward.

“There’s James Worthy, whom I love, and he is a North Carolina guy. Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, whom I adore and is a good friend, and Charles Oakley. But in terms again of versatility, it has to be Larry Bird. The things he could provide to you all around: his demeanor, his work ethic and his versatility once again.”

“The idea here is I would build a versatile, multitalented team able to do so many different things. When the defense comes at you, they have to guard a lot of different areas, and that makes Larry Bird the choice for me.”

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Clearly, Mike didn’t need to justify this obvious pick. Bird is one of the greatest players and shooters to grace the league. It was his unique winning mentality that set him apart from all his competitors. During his 13-year career, Larry Legend was selected in 12 All-Star Games, 10 All-NBA Teams, won 3 MVPs, 3 NBA championships and 2 Final MVPs, with a career average of 24.3 points, 10 rebounds and 6.3 assists on an incredible 49.6/37.6/88.6 shooting split.