Oscar Robertson never comes to this generation’s consideration when they talk about the best players of all time, nor does Larry Bird. But one of the greatest coaches ever had them as GOATS.
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Two of the greatest players of their eras, Oscar Robertson and Larry Bird are never in the conversation for the Greatest Basketball players of all time. With Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as most people’s GOATs, people have forgotten who else ruled the game.
But when you go through history to recall who the best players were with multiple facets, and not just scoring or playmaking, these two were the players who could do it all.
Although they played in different eras, throughout their career they faced the toughest teams in the league, Oscar faced Bill Russell’s Celtics or Wilt Chamberlain’s Sixers in all of his Playoffs while Bird played against Magic and Kareem led Lakers.
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Oscar was more of a numbers guy averaging mind-boggling 25.7 points, 9.5 assists, and 7.5 rebounds a game throughout his career. He even averaged triple-double throughout a season.
Bird mostly kept his focus on winning games, giving his everything each game. He still managed to average 24.3 points, 10 rebounds, and 6.3 assists a game, never bothering about the scoresheet.
Kareem: “Larry Bird was the best player I ever played against”
Players that Kareem against: Oscar, DR.J, MJ, Isiah Thomas, Moses Malone, Hakeem,
Every 15 year old: “Larry Bird was trash and overrated” ♂️♂️#NBA #NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/f7G6IlBxBD
— ¹ (@A1Hoopz) May 16, 2020
Larry Bird moved over Oscar Robertson as GOAT on John Wooden’s list
John Wooden was probably the greatest college basketball coach to ever live. A 10-time NCCA champion as a coach, Wooden taught his players that a victory was more than just numbers on the scoreboard.
“I’ve always considered Oscar Robertson to be the best player in the game,” said John Wooden. “Now I’m not so sure that Larry Bird isn’t.”
Larry Bird, The Big O and John Wooden…hope you all have a great day! pic.twitter.com/V0rpWbvn9J
— 70s 80s Retro Awesomeville (@retro_70s) January 14, 2021
Victory is what mattered most for Bird. What separates him from Oscar was his impact on a game. At 6’9 Larry Bird could guard any position on the court and averaged 1.7 steals and 0.8 blocks per game.
Oscar’s big numbers mostly resulted in early Playoff exists until he teamed up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, while Larry Bird himself was the core of his tough Boston Celtics.
Oscar never led his first team Cincinnati Royals to even a Conference title, Larry Bird managed to get into 5 NBA Finals and won 3 of them. Bird was the MVP of all of those three Finals.
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Although most of their career achievements other than rings and MVP titles reflect them to be a similar type of player, Larry Bird’s impact on his team was far bigger than Oscar’s.
