Basketball Time Machine: 'NBA Legends Explain Why Larry Bird Was Better Than Everybody'

Source:Basketball Time Machine- Sir Charles Barkley talking about Larry Legend Bird.

"In this Video NBA Legends explain why Larry Bird was Better than everybody

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Larry Bird 2022, nba legends on larry Bird, Larry Bird open court, michael jordan Larry Bird, Larry Bird Clutch Moments, NBA Legends explain Larry Bird, Larry Bird Full Game, Larry Bird documentary, Larry Bird dennis rodman... 

From Basketball Time Machine

I'll put it this way, Larry Bird was better than everyone in this video. I didn't see Earvn Johnson or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Michael Jordan in it. I got Kareem down as the NBA GOAT and then I would let Larry, Earvin, Michael, and Wilt Chamberlain, battle it out for 2nd place. 

As I explained on The New Democrat on Monday, what made Larry Bird better than practically everyone else, including Michael Jordan, is he dominated the game mentally and through preparation. He was always a step ahead of everyone else, including his own freakin head coach K.C. Jones, whose in the Hall of Fame, the best coach that Larry ever played for, one of the best head coaches ever, probably a top 10. 

I didn't see the Charles Barkley comment on Larry Bird that matches up with anything in the caption in this photo, but he did have this to say to sports talk show host Dan Patrick about Larry Bird: 

"Am I better than Bird? Man, that's a great question. I'm a better rebounder. I'm probably a better defender. He's a better shooter, obviously...It's a team game...I do things better than him. If you give me Parish, McHale, and DJ imma be alright."

From the Basketball Network

With all due respect to Charles Barkley, Sir Charles knows a helluva lot better. Of course Larry played for better teams, but that's not the point. It's what you do with the team that you play for and how you make them better and what you personally accomplish yourself. 

Barkley is one of the best offensive players in NBA history, but probably not even one of the 50 greatest NBA players ever because he wasn't a great NBA defender and was a liability defensively as a forward because he couldn't guard the 3 or 4 very well. 

You can also see this post on WordPress.

Basketball Time Machine: 'NBA Legends Explain How Larry Bird Made Everyone Look Back'

Source:Basketball Time Machine- The Worm Dennis Rodman on Larry Legend Bird.

"Larry Bird, Larry Bird clutch plays, Larry Bird highlights, Larry Bird NBA Legends, larry bird passes, larry bird 2022,

Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan highlights, Michael Jordan larry bird, Michael Jordan top 50, Larry Bird trash... 

From Basketball Time Machine

Dennis Rodman: "If Larry Bird Played In This Era, I Think He'd Be In Europe" Dennis Rodman doesn't think Larry Bird would excel in today's NBA." That from Sports Illustrated. 

With all due respect to Dennis Rodman, who I consider to be the greatest NBA outside defender ever and perhaps the greatest all around defensive player in the NBA history, (who I don't respect much as a person) he's dead wrong about Larry Bird and he probably knows that. Maybe he just made that statement because he's having a hard time dealing with the fact that a good ole boy, the so-called hick from French Lick, a "white boy, cracker, honkey, etc" routinely embarrassed him on the court and maybe he's just saying that to appease the so-called brothers and his fans. 

Dennis Rodman could guard Earvin Johnson, Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, James Worthy, Adrian Dantley, Mark Aquirre, Charles Barkley, if he played Dr. J Julius Erving, he could've guarded Doc very well in his prime as well. But Larry Bird lit up Dennis his first four seasons in the NBA, except for 1989 when Bird missed most of that season because he broke his foot and the last two season's of Bird's career, he was dealing with a bad back. 

Something you have to know about entertainers, athletes, and politicians: (and Dennis Rodman's case, who qualifies for all three) what they say publicly, is not always what they say and believe privately. Publicly, if their fans and popularity are very important to them financially, they'll speak a different game than what they actually believe. And I think that's the case with Dennis Rodman. But I'm not a mindreader.

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Youn Gala: 'NBA Legends & Players Explain Why Larry Bird Would Destroy Today's NBA'

Source:Youn Gala- left to right: the 2nd greatest forward in NBA history and the greatest guard in NBA history, talking about the greatest forward in NBA history, Larry Bird. No one wanted to beat Larry Bird, more than Julius Erving & Earvin Johnson.

"NBA Legends And Players Explain Why Larry Bird Would Destroy Today's NBA" 

From Youn Gala

As I talked about yesterday on The New Democrat: Larry Bird dominated the NBA mentally. And add his hand-eye coordination as well, I think only Magic Johnson comes close as far as eye-hand coordination in the NBA. 

And yes, Larry Legend had great size, 6'9, some people say 6'10, 230 pounds of muscle. The Boston Celtics always undersized him and said that Bird was 215-220 pounds. Maybe in his first few years, but not by the mid and late 1980s. But it's Bird's basketball intelligence, his homework and I'm sure being 6'9 helped him see very well, because he was generally so much bigger and stronger, as well as taller, than most of the small forwards back then that tried to cover him. James Worthy and Dominique Wilkins being the exceptions to that. 

Why would Larry Bird destroy the NBA today? 

There are several reasons and one of the main ones is that NBA is so much different now. A lot more teams, a lot more games on cable, including the NBA Finals, instead of on broadcast network TV, a lot more players, and just to be real frank about this, the players and teams just aren't as good as even in the 1990s, when the quality of play, teams, and players started to decline, from the 1980s, when the NBA was at it's peak as far as the quality of players and teams. But again, the style of play and the culture of the NBA is so much different now. 

When Larry Bird played, it was a big man's league and he was this 6'9 big man, who played like a great NBA guard, not just small forward. Because the NBA is so perimeter oriented today, where the power forward and center positions, have all been eliminated, where every NBA player now who is 6'8 or taller, wants to be the next great point forward, instead of power forward or center. Even if they are 6'11 or 7'0 and have good strength as well, they still want to be the next great point forward, not big man. Larry Legend could or would be a center today, because of his size and the style of play today. Or, you would need your center to try to cover him, because your small forward is just too damn short and small to try to match up with him. 

Plus, the fact that NBA defense is not emphasized nearly as much today, as even 30 years ago, where players are like: "I'll try to stay with him and perhaps even put my hands up, but I don't want to get into foul trouble and I want to conserve my energy for offense, especially 3-pointers." 

But nothing to fear, because Larry Bird is 66 today and he probably wouldn't want to play in today's NBA anyway, because it would be way too easy for him. And he would feel guilty about destroying young NBA players who simply aren't good enough to play with or against him.

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Basketball Time Machine: 'NBA Legends Explain How Larry Bird Destroyed Everyone'

Source:Basketball Time Machine- Los Angeles Lakers defender Michael Cooper, talking about the great Larry Bird.

"In this Video NBA Legends explain why Larry Bird was Better than everybody

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From Basketball Time Machine

I think Michael Jordan has the best quote that I've ever heard about Larry Bird. He said that he played against Larry Bird for 8 seasons and still to this day, doesn't know what position that Bird played, because Bird made so many plays and so many key plays. Bird would make the long range jump shot, get the key drive to the basket, get the key bucket in the post, make the great assist, lead and run the fast break, key rebound, key steal, etc. He would make all the plays that a point guard, off-guard, small forward, power forward, and center would make. So what position did Larry Bird play? And he could defend all 3 positions up front as well. 

For the sake of this post, I got Larry Bird down as the greatest forward of all-time and I also believe that. To me, Larry Bird and Julius Erving are the two greatest NBA forwards ever. If I had to put an all-time NBA team together, they would be my two starting forwards. But why is Bird the greatest forward and arguably the greatest player in NBA history? He wasn't fast, didn't jump very well, not overly bulky, but certainly strong. 

I think the best way to look at Larry Bird, is to look at him the way you would look at Wayne Gretzky in hockey or John Unitas in football. And if you don't know who those two other players are, this post is not going to help you that much and I'm not going to tell you who they are. Bird, Gretzky, and Unitas, all have the ability to see things happening that have haven't happened yet, simply by paying attention to the entire game and what's going on. 

The perfect example for Bird, is that great defensive play that he made against Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons during game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. If Isiah just calls timeout or waits a second and passes the ball to his center Bill Laimbeer, game over and the Pistons win. They're already up 1 and either the time runs out or Laimbeer goes to the other side of the court and shoots 2 three throws even if he misses both of them, not enough time for the Celtics, even with Larry Bird, to come back and win the game. But as always, Bird can see exactly what was going on. 

All the Pistons had to do here was to successfully inbound the ball and the game is probably over. So Bird completely paying attention to what Isiah is doing and Isiah gives Bird a gift not even knowing that Bird is even in play, because he's rushing when he didn't need to and throws a lazy pass, that Bird picks off, Dennis Johnson is following the whole play the whole time as well, cuts to the basket, where Bird hits him with perfect pass, after making the perfect steal and the Celtics win the game. 

I think the greatest play that Larry Bird ever made, at least in the postseason, was a defensive play. And it wasn't even a great athletic play, Bird was simply completely aware of what was going on, could see what was developing, and had the perfect reaction and execution to what was going on. And was a play that I believe no other player whose ever played professional basketball before, could've made, certainly in that position and under those conditions.

I might be in the minority on this, but I think what separates Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, even from Michael Jordan, is that Legend and Magic could dominate the game, win the game, be the best player in the game, by not scoring, because they could do so many other things both offensively and defensively. And if you don't believe me, just a solid highlight package of all three of those great players will make my point for me. 

A typical highlight package of Larry Bird, you'll see a lot of great baskets, but also a lot of great rebounds, assists, and steals. Same thing with Earvin Johnson. With Michael Jordan, most of his highlights will be great baskets, with a lot of great athletic ability involved with those baskets. Larry Bird dominated by the NBA by doing everything and he did that by being smarter than everyone else on the court and whose ever played basketball.

You can also see this post on WordPress.

You can also see this follow piece to this post, on The New Democrat.

NBA: Charles Barkley- Career Retrospective

Source: NBA-

Source:NBA

Charles Barkley can't be completely written about in just a few posts. The man is now fifty-years old and you spend weeks writing articles and spend years writing books and producing films and doing interviews about the man and still not cover everything. And all of this could be said when the man finished his playing career fifteen years ago. There's just so much about him and not just his playing career where he might be one of the top ten players of in NBA history. Certainly one of the top ten forwards and perhaps the greatest player who has ever played power forward in the NBA.

But is doesn't end there with Chuck just as a basketball player. Here's a man who stands 6'4-6'5 who on the street and any other profession would be a very tall man. If he played point guard in basketball he would be a tall basketball player. If he played shooting guard he would've had the right height. Chuck was short for a small forward, let alone power forward and he is the greatest height for height if not the greatest rebounder of all-time. A man who is 6'4 going up against guys who are 6'8-6'10 every night and yet no power forward in the NBA could box the man out. At least not on a regular basis.

And this is just about part of Chuck's career as a basketball player. I think he is the greatest player to ever play power forward. Not the greatest power forward, I would rather take Karl Malone and Tim Duncan over him. But no other full-time power forward has had the skills and great at so many different aspects of basketball than Charles Barkley who has played power forward. And that includes Larry Bird who played perhaps played as much power forward as the small forward position in the NBA.

But this again is just part of one of Charles Barkley's career as a basketball player and an aspect of his life. Other posts should and have been written about different aspects of his career. Like why the Philadelphia 76ers didn't win more with him, when they should've remained an NBA Finals contender for the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s. But they weren't run very well post Julius Erving and Bill Cunningham and John Nash. And you can go into Chuck as the NBA analyst, the cultural analyst and the comedian. But those are for future posts.

ESPN: SportsCentury- Karl Malone

Source: ESPN- Salt Lake mailman Karl Malone, LOL! Actually, Utah Jazz power forward and one of the best NBA players ever.

I'm stuck between Karl Malone and Tim Duncan as far as who is the best power forward of all-time. I think Duncan is the better all around player than The Mailman, but that is a little different than who is the better power forward. Players are exactly that and positions are that as well and besides Duncan is really a center/power forward or vice-versa, he's played a lot of both positions throughout his career. But The Mailman is certainly the best power forward of the 1990s and perhaps the 1980s as well.

When you think of the prototypical power forward, the classic power forward, the total package as a power forward and then some, Karl Malone is exactly that. When you are talking about a man who was 6'9 255-260 pounds, with the quickness and shooting ability of a power forward and the physical strength of a center. He would've dominated at either position, but not being much of a shot blocker, better suited at playing the big forward, than playing center, at least playing center full-time. He was The Mailman because he delivered basically all of the time for the, I still feel strange saying this, but the Utah Jazz.

Malone put the Jazz on his back and carried that team his entire career. He was the only great and big scorer on his team almost his entire career. The only great rebounder and perhaps even good rebounder on his team throughout his career and the only great big man for the Salt Lake Jazz as I prefer to call them that the Jazz have ever had. And yet they were a title contender throughout the 1990s. And John Stocton was a big part of that as far as quarterbacking the Jazz being the great point guard that he was. But if Karl has a bad night offensively and they are playing a good team, the Jazz probably lose.

To go back to my point about the prototypical power forward, The Mailman was exactly that. He and Elvin Hayes might be the top two pure power forwards of all-time. Charles Barkley was more of a hybrid forward, someone with great skills at both the power forward and small forward. And I believe a better all around player than Karl and perhaps the best height for height rebounder of all-time at around 6'5. But Karl was exactly what you want from your power forward and then some. Tall, big, strong, quick, great inside scorer, great rebounder and an excellent defender and passer in the post.

Karl Malone was called The Mailman, because he was exactly that. He delivered for the Jazz time and time again and took them as far as he could almost by himself in the 1980s and 1990s. And perhaps just a few plays away from winning at least one NBA Finals in the late 1990s against the Chicago Bulls. Had the Jazz had a great swingman, small forward or shooting guard or good if not all-star caliber center to go with Malone and Stocton, maybe they would've won two NBA Finals in the late 1990s, instead of none. But they got very far with The Mailman delivering as much as he could.

ESPN: SportsCentury- Dr. J Julius Erving

Source: ESPN- NBA Center Darryl Dawkins-

Source:ESPN

If you think about Dr. J as the dunker and watch all of his dunking highlights and that is all you know about him from mostly a basketball pop or hip hop culture perspective, what you know about Julius Erving is probably only what you've seen about him on ESPN or YouTube. And you are even too dumb or too young and perhaps both to truly understand the greatness of Julius Erving. Julius wasn't a great dunker, but a great basketball player who also happens to be perhaps the best dunker of all-time. But that was just part of Julius's greatness.

The Doctor of Basketball was also a great defender and a great rebounder. Think about it, 6'6 or 6'7 small forward with thirty-thousand career points and ten-thousand rebounds. How many other small forward have done that, no one else. A great man-on-man defender who could stop his man, but always knew what else was going around him. How did he get all of those great breakaway dunks, by playing the passing lanes and picking off passes and exploding to the bucket for those great dunks. Or running the floor with someone else feeding him the ball.

The Philadelphia 76ers of the late 1970s and early 1980s were perfect for Dr. J. Because they were a great defensive team that scored a lot of their points by taking the ball away from the other team and running the floor. Which fit Julius perfectly because that is how he played. And then add Moses Malone to the picture in 1983 and now you have a great defensive and breakaway team that now has a dominant force in the middle on both offense and defense and the 76ers became complete.

Dr. J became a great team player in 1983 with Moses Malone, because now he had another great player around him and no longer needed to do everything for the 76ers to win. And could rely on Moses and make his other teammates better and use them as well and just play his great all around game on both offense and defense. And what you had as a result are the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers as simply one of the best pure teams of all-time with Julius leading the way. And we got to see how truly great a player Julius was and he and the 76ers got the rewards of his greatness.

Lakers Dynasty: The 1987-88 Los Angeles Laker Back to Back

Source:The Daily Journal

The Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s were a great dynasty for several reasons and more reasons because they had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin Johnson and Pat Riley as their head coach and Jerry West as their general manager. They had the best center of all-time, the best point guard of all-time, one of the best head coaches of all-time in Pat Riley, one of the best executives of all-time in Jerry West. And a great chief executive in Jerry Buss, again one of the best ever. All these people are Hall of Famers and in Jerry West a Hall of Famer as one of the best players of all-time as well as one of the best general managers of all-time.

And you add in James Worthy another Hall of Famer and a guy who played both small forward and power forward at 6'9 225 pounds the size to play both positions and you throw in their fast break, I believe the best ever with their ability to defend, rebound, run the floor. Kareem, Magic, Riley and their fast break is what they are known for, but these are just some of the reasons why they were a great dynasty. 

You had Jerry West putting the teams together, Pat Riley leading the teams and then Kareem and Magic, both two of the best players of all-time not just at their positions and you can make a good case for both of them that they are the best basketball players of all-time period as their lead players, with Worthy backing them up, who on most other teams in the NBA would be the best player on the team, but since he played for the Showtime Lakers he was the third best player.

The Showtime Lakers had three of the best players in the league all on the same team with the best head coach in the league at least at the time in Pat Riley with their three franchise players. One or two of them even could have a bad game, not in a championship game, at least not two of them and the Lakers could still win. Because two or just one of them was great enough to pick up the slack for one or two players. The Celtics back then were the only other team in the NBA that had that.

With all that, that's still not enough to be NBA champions, that's most of the pieces, but not all of them. They had great role players as well, Byron Scott great outside shooter and defender, Michael Cooper the same thing and with the ability to play both guard positions and small forward. Kurt Rambis excellent post defender, rebounder and ran the floor very well and a great hustle player. AC Green another excellent rebounder and post defender who ran the floor very well and could score a little as well. Mychal Thompson a great third big man, the ability to play both center and power Forward. Could rebound defend, score and ran the floor very well as well.

The Showtime Lakers are known for their fast break, but what doesn't get mentioned is why they are a great fast break team. Back then the Lakers were also one of the best defensive teams if not the best defensive team as well as a very good rebounding team and the best passing team in the league. Their defense and rebounding led to their fast breaks, with Earvin Johnson the best Point Guard the NBA has ever seen running the Laker show. 

But with Kareem, Magic, Worthy, their outside shooters, they were also a great half court team. The Showtime Lakers were like a great movie or TV show with a great producer, director, great lead actors and great character actors with everyone knowing their roles and playing them up to their best ability. Which is why I believe the Showtime Lakers are the best NBA dynasty of all time. 

HBO Films: Magic & Bird, a Courtship of Rivals

This film is about the two men who saved the National Basketball Association in the 1980s. And to know that, you have to be familiar with the NBA back in the late 1970s. The fact that the NBA finals were shown on tape-delay television means the game is played at one point. The network back then was CBS and CBS Sports, which recorded the game and broadcast it. The game was played at 8 or 9 pm, but then CBS Sports aired the game at midnight after the local TV news.

Regarding Earvin Magic Johnson's and Larry Legend Bird's second or third season, sports fans wanted to see the NBA again and their ratings were back up and all of their games are now being shown live. The reason for this is that both players were great to see, but why were they great to see: Because of what they were about, which wasn't themselves but their teams and winning. All they were interested in was winning, and as the great NBA basketball head coach Pat Riley said, Magic and Legend were about team first and team last and everything else in between and nothing else.

The only thing that Magic and Legend cared about was winning and the fact that they were the two best. Players, at least of their generation playing for the two best teams of this era, and playing in opposite conferences, Larry Bird playing for the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference, and Earvin Johnson playing for the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference, and for either to win the NBA finals, most likely they would have to beat the Celtics or Lakers. It meant for the two best team players of all time to win the championship. They would have to beat each other to do that.

I am not sure whether Larry Bird and Earvin Johnson would have been as great as they were had they not played in the same era and were from the same generation. Had they been clearly the best players of their era without anyone to push them for the top and had the Celtics been the best team of this era without the Lakers to push them and vice-versa I am not sure they would have been as great as they were without the other player and team pushing them. Because part of Legend's and Magic's greatness was the other pushing them to make them as great as they were:  the competition of the rivalry.

Everything Sports: Video: ESPN's SportsCentury Charles Barkley, Larger Than Life

Source:The Daily Post 

It’s hard to describe Charles Barkley in a few sentences or even in a blog. But I’m a blogger who blogs about sports sometimes and I’m very familiar with Charles Barkley and grew up watching his career. So I’m going to give it a shot, but Sir Charles was an entertainer and commentator who also happened to be a great basketball player. Someone who had a lot of talent and basketball was one of those things, but not his whole talent and the entire person. Perhaps the best way to describe Charles Barkley would be to call him the Muhammad Ali of pro basketball. 

Charles or Chuck was someone who was great at his full-time job meaning basketball, but could’ve done a lot of other things and did those things. And is still doing those things like commentating not just on basketball, but culture and politics as well. That rumor of him wanting to be Governor of Alabama 10-15 years ago which was his home state, was real and something that he could’ve done and perhaps he would’ve made a good Governor and candidate. If he put in all of the work, but Charles was and is larger than basketball and always will be.

In Charles Barkley’s rookie season in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984-85, his nickname was the round mound of rebound because his rookie season he was 6’4 285 pounds or so and looked more like an offensive lineman or defensive lineman, but with the athletic ability of a great basketball player. But the word rebound was also part of that nickname because even in his rookie season playing power-forward at 6’4 maybe 6’5 at most, Barkley was already one of the best at his position.

Barkley was already one of the best if not the best rebounders in the NBA especially as an offensive rebounder. but he was also a great defensive rebounder and this is a guy who played with the great center Moses Malone in Philadelphia who might be the best rebounder of all-time. And now you have these two great big man and rebounders of all-time on your team. Without doubt height for height Charles Barkley is the greatest rebounder of all-time. A guy who is 6’4 and every game going up against power forwards who were 6’9-6’10 some taller than that, when 6’8 was considered short for a power forward. And Charles was the best rebounder of the entire group.

Charles Barkley the basketball player was a great rebounder the best height for height rebounder of all-time. But here’s a power forward who was also a great ball handler and passer, who could shoot the ball, lead the fast break. Had great work-ethic, a great clutch player who really had the whole package as a basketball player. And then you are talking about the great post game as a power forward on a 6’4 body, but with the physical strength of a defensive lineman in football. With the athletic ability of a great NBA guard. Which are just some of the reasons why Charles Barkley is one of the greatest basketball players of all- time. And perhaps the greatest player who has ever played power forward.

Sports Batman: Video: SportsCentury Wilt Chamberlain, a Giant Amongst Men

Source:The Daily Post

When I think of giants in NBA basketball, I always think of one guy first which is Wilt Chamberlain. Because he’s not the heaviest or the tallest, but the biggest ,the strongest man who has ever played basketball. Shaquille O’Neal has nothing on Wilt when it comes to strength and as a giant. Because Wilt was 7’1 270 pounds or so all muscle, Shaq the same hight and probably weighing 320 pounds. But without the brute strength of Wilt because Shaq was not all muscle, didn’t play with the same energy for an entire game that Wilt did. 

Shaq wasn’t the rebounder or the defender that Wilt was and wasn’t as dominant or have the all around offensive game even in the post that Wilt did. Shaq is the dominant center of the last decade and late 1990s, but not even the best center of his generation. That goes to Hakeem and I would take Patrick Ewing in his prime over Shaq as well. So to say that Shaq who was a great player and a great center was the Wilt Chamberlain or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of his generation is unfair to Wilt and Kareem. Who were both better, but also unfair to Shaq for him to try to live up to that.

As impressive as Wilt’s stats are the rebounds, points, assists as well and if block shots were a stat back then, he would’ve had a lot of those as well, Wilt was that he also won two NBA Championships, one with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967 one of the best teams of all-time, but also with the 1972 Los Angeles Lakers another team that’s one of the best of all-time, but here’s a player that played for two of the best NBA teams of all time and won two championships with them. 

Wilt probably would’ve won more and perhaps didn’t do enough to make that happen and perhaps more interested in his own point totals. The famous saying being that Wilt scored more points against Bill Russell every time they played for the championship. But Russell would always win the championships except in 1967, is not just a joke, but is real because Russell was a better team player, but he also played for better teams.

You could make a case for either Wilt or Kareem as being the best center of all-time. And you also make a very good case for either of them being the best player of all-time as well. I lean towards Kareem as someone who was the best center in the best era that the NBA has ever seen for centers. And big man in general and Kareem was a better team player as well. But no one ever dominated the game from an individual standpoint as Wilt. Which makes him the most dominant player in NBA history. And a giant amongst men in the NBA.

Vintage NBA: Moses Malone, The Chairman of The Boards

Source:The Daily Press 

Moses Malone was simply a bull with a lot of skills who was almost impossible to box out with his brute strength, quickness and determination. Whose one of the top five centers of all-time because of what he could do in the paint both offensively and defensively. Who also might be the best offensive rebounder of all-time as well. Kareem, Wilt, Bill Russell and maybe Hakeem and that would be the only centers I would take over Moses and I could easily have Moses over Hakeem, but that would be a tossup.

Imagine a man 6’9-6’10 260 pounds or so, of brute strength and muscle, but who was also very quick and athletic. The man was impossible to box out for the most part, I’m not sure Wilt Chamberlain could box out Moses in his prime. The man was simply a bull physically as a man, but with a heart bigger than that. And when he was finally put on a very good team, a great team, one of the best teams of all-time in the NBA, the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers, you really got to see how great he was and how great he could make other players, including other great players.