NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird could talk trash with the best of them.
He is considered among the most disrespectful trash-talkers in league history. As great as he was at it, he was perhaps even better as a coach. Bird led the Indiana Pacers from 1997-2000.
“Larry was so blunt and to the point,” former player Chris Mullin said during an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. “You know, halftime he’d be like, `you (bleeping) starters don’t start playing, in five minutes I’m taking y’all (bleep) out.”‘
Posted by All the Smoke on Thursday, March 27, 2025
Bird helped the Pacers reach the Eastern Conference finals in 1998 and the NBA Finals in 2000. He reached success because of a blunt attitude with players.
“I remember a game in Milwaukee,” Mullin said. “I’m like 4 for 9. Not playing great but not … He said, `Mully, come here. You gonna make a (bleeping) shot or what?’ Just keep it real simple.”
GIANNIS PROPS OLDER GENERATION
NBA All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo appreciated the compliment from LeBron James but disagreed with it.
During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show this week, James said Antetokounmpo would average 50 points if he played in the 1970s. Antetokounmpo downplayed the comments.
“I don’t know about that take,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think it’s an own take. I think if I played in the `70s, it would probably be more like 75, not 50. I’m joking. Great compliment but I don’t like comparing eras. It’s not fair.”
James followed a popular narrative of today’s players being bigger, faster and stronger. Antetokounmpo refused to feed into because he thinks it’s unfair to compare eras.
He feels the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson were great players regardless of when they played. Kudos to Antetokounmpo because it’s a rarity for today’s generation to have this take. It’s the same for the older generation, which often thinks it’s era was far superior because of more physical play.
“If I played in the `70s, how everybody practiced and how everybody played, we would have played the same way,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s all you knew at the time. The game evolves and we got to 2020 and we know more. People shoot the ball from halfcourt … It’s totally different, so you cannot compare this era with that era.”
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
Follow our coverage on Facebook
X: @BackInTheDayNBA
