There’s no way to become one of the greatest of all time if you’re not at least a little crazy. Michael Jordan is the perfect example of this, the stories of him being motivated to the point of beefing with everyone around him are legendary. All the greats are like this to an extent, even Larry Bird.
Larry Bird‘s trash talk is iconic, he incredibly destroyed Gary Payton once. But as Michael Jordan would go off on his teammates, so would Larry Legend. During a panel discussion, a former teammate of Bird’s recalled how he would talk trash to Ed Pinckney before practice.
“This is my favorite Larry Bird story. Ed Pinckney’s playing 15 minutes a game. And we’d come into Hellenic College and nobody felt like practicing… And Eddy Pinckncey would be sitting there, putting on his shoes. And Larry would come in, he would have his bag over his shoulder, his grey sweats on. And he would stand over Ed Pinckney and go, ‘Ed Pinckney. Ed Pinckney. I am gonna torch your a** today.’”
This story sounds exactly like something Larry Bird would do to motivate everyone, he did once torch the Brooklyn Nets after an airport-related issue. And while some would have a problem with how Bird approached Pinckney, the man himself knew what it was about.
Ed Pinckney Told His Side Of The Story Of Larry Bird Talking Smack To Him
Ed Pinckney knew that Larry Bird was trying to get some competitive fire going within the Boston Celtics team when he talked smack to him, admitting as much when telling the same story.
“You know as a competitor, when you’re matched up against someone who’s touted as the best, you have pride as an individual player. You’re not just gonna go into practice and lay down,” Pinckney told host Jason Fraser. “And this dude used to come into practice every day and go, ‘Pinck, sorry. I gotta kick your a** today.’
“And I would be like, ‘Nah, that’s not gonna happen,’ ” Pinckney continued. “He’d be like, ‘Yeah, nah, yes, it is. Don’t take it personal, but I’m really gonna kick your ass.’ And that’s how practice would start off. And I would be like, ‘Alright, let’s go. Let’s go at it.’ “
A lot of people don’t have what it takes to get to the very top. There’s a reason that there has never quite been anyone like Larry Bird again. And this story can be a great lesson to young hoopers, both to know that it’s important to stay motivated every day and also to know how to react to things like this productively.
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