There haven’t been too many players in the NBA that have walked into the league with the level of confidence Larry Bird walked in with and then backed it up. Larry Legend was unstoppable in college and carried it on for a huge part of his professional career until injuries impacted him later in his career, and the best part about his game was that he knew it and let his opponents know about it too.
The stories of him talking trash to his opponents are legendary, but that kind of confidence can only come with supreme ability, which Bird possessed in spades. The Boston Celtics man averaged over 20 points and 10 rebounds every season in his first 6 NBA campaigns, becoming a perennial All-Star right from his rookie year. And Bird knew he would be able to do that just days after he came into the league, as he once explained in an interview.
“Once I got out of college, I came to the pros, and well, ‘How’s he gonna do? He won’t be able to get his jumpshot off in the pros, or he won’t be quick enough, or he won’t be able to rebound’. And I think it took me probably 3 days after rookie camp, I found out, this league is nothing. I could play in this league and I would dominate this league.”
Bird won his first championship three seasons after being drafted into the NBA, and then went on to be League MVP for 3 seasons from 1984 to 1986. He would go on and win the NBA title on 2 more occasions during that stretch, firmly establishing himself as one of the greatest to ever do it. At the end of the day, Larry Bird will always be remembered as the man that said he would torch the league and did it.
