The NBA is full of stories when it comes to its biggest legends, the greats all have a plethora of amazing anecdotes from the time they started playing basketball. While the majority of their careers have come in the league, college was a formative time for a lot of brilliant players, and the stories from then provide insight into how these players became the personalities they did. Larry Bird is no exception.
The Boston Celtics man, who arguably enjoyed one of the best primes this league has ever seen, was good from his early days in college. Despite leaving the Hoosiers to join Indiana State, Bird’s game spoke for itself from his very first days at college. In fact, as a youngster on second teams, Bird and his teammates often beat the starters when they played games during practice.
(swipe left to the 5th slide for Bird’s quote)
“First year that I was here I sat out the year, practice was my games. Coach King was an absolutely fantastic basketball coach. The second unit, which I was on, we used to play against the first unit, and a lot of days we beat them. And Coach King used to sit me out of practice a lot because we were dominating the starters. And I never could understand that, I was frustrated.
“And one day I left, went to take a shower, ‘I’m outta here’. I said, if I can’t play when I’m not playing. But the next day I was called into Coach King’s office and he said, Look, I’ve never had a losing season. Everyday you come here, you demoralize the starting unit. We’re halfway through the season and they’re ready to give up because they can’t even beat you in practice.”
It must have been quite something to deal with a young Larry Bird for players that were supposed to be performing better than him. Eventually, Coach King was replaced by Bill Hodges and Bird blossomed into a massive college star, helping the team reach the NCAA championship game.
