Boston Celtics Legend Robert Parish Puts LeBron James On Larry Bird’s Legendary Level

Boston Celtics legend Robert Parish puts LeBron James on Larry Bird’s level.

Robert Parish, a Boston Celtics legend and Hall of Fame center that played on four championship teams, has finally seen enough from LeBron James to put him on the level of his former teammate Larry Bird. Parish, who joined the Celtics in the 1980-1981 season, played 13 seasons beside “Larry Legend”, a player who most people consider to be one of the two greatest small forwards ever.

"Larry Bird is best small forward ever but LeBron James is giving me 2nd thoughts. LeBron & Larry are 1A/1B,pick your poison."-Robert Parish
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) April 24, 2017

Bird, whose shooting, passing, rebounding, defense and basketball IQ were all top-notch, amassed 21,791 points, 8,974 rebounds, 5,695 assists, 1,556 steals and 755 blocks in his career. He finished his career with averages of 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.8 blocks per game in his 13-year career.

Below is a video montage that puts Bird’s incredible skillset on display:

Bird, a three-time NBA champion, three-time NBA MVP and two-time Finals MVP was also a 12-time All-Star and Rookie of the Year. He was one of the first point-forwards to dominate the game and helped set an example for what James is supposed to be in that role.

James, however, takes what Bird can do on the court and in many ways amplifies it. He’s bigger, stronger, faster and more explosive than Bird was and it allows him to be that much more dynamic of a force on the court.

His passing ability and court vision is stellar, like Bird’s, but better. James averages 7.0 assists per game compared Bird’s 6.3 assists per game. James also has two seasons averaging at least 8.0 assists per game while Bird has none.

The areas of the game where Bird was clearly the better player are as a shooter and as a consistent on-ball defender.

However, James has had quite a few seasons of stellar outside shooting now, closing the gap between he and Bird’s career shooting numbers (36.3 percent compared to Bird’s 37.6 percent shooting). He’s been such a force in jumping the passing lanes that he could be seen as Bird’s equal as a defender (1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks per game compared to Bird’s 1.7 steals and 0.8 blocks per game).

Looking at their places on the career leaderboards, James is ahead of Bird in every statistical category except total rebounds. James should pass Bird in that category within the next three seasons.

What also sets James apart from Bird is James’ ability to dominate in a league full of grown men straight out of high school and remain durable past age 32. After Bird, who came into the league at 23-years-old, missed 76 games at age 32 (Achilles surgeries) and missed a total of 56 games in next three seasons.

More from Cavs News

While we don’t know how James’ body will hold up past this season, Bird’s last four seasons were seasons 10 through 13. With James in his 14th NBA season, we can look back and see how durable James was in his 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th season. In the same time frame where Bird missed 132 games, James missed 30. It should suffice to say, especially considering the fact that James has never had a major injury in his NBA career, that James is more durable than Bird.

Some might not want to say that durability matters when judging a player but with terms like “injury-prone” given to players to devalue them, a player’s durability is a mark or durability and resiliency. Of reliability.

James’ teams have been able to rely on James for a longer time than they were able to lean on Bird. That matters. Especially given that James had a career-year in many statistical categories in Year 14.

In conclusion, while Bird is better than James in a couple of ways, James is still the more dynamic player and at this point has been at least as dominant as Bird for way longer.

While comparing NBA legends isn’t always easy, it’s inevitable. It’s human nature. That’s why every game we watch LeBron James we want to see how much closer he can get to dethroning Michael Jordan as the greatest player of all-time.

It would seem like after all these years, James is finally getting the respect from the older generation of NBA stars. Believe it or not, that’s not easy. When considering that it was the teammate of one of these legends saying he thinks James could be better, it should make it that much more of a ceremonious moment.

I mean imagine if Phil Jackson said he thinks LeBron is better than Jordan. Can you imagine the headlines that would make?

Do you think LeBron James is better than Larry Bird? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.

*All stats referenced from www.basketball-reference.com