Magic, Bird, Goose and Joe B...

[sluggercatfan]

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Bird and Goose might have been teammates if Joe B. hadn't thought Bird was 'too slow.' Imagine how that would have turned out, with Larry as a senior the same time as Givens since he wouldn't have sat out a year like he did after getting sick of Bobby Knight: Just mail Kentucky the 1978 championship trophy! Oh yeah...

Report: Larry Bird once dreamed of playing for Kentucky

...

247sports.com

 

[Smashcat]

Bird and Goose might have been teammates if Joe B. hadn't thought Bird was 'too slow.' Imagine how that would have turned out, with Larry as a senior the same time as Givens since he wouldn't have sat out a year like he did after getting sick of Bobby Knight: Just mail Kentucky the 1978 championship trophy! Oh yeah...

Report: Larry Bird once dreamed of playing for Kentucky

...

247sports.com

Icing on the cake. It would have infuriated Bobby Knight.

 

[UK90]

Bird and Goose might have been teammates if Joe B. hadn't thought Bird was 'too slow.' Imagine how that would have turned out, with Larry as a senior the same time as Givens since he wouldn't have sat out a year like he did after getting sick of Bobby Knight: Just mail Kentucky the 1978 championship trophy! Oh yeah...

Report: Larry Bird once dreamed of playing for Kentucky

...

247sports.com

I think you likely could've mailed in the 75 and 77 championship trophies as well ...and a likely perfect undefeated season in 78. Considering how loaded we were anyways during that 75 to 78 four year period, it's crazy to consider the kind of run the addition of Bird would've meant. Probably wouldn't have beaten out that perfect 76 IU team, but the other three years we would've been BY FAR the best team in the country.

But, fwiw, that "too slow" story differs from what Joe B himself has cited as the reason he was reluctant to offer Bird. He once said his issue was the extremely quiet and introverted personality Bird had back then (apparently he barely said two words during his entire official visit to UK). He was concerned such a shy quiet country boy would have trouble fitting in the Lexington media fishbowl world.

 

[Zissou87]

I don't think Bird could handle the spotlight in Lexington and the BBN. Basketball wouldn't be an issue, but the rest would be too overwhelming for him.

 

[yoshukai]

I don't think Bird could handle the spotlight in Lexington and the BBN. Basketball wouldn't be an issue, but the rest would be too overwhelming for him.

Well he handled it pretty well in Boston.

 

[UK90]

Well he handled it pretty well in Boston.

Yep, but he was a different person back then. According to all I’ve read, in the mid-70s Bird had an almost pathologically introverted personality ..likely the result of coming from a dirt poor rural broken home with a suicidal father. His social skills back then were nothing like we later saw in his NBA days (when, frankly, they were still rather raw and blunt).

I suspect the Lexington spotlight would’ve repelled him in much the same way the IU one did. But, of course, we’ll never know, because Joe B never made the offer.