Larry Bird doesn’t bring the Boston Celtics to a single NBA championship throughout the 1980s — a decade in which the franchise took home a trio of titles — or the early 1990s, which he didn’t anyway, if Red Auerbach doesn’t pull off what ClutchPoints’ Jesse Cinquini calls the organization’s best trade ever.
“If the Celtics didn’t make that trade for McHale and Parish back in the summer of 1980, it’s possible that they wouldn’t have won a title in the decade, even with Larry Bird on the roster,” Cinquini wrote.
Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, along with Bird, were named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021. Undoubtedly, their collective presence in Boston made for a championship recipe as a complement to No. 33. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, the team did win with the Big Three in tow. History can never say otherwise.
‘Mixed reactions’ on if Boston Celtics legends Larry Bird and Kevin McHale would’ve done well in modern NBA
A dialogue that is never seemingly capable of being put to bed for good but is discussed ad nauseam anyway is how the old guard of NBA legends would’ve fared in a much different Association today. When it comes to Bird and McHale, Celtics Wire relayed that there’s a mixed opinion on if they could.
“Which great basketball players from the 1980s and 90s would lose or gain value if they played in today’s NBA? League legends like Alex English, Larry Bird, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Kevin McHale, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Patrick Ewing are just a few of the names that came up in a recent discussion of stars who might see their status rise or fall in the league of today on an episode of the Athletic’s ‘NBA Show.'”
“For fans of the Boston Celtics, a time machine for the two stars of the 1980s mentioned above was something of a mixed bag with regards to modern-day versions of Bird and McHale given how the style of play has shifted considerably for players at each of their respective positions.”
Again, that question will never receive an answer. It’s futile to look for one.