You’ve got guys like Jokić and Dončić mixing scoring, passing, shooting and court‑vision in ways that Bird pioneered. Bird averaged 24.3 ppg, 10.0 rpg and 6.3 apg in his career. 

Then add in the stretch‑ability and one‑on‑one toughness of Durant, and the modern “positionless” star becomes a composite of Bird + KD. So when we call someone “a Bird‑+‑Durant”, does that capture the evolution of what star players do now?

Source: https://sportsorca.com/nba/larry-bird-luka-jokic-kd-hybrid/

4 comments

  1. > mixing scoring, passing, shooting and court‑vision in ways that Bird pioneered.

    oscar robertson was doing it before bird, though not as good of a shooter obviously

  2. I mean we do have Tatum on our team. Look at the player he’s evolved into and the playmaker he’ll probably continue to evolve into when he’s back

  3. Generally I don’t think it makes sense to attribute the evolution of the game to specific players. Like when people say “all these young guards shoot threes because of Steph” i think that’s kinda silly. If Steph didn’t exist, guys would still shoot way more threes than in the past. If Bird didn’t exist, you’d still have big strong forwards who can score and run the offense. He was the prototype for sure, can’t deny that.

  4. I wouldnt say that, but I think guys like Jokic and Doncic put to bed the notion that BIrd wouldnt have survived in today’s NBA pretty emphatically

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