The Answer to the Question: Dirk vs Bird

In honor of Mavs v Celts tonight, I thought I’d touch on the age old Dirk v Bird comparison. It’s kind of weird they are always compared since they play a pretty different style. I mean if Dirk was a black dude, I’m pretty sure Bird wouldn’t be the guy people pick as his benchmark, but when you are a tall, white, blonde dude w/ a great shot and a funny accent, its basically a foregone conclusion. All the Dirk-lovers (i.e. me) will side w/ the German bc we’re MFFLs, his greatness is still fresh in our minds, and bc when you say Larry Bird we think primarily of the hick from the McDonalds horse commercials. All the Dirk haters will dismiss him bc he’s not athletic, doesn’t play good D, and isn’t a vocal enough leader. Those things may or may not be true, but to those people I say Tyson Chandler is athletic, plays solid D, and is a vocal/emotional leader but won’t ever come close to the greatness of Dirk and Bird so SHUT UP. I’m a numbers guy; let’s see what they tell us….

Offensive Ability     G     Points     PPG     FG%     FT%     3P%     RPG     APG
Bird                      897   21,791    24.3     49.6%  88.6%   37.6%    10.0       6.3
Dirk                      959  22,016     23.0     47.5%  87.6%   38.1%     8.4        2.7

Takeaway: Dirk has more points now but in more games. FT% and 3P% are basically a wash. Bird has the edge in most offensive categories, even rebounds which sucks bc he was 6’9 and Dirk is 7’0 and the huge diff in assists say he was a lot better passer too. Advantage: Bird.
Hold up a sec. The pace of the game (# possessions per 48 min) was quicker back then, possibly skewing the numbers. For a true apples to apples comparison, we’d actually need to increase Dirk’s numbers by 12% (I read this somewhere) to account for the pace differential. Make the adjustment and Dirk averages 25.8 PPG and 9.4 RPG. Dirk is now the better scorer while rebounds are basically a wash. I’m talking myself into this. ADVANTAGE: DIRK


Passing Ability See stats above. It’s not that close. ADVANTAGE: BIRD



Defense
Bird – 3x all-defensive 2nd team
Dirk – next question

Takeaway – Bird is a better defensive rebounder and thiever of the ball. Blocked shots are unfortunately a wash. Dirk has a nice uh, slap move. ADVANTAGE: BIRD

Playoff Stats (i.e. Ability to rise up)
                              G     Points     PPG     FG%     FT%     3P%     RPG     APG
Bird                      164   3,897     23.8     47.2%   89.0%   32.1%    10.3       6.5
Dirk                      103   2,632     25.6     45.9%   88.2%   37.2%    10.9       2.6

Takeaway: Contrary to common belief, Dirk actually becomes a BETTER player when it counts as he scores almost 3 PPG more than normal, grabs about 2.5 rebounds more than normal and shoots FT even better when the game is on the line. Larry Legend is still good, but not materially different from the regular season. In terms of raising your game during the playoffs….ADVANTAGE: DIRK

Championships
Bird – 3 championships (’81, ’84, ’86)
Dirk – 1 honorary championship (’06)

Takeaway: Look, even Tracy McGrady knows Bennett Salvatore singled-handedly robbed us of the 'ship. I don’t know if DWade had dirt on him or if Haslem threatened to cap him or what, but we won that freaking title and if you disagree with me I don’t want you reading my blog anyway, so buzz off loser. ADVANTAGE: BIRD

Takeaway part 2: I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean to yell. I get a little emotional when I talk about that Heat series and I would love it if you read a little more.

Takeaway part 3: Bird played 11 of his 13 seasons alongside 3 other hall of famers. In the other two seasons, he played with 2 hall of famers. Dirk played has played with 2 HOFers, but at different times (Nash before he was great and Kidd after he was great). Larry was a winner, no doubt, but you need serious help to win a ship and he had it while Dirk hasn’t. With that said, I’m throwing this category out.

League MVPs/All-Star teams
Bird – 3x / 12x
Dirk – 1x / 10x

Takeaway: Bird won more, obviously. Dirk won’t match the MVPs but he’ll pass Bird in All-Stars. Still….ADVANTAGE: BIRD

Durability/Longevity It's one thing to be great. It's another thing to be great for a really long time. Benefitting from a lot of hard work and a little good fortune, Dirk has been both consistent and healthy. As our friend Bill Simmons noted HERE, Dirk will likely reach 23,000 pts by the end of the season. Based on current averages and accounting for an expected decline in production with age, he should reach the 30,000 point neighborhood before its all said and done. There are two current players that will probably get there before Dirk, but other than them only four guys in history have topped 30,000 for their career. Think about that for a second. When Dirk retires, the top seven scorers in NBA history could read Kareem, Malone, Jordan, Wilt, Kobe, Shaq, and Nowitzki. By that time, Larry will be outside the top 30. ADVANTAGE: DIRK

CONCLUSION: 3-3 tie. This was crazy long, but I think the exercise helped me appreciate both guys a little more. Ties are kind of gay though and I’m against gay things, so we’ll give the tiebreaker to the better looking man...WINNER: DIRK