What Bird wants to teach today's NBA players

Sid Ventura
Larry Bird.

Throughout his storied 13-year playing career, Larry Bird was known as a fiery competitor who also worked hard on improving his game year in and year out.  He kept on adding a new move to his offensive arsenal in his quest to always stay a step ahead of his defenders.

But in Bird’s eyes, today’s NBA players aren’t adding the right stuff to their game.

“A lot of my guys work very hard in the off-season,” Bird said of his Indiana Pacers. The problem I have with the guys that work hard don’t work on the right things.”

The three-time NBA MVP added that players need to be patient in developing their game, even as he revealed that while he had a deadly three-point shot, he hardly ever practiced his three-point shooting. To him, developing another shot was more important, something which he is trying to get his players to practice on more. 

RELATED: Larry Bird holds court, and he doesn't disappoint

“A lot of guys go out and they shoot 500 three-point shots,” he said. “And they can’t believe that when I practiced I never shot three-pointers. I always thought the mid-range game was the most important part of the game because you want to get the ball as close as you can to score, so layups are obviously what you want.

“But I always thought the mid-range game was what I need to work on more than the three-point shooting. So I always tell my guys, ‘In the summer, don’t work on three-point shooting. Work on your mid-range game.’ If they can do that on a consistent basis, they will get better.”

While he admits the game has changed from when he last played, Bird said he still tries to teach today’s players how he did things during his time. The Pacers president was seen on the court yesterday demonstrating a few moves to Indiana power forward David West.

“When a player asks me a question, I try to help him the way I did it,” he explained. “It might not work now because it’s been 27 years, but these guys will do whatever I ask them to do. And I just hope they do the right things to improve as they go along.”

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