How Long Would Larry Bird Have Played Without the Injury?

[NewYorkNoPicks]

Iguess this question is more directed at Celtic fams, but anyone who saw him play on a regular basis probably is qualified to answer. Bird injured his back, retired after the 92 season. Assuming his back was fine, how long could he have played? And how long at a high level?

[andgar923]

Iguess this question is more directed at Celtic fams, but anyone who saw him play on a regular basis probably is qualified to answer. Bird injured his back, retired after the 92 season. Assuming his back was fine, how long could he have played? And how long at a high level?

If he played today much longer.

He would've received better treatment, training, dieting, etc.etc. I don't think Bird lifted weights or did the type of modern conditioning players do today until late in his career. And I'm sure that most of that was for rehab.

Thing is, kids 14 years old today are training the way the pros did in the 80s. I said this in a thread a long time ago, we'll see Bron play at a high level in his late 40s and I wouldn't be surprised if future generations keep playing well into their 50s and beyond.

As technology and modern medicine improves, so will a player's longevity and performance.

If he never injured his back, he'd be playing well into his 30s, but all the beer would eventually get to him.

[Eric Cartman]

If he played today much longer.

He would've received better treatment, training, dieting, etc.etc. I don't think Bird lifted weights or did the type of modern conditioning players do today until late in his career. And I'm sure that most of that was for rehab.

Thing is, kids 14 years old today are training the way the pros did in the 80s. I said this in a thread a long time ago, we'll see Bron play at a high level in his late 40s and I wouldn't be surprised if future generations keep playing well into their 50s and beyond.

As technology and modern medicine improves, so will a player's longevity and performance.

If he never injured his back, he'd be playing well into his 30s, but all the beer would eventually get to him.

[1987_Lakers]

If he played today much longer.

He would've received better treatment, training, dieting, etc.etc. I don't think Bird lifted weights or did the type of modern conditioning players do today until late in his career. And I'm sure that most of that was for rehab.

Thing is, kids 14 years old today are training the way the pros did in the 80s. I said this in a thread a long time ago, we'll see Bron play at a high level in his late 40s and I wouldn't be surprised if future generations keep playing well into their 50s and beyond.

As technology and modern medicine improves, so will a player's longevity and performance.

If he never injured his back, he'd be playing well into his 30s, but all the beer would eventually get to him.

lmao

[andgar923]

Sounds hard to believe but it's a possibility.

We'll be seeing Kobe play well into his mid 40s.

MJ didn't benefit from today's advancements until his late 20s, and they still weren't as advanced. Yet he was still a good player in his late 30s, some believe that he could be a productive player right now at 50-ish.

We're already seeing players bounce back from injuries faster than before, injuries that would've cost a player's season are now weeks, injuries that would've retired players in the past are now treatable. And this is the case for all of sports. In the future we'll see things we'd never thought would be possible, and if embryonic stem cell research is allowed in the US, we'll see a new world of possibilities arise, just like there is in other countries.

[NewYorkNoPicks]

Well what im asking is how much further into the 90s could he haved played wothout the back injury? And how many of those years could he have played at a high level? Could he have made it 20 years?

[andgar923]

Well what im asking is how much further into the 90s could he haved played wothout the back injury? And how many of those years could he have played at a high level? Could he have made it 20 years?

No.

He had a bad diet, didn't work out, and drank too much beer. Besides, he played forward in a tough physical era, his body wouldn't have lasted much.

[The Choken One]

andgar.........

Just stop. Into the 40's & 50's?

Bro... no.

[vinsane01]

Sounds hard to believe but it's a possibility.

We'll be seeing Kobe play well into his mid 40s.

MJ didn't benefit from today's advancements until his late 20s, and they still weren't as advanced. Yet he was still a good player in his late 30s, some believe that he could be a productive player right now at 50-ish.

We're already seeing players bounce back from injuries faster than before, injuries that would've cost a player's season are now weeks, injuries that would've retired players in the past are now treatable. And this is the case for all of sports. In the future we'll see things we'd never thought would be possible, and if embryonic stem cell research is allowed in the US, we'll see a new world of possibilities arise, just like there is in other countries.

I think you are reaching dude. Could MJ be productive at 50 if he stayed in shaped and dedicated much time in the gym to counterbalance the effects of aging? He could be able to play basketball at a high level but not in a level dominated by younger competition. I think that is the major factor here. Basketball is a popular sport and young people all over the globe wants to play in the NBA. Age and injuries isnt the only factor preventing the veterans from staying, younger players will always be there to challenge the older guys.

Advances in medicine to combat the body's deterioration is a nice thought but right now it's relatively far from reality.

[KDthunderup]

apparently there are scientist developing a drug which can slow down the aging process, it could be possible to have players in the distant future even playing into there 60's

[AirTupac]

Hahahahaha High level at 40's and 50's hahahahahaah


hahahahahahahahahhaa
ahahahaha















hahahahahahaha
hahaha

[Tha Catalyst]

If he played today much longer.

He would've received better treatment, training, dieting, etc.etc. I don't think Bird lifted weights or did the type of modern conditioning players do today until late in his career. And I'm sure that most of that was for rehab.

Thing is, kids 14 years old today are training the way the pros did in the 80s. I said this in a thread a long time ago, we'll see Bron play at a high level in his late 40s and I wouldn't be surprised if future generations keep playing well into their 50s and beyond.

As technology and modern medicine improves, so will a player's longevity and performance.

If he never injured his back, he'd be playing well into his 30s, but all the beer would eventually get to him.

Your either a madman who has been given time in the computer room at a mental asylum or you have literally no idea of how the human body works and how medicine advances and at what rate it advances. That was absolutely moronic rambling. I'm sorry.

[KevinNYC]

No.

He had a bad diet, didn't work out, and drank too much beer. Besides, he played forward in a tough physical era, his body wouldn't have lasted much.

I don't think Bird drank too much beer late in his career. He used to go out partying so much with Rick Robey that the Celtics traded Robey for this reason. A lot of Celtics say it's no coincidence won his first MVP the year of that trade. I know the 1986 Celtics swore off drinking for the playoffs.

Bird certainly did work out. Perhaps by work out you mean lift weights. But he had a pretty tough off season schedule and kept himself in shape, but it was an old-school routine. The main way he kept himself in shape was running, biking and basketball. It's not Bird like ever came into camp out of shape. Those 80's Celtics teams ran and ran and that's what most of their preseason workouts consisted of. I know in the early years that Bill Fitch was known for having brutal workouts. Phil Jackson was coached by him in college and said Fitch would run them dizzy and then have them do pushups.

In the Book, When The Game Was Ours, they discuss Bird's workouts in the summer of 83 after they got swept by the Bucks in the playoffs.

At 7am every morning he would run 5 miles ever morning uphill, bike 20 miles then shoot hundreds of jumpers and free throws on his outdoor court in the heat of the Indiana summer. Quinn Buckner visited him during the summer and said he was walking halfway through, the uphill run. If you remember that famous game during a Boston Heat Wave in the old un-air-conditioned Boston Garden, Bird went off. They were running supplementary oxygen on the Laker bench that night and Bird ended up with 34 points and 17 rebounds.

The other thing with Bird is it wasn't one single injury, he had the chronic back problems, but he also had bone spurs on his ankles that popped both his Achilles tendons early in 1988-89 season. Bird's back injuries caused him to seek out modern training after the 1986-87 season ended and he started the 87-88 season in great shape and that's when his first Achilles injury started.

his physical therapist, Dan Dyrek, gave Larry a four-inch thick notebook filled with flexibility exercises, strengthening exercises, cardiovascular exercises, and nutritional guidelines. Bird came back the next season in the best shape of his life, and it showed. He suddenly had a quick first step, and he stunned his Celtic teammates during the exhibition season by following a missed shot with a two-handed, put-back dunk. Nobody could believe it. It was like basketball scientists had somehow discovered a cure for "White Man's Disease" over the summer.

Bird started the 1987-88 campaign on fire. In the second game of the season, Bird capped the Bullets with 47 points, including a three-pointer to tie the game and another bucket in overtime to win it. Two games later, he became the first Celtic to produce a 40/20 game with 44 points and 22 rebounds against the Pacers.

But less than a week later, Bird attempted a behind-the-back dribble against the Cavaliers and strained both of his Achilles tendons. There were already bone spurs in the area and they snapped at the base of the tendon. Bird wasn't the same for the rest of the season. In fact, you could argue he wasn't the same for the rest of his career.

Still, Bird managed his second straight 50/40/90 year (52.7 percent from the field, 41.4 from three-point range, and 91.6 from the line). He also scored a career-high 29.9 points per game and finished second to Michael Jordan in MVP voting. What nobody knew at the time was that Bird's career had officially peaked, and the beginning of the end came a mere six games into the following season when Bird opted to have surgery to remove the bone spurs under his Achilles tendons. Larry missed the rest of that season. He came back for the 1989-90 season, but he had lost the strength in his legs, and then his back started to go out on him. He would retire a few years later, hobbled and in constant pain.

(Also check out his nutritional habits at that link...much harder to defend than his workouts)

Two other health issues were revealed after he retired. I believe he kept both of these from his team doctor's. His back problems were aggravated by injury, but he also had a congenital back issue that would have caused him back problems during his life even if he didn't play basketball. His spinal column is a little too narrow and thus there's not enough space for all the nerves to fit comfortably. He also had occasionally had an irregular heartbeat.

Here's what Bird looked like in 1988. He has one of those bodies that's not going to look cut without Herculean effort, but he is pretty lean there. As anyone who has back or foot or ankle problems, they affect you much more than a bad hand or arm problem, because they affect how you move and your body tries to compensate it ways that often mess you up. During the 1991 playoffs, he was spending the nights in the hospital in traction.

I think without the injuries, he could have played until at least until 1996. His last season with all his issues at 35, he put up 20, 10 and 7 while playing 37 minutes a game.

I'm not a doctor or a trainer, but I don't think his old-school workout was all that bad. If he had added something like yoga to it a la Kareem, I think it probably would have been an excellent routine even without weights.

John Havlicek retired at 37 and he said if he knew Bird was coming in two years he would have stayed to play with him. I could see Bird having that long a career if he was healthy

[KevinNYC]

He could have used him some of this.

[Locked_Up_Tonight]

Think about this.... he was 36 when he retired. Tim Duncan (who played 4 years of college like Bird and had many playoff runs) is not 36 yet and is already breaking down.

Even if Bird didn't hurt his back, he would not have last much longer. There are always some guys who can play to near age 40. But there level of play takes a major hit. And Bird was NEVER the guy who was in tip top shape..... he was always more of a "gamer".... a guy who would push his body through pain just to get out on the court. But not the guy who would be "a physical specimen."