Magic and Wilt Are Tops in Bird’s Book

The greatest player in basketball today is Magic Johnson. The greatest of all time is Wilt Chamberlain. Who says so? Larry Bird.

At least, that’s how it comes out in Bird’s special rating system. Here’s the system as Bird explained it to Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post:

Give a player one point for every point he scores, plus a point for every rebound, assist, steal and blocked shot. Subtract one point for every missed shot, missed free throw, personal foul and turnover. Divide the total by number of games played. Here’s how the current players rate:

Magic Johnson 28.4, Larry Bird 26.3, Akeem Olajuwon 24, Kevin McHale 23.3, Adrian Dantley 23, Dominique Wilkins 22, Larry Nance 22, Charles Barkley 21, Alex English 20.9, Isiah Thomas 20.7.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 20.3, Moses Malone 20.3, Jeff Ruland 20, Orlando Woolridge 19.1, Bill Laimbeer 19, Marques Johnson 19, James Worthy 18.7, Maurice Cheeks 18.7, Clyde Drexler 18.7, Robert Parish 18.5.

Ten years ago, Abdul-Jabbar had a 36.9 rating. Julius Erving, once a 25, is now at 15.4. High-scoring Kiki Vandeweghe is down the list at 16.3, as are World B. Free 15.4, Jeff Malone 14.2 and Mike Mitchell 13.

Chamberlain leads the all-timers at 40, followed by Bill Russell 33, Oscar Robertson 30 and Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, both 25.

Note: In 1968-69, the only season that Baylor, West and Chamberlain all stayed healthy with the Lakers, they still couldn’t win the championship. Boston, led by player-coach Russell, won the title.

Trivia Time: Name the only two basketball players in Big Ten history who were consensus All-Americans three straight years. (Answer below.)

The fastest player in pro football? Of those who showed up for the Dallas Invitational Saturday night it was defensive back Darrell Green of the Washington Redskins.

Green, former Texas A&I; sprinter, won a special pro football 60-yard dash in 6.0 seconds, only two-tenths of a second off the world record. He was followed by Herschel Walker of the New Jersey Generals, Curtis Dickey of the Cleveland Browns and 37-year-old Cliff Branch of the Raiders.

Missing was Olympic gold medalist Ron Brown of the Rams, who was at the Pro Bowl.

The way Bob Watson tells it, the next big superstar is baseball is Jose Canseco, the 21-year-old Cuban-born outfielder of the Oakland A’s.

Canseco, after tearing up the Southern League last season, joined the A’s late in the season, batting .302 with 5 homers and 13 RBIs in 29 games.

Watson, former big league slugger and now a minor league instructor for the A’s, told Milton Richman of United Press International: “Everybody I’ve talked to says he’s the best prospect since Willie Mays. I’ve seen him and I agree. He’s a mixture of Roberto Clemente, Dale Murphy and Reggie Jackson all rolled into one.”

Trivia Answer: John Wooden (Purdue), 1930-31-32, and Jerry Lucas (Ohio State), 1960-61-62.

Quotebook

Iowa basketball Coach George Raveling, formerly head coach at Washington State, on the remoteness of Pullman, Wash.: “My last speech there was reviewed in Field & Stream.”