An Old School Lesson from Larry Bird

Описание: Imagine the difference between REFUSING money you had coming to you because you felt you might no longer benefit the team...
to demanding max contracts no matter how much you might hurt the team.

How many people know this story about Larry Bird?

Special “old school” points for anyone who can name the last track…I remember it being used for an old NBA film I saw as a kid and decided to resurrect it.

Anyway…
I was reading The Dream Team, a detailed look at the 92 squad, and I don’t know if people remember that Larry Bird’s back was pretty much prematurely ending his career. He still played admirably in the Olympics, but the point I’m getting at is that Larry had two more years on his contract with the Celtics. Heading into the next season after the Olympics all Larry had to do was play 60 games and he’d get 8 million…Not a lot by today’s standards, but times were different. Besides, it’s not about the money, it’s about the principal..

He was due to receive 3.75 million of that on August 15th. Remember, The Dream Team just beat Croatia for the gold on August 8th, only a few days before Larry was due a payout. Larry didn't feel like he could perform for the Celtics the way he should, but he hadn’t had time to prepare his retirement letter because of the Olympics so he backdated the document to make sure he didn’t receive the payout. In Bird’s mind you don’t take money you don’t earn.
It was just another reminder that these guys were about competing first. They were about winning. They were about team greatness. They cared about the reputation of the franchises they played for. Sure, they set a lot of records along the way, but they set those records in the pursuit of the love of competition, not for the sake of setting records.
Today, we have sports analysts saying things like, “it’s fine for the team to suffer as long as individuals get theirs.” Players are too busy making commercials and picking out silly outfits to wear to press conferences to improve their outside shooting for the sake of the team. Max contracts, huge payouts, at the end of fizzling careers all while the franchise suffers. The contrast between today’s mentality and the mentality demonstrated by the likes of Larry Legend is astonishing.

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