"Anywhere on the court would be Larry's spot" - Larry Bird's high school coach raves about his shooting
Larry Bird
When the NBA inaugurated the 3-point line in 1979, a wide array of players made a name for themselves, drilling treys. And as we all know, among those who stood out were the NBA Hall of Famer and Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird, who was playing his maiden season in the league at the time.
Larry sees no lines
In the NBA, Bird quickly made his presence felt and averaged 21.3 and 10.4 rebounds per game as a rookie. He shot 40.6% from the three-point line and finished the season as the fifth-best shooter from beyond the arc. How's that for a rookie, right?
But if there's one guy who wasn't that surprised with Bird's incredible rookie season in the league, that would be one of his Spring Valley High School coaches, Gary Holland.
According to Holland, he had already witnessed Bird drain jumpers from all cylinders, and putting an arc on the court would've made no difference.
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"If we had had a three-point line… anywhere on the court would be Larry's spot. I mean, anywhere!," Holland said via Golf Digest.
Not a fan of treys
Bird may have been arguably the greatest three-point shooter of all time, but contrary to what many of us thought, there was no love at first sight between Larry Legend and the three-point line.
"The first year I came into the NBA, the league instituted the three-point shot, but at first, it meant nothing to me. I never thought I'd be shooting one. The distance looked to be just too far out."
However, Bird conceded that over time, he realized that the three-point line and his ability to swoosh at any given time would be the most lethal weapon in his arsenal.
"I must admit that the three-pointer has been very good to me," he confessed. "I didn't really take that many three-point shots in the beginning. No one in the NBA knew exactly what to make of the strategy. I made the first one in the history of the All-Star Game, but it still took a few years before it began to play a large part in my overall game. It's still interesting to me what's happened with the three-pointer because I thought so little of the shot when I first came into the league. It's a great weapon."
Looking back at it now, regardless of what Bird really feels about shooting 3s, he can't deny that it plays a massive role in his legacy even to this day.
