Comparing Jaylon Smith to Larry Bird

[Manster68]

Do I dare walk this plank? After much thought I think I will. If this is posted, then I obviously am. Back in the 1980’s I read a biography on Red Auerbach, the late, great Coach/GM/President of the Boston Celtics. He was directly involved in 16 of the 17 Boston Celtics NBA Championships. In his book, he talks about his acquisition of Larry Bird. Like Bill Russell and the late Len Bias (RIP), he planned this for a year or two.

What links Bird to Jaylen Smith is the fact that Boston drafted Bird in 1978. It was a future pick. Bird played his senior season at Indiana State as a draftee of the Celtics. The Celtics had a deadline to get Bird signed or else he would have been available for the 1979 draft (with Magic Johnson). Boston signed Bird within 48 hours of that deadline.

Yes Bird did not have a blown out knee. Instead, the Celtics gambled on a basketball player who can’t run and can’t jump. Auerbach even admitted that he didn’t know what he was getting until after Bird arrived in Boston.

I believe Jaylen Smith flashed in South Bend similar to Bird flashing in Terre Haute. Every time I think of Jaylen Smith being drafted by Dallas, I am mentally drawing comparisons to Bird being selected by the Celtics. There was an absolute that Boston had to wait an entire year for Bird’s services. If the nerve heals for Jaylen, he can possibly play very late into the season.

With the explosion of social media today, and the impatience of many fans, I do realize the significant difference with what happens now in 2016 and what happened 37-38 years earlier.

 

[DFWJC]

At least it was creative.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Ok.

 

[TheCount]

Points for taking an unusual angle, but I don't see the comparison.

 

[speedkilz88]

At least you weren't comparing him to Big Bird and his impact on Sesame Street.

 

[remdak]

If we are going this route, might as well compare him to Roger Staubach, for whom they had to wait 4 years.

 

[Reality]

 

[Doomsday101]

I'm skeptical about this pick because it was a 2nd rd selection, Dan Cooper his doctor say the knee will be stronger than ever and now just a matter of the never damage which again Dr. Cooper feels Smith will fully recover. Cowboys are trusting in what Dr. Cooper has told them. If he is right we got a great player. Still a gamble which is why I am leery of this selection

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

Interesting. Aside from the situations being completely different I can certainly see the similarities in situations.

 

[Hoofbite]

This thread is proceeding as expected

 

[AsthmaField]

Highly unathletic basketball player with no injuries.
and
A highly athletic football player with a hurt knee and nerve damage.

I totally get it. Legit comparison.

 

[unsportsmanlikeconduct]

You could at least spell his first name correctly.

 

[silver]

Compare him to Michael Brooks who the Broncos took in the 3rd round in '87 and went on to play in a couple of SB and had a 10 year career in the NFL.

Compare him to Jessie Armstead who had to wait until the 8th round in '93 after he tore his ACL as a sophomore and went on to have a 5 time probowl career with the Giants.


We’re not reinventing the wheel in Dallas.

 

[Gameover]

Zeke comparison to Tim Duncan is a better one.

All the way to both teams having injury plagued seasons that put them in position to grab a franchise changing stud!

You can also make the comparison of Robinson and Romo being playoff chokers. Hopefully Zeke can carry Romo to greatness the way Duncan carried Robinson.

Lot of parallels between the 96-97 Spurs and the 2015 Cowboys.

Although I still take Dominique Wilkins(Spurs leading scorer that year)over Matt Cassel(worst qb performance in cowboy history).

 

[speedkilz88]

Compare him to Michael Brooks who the Broncos took in the 3rd round in '87 and went on to play in a couple of SB and had a 10 year career in the NFL.

Compare him to Jessie Armstead who had to wait until the 8th round in '93 after he tore his ACL as a sophomore and went on to have a 5 time probowl career with the Giants.


We’re not reinventing the wheel in Dallas.

Or Sean Spence who tore his acl/lcl and had nerve damage his rookie season.

 

[chicago JK]

Rumor has it that Jaylon Smith also wasn't a Frank Vogel fan either. Take it for what it is worth.

 

[DallasEast]

Do I dare walk this plank? After much thought I think I will. If this is posted, then I obviously am. Back in the 1980’s I read a biography on Red Auerbach, the late, great Coach/GM/President of the Boston Celtics. He was directly involved in 16 of the 17 Boston Celtics NBA Championships. In his book, he talks about his acquisition of Larry Bird. Like Bill Russell and the late Len Bias (RIP), he planned this for a year or two.

What links Bird to Jaylen Smith is the fact that Boston drafted Bird in 1978. It was a future pick. Bird played his senior season at Indiana State as a draftee of the Celtics. The Celtics had a deadline to get Bird signed or else he would have been available for the 1979 draft (with Magic Johnson). Boston signed Bird within 48 hours of that deadline.

Yes Bird did not have a blown out knee. Instead, the Celtics gambled on a basketball player who can’t run and can’t jump. Auerbach even admitted that he didn’t know what he was getting until after Bird arrived in Boston.

I believe Jaylen Smith flashed in South Bend similar to Bird flashing in Terre Haute. Every time I think of Jaylen Smith being drafted by Dallas, I am mentally drawing comparisons to Bird being selected by the Celtics. There was an absolute that Boston had to wait an entire year for Bird’s services. If the nerve heals for Jaylen, he can possibly play very late into the season.

With the explosion of social media today, and the impatience of many fans, I do realize the significant difference with what happens now in 2016 and what happened 37-38 years earlier.

I liked this. There was greatness in Bird that the Celtics saw and waited for. Dallas sees greatness in Smith and is willing to wait for it to grace the field. Not potential. Future Hall of Fame quality greatness. Now that pesky nerve must cooperate...

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Alright I'm not coming in here to bag on you like the mob mentality around here.

I want to say your OP seems incomplete. You started it out like you had a very big thought, and process, you wanted to discuss and lay out and then all the sudden you hit the post button without completing it. What you posted seems like an introduction section to an article that has a lot more you want to say but you just didn't say it.

Expand on what you were thinking. Tell us exactly what you're thoughts are on here, and why you think we could look at these situations in a similar fashion. Flesh out the rest of the idea in here and let people at least see your complete thought on the subject and not just the introduction to what you were wanting to tell us about.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

This thread is proceeding as expected

Completely derailing the thread....

 

[muck4doo]

Funny you should point that out. I was thinking he was more like Mario Lemieux.