#TBT: Larry Bird

LeBron James is good at playing basketball. We knew this, and it was further confirmed on Tuesday when he broke Scottie Pippen’s record for most assists ever by a forward. Pippen played in about three hundred more games during his career than LeBron has so far, so by the time James retires he’ll be way ahead of the pack.

But before LeBron leaves a handful of legends in the dust, we should appreciate what those old guys brought to the game. Pippen will have his day on this sacred turf known as TBT, but right now the spotlight is on some dude from French Lick.

Larry Bird could pretty much do whatever he wanted on the floor. You were toast if he got cozy on the right elbow, where he could hit a turnaround jumper over anybody or miraculously find a cutting man. He was a nightmare on the break, too, creating Jason Kidd-esque confusion by forcing defenders to reach here before he flung the ball over there.

He also should get some credit for that crazy bucket Trevor Booker hit earlier this year — Bird was bizarrely comfortable zipping the ball over his head backwards, as you’ll see in the video above.