Talking trash to Larry Bird rarely ever ended well, as former NBA player Rodney Rogers found out the hard way.
On The Players Tribune’s “Knuckleheads” podcast, former NBA All-Star Jamal Mashburn said Rogers had talked trash to Bird after a day of practice between the 1992 College Select Team and the 1992 Dream Team.
After a practice, as a group of players were standing around, Mashburn said Rogers told Bird, “Hey Larry, you ain’t hit a jumper since ’84.”
According to Mashburn, Magic Johnson, who had been nearby, heard Rogers’ comment. The next day during a scrimmage between the two teams, Johnson made a point to keep giving Bird the ball against Rogers.
“I had never seen this,” Mashburn said on the podcast. “This was when I was like, ‘This is a different breed.’
“Magic Johnson fed Larry Bird the ball probably eight times in a row down court. Larry Bird got the ball on Rodney Rogers, and every time he was about to make a move, he told him what he was going to do. ‘One dribble, pull-up, going left, off glass.’ Bucket. ‘One dribble going right, spin, shot.’ Bucket.”
As told in the 2012 documentary “The Dream Team,” the Select Team embarrassed the Dream Team in their first scrimmage together. It was theorized that USA Basketball coach Chuck Daly intentionally allowed the Dream Team to lose by not playing Michael Jordan and not making any adjustments, sending the message that the best group of NBA players could be beaten.
After the first scrimmage, media was allowed in, and the Dream Team then dominated the Select Team. It stayed that way the rest of the week of training camp.
“They kicked our ass the rest of the week,” Mashburn said.