Game Changers: Undersized Players Left Big Mark on NBA – NBA.com
It was one of those remarks that most people thought was absurd at thetime, but not so much nowadays. Allan Bristow, former coach of the then-Charlotte Hornets, said: “Everyone talks about how we’ll never see another Michael Jordan and we’ll never see another Larry Bird. But truth is, we’ll never see another Muggsy Bogues.” You could say a lot of folks sold Bristow short. While we are indeed waiting for the next Jordan, and perhaps we saw the next Bird during the 2011 NBA Finals, our great-grandchildren might be the only witnesses the next time a 5-foot-3 player darts around the floor like a pinball and carves out a very productive NBA career. Plain and simple, NBA teams just aren’t big on little guys anymore. Not that they ever were. But you just don’t see an abundance of players under 6-feet on rosters, and definitely none in All-Star Games. That makes Muggsy, Spud Webb and Calvin Murphy before both of them, Game Changers who paved the way for the little man — even though the NBA still practices size discrimination.