Larry Bird knows greatness. Not just from looking in the mirror, but from the players he crossed paths with as both a competitor and a coach.
When he took over the Indiana Pacers , Bird soon found one he immediately held in that regard. Sam Perkins. What stood out most to Larry Legend was how effective Big Smooth was when he let it fly.
"The first half of the season, I can hardly remember him (Perkins) missing a three-point attempt," Bird said in June 2000, per the Los Angeles Times.
Perkins arrived in Indy as a battle-tested 35-year-old veteran. With that kind of mileage — 15 years in the league, to be exact — the stretch big man didn't have the legs to move like the young guys anymore. He still had, however, an uncanny shooting touch.
Take Larry at his word and look at the first half of the 1999–2000 season — Sam's second with Indiana — and it shows.
"Big Smooth" averaged 7.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 0.7 assists over 43 games between October 1999 and February 2000. He stayed the same weapon from deep that you simply did not often see from a player his size.
During that stretch, Sam took three shots a night and hit them at an efficient 42 percent clip. One of his best shooting nights came in a mid-December win. Against the Utah Jazz , he went 5-of-8 from three and finished with 15 points.
The former NCAA champion fit neatly off the bench, giving the Bird-led Pacers a real lift with their spacing. Teams had to stay attached to him, aware of his efficiency — the same efficiency Larry Legend watched up close and later pointed to during Indiana's 2000 NBA Finals run.
We often talk about great shooters as if the work in the gym comes automatically. Perkins put that work in, too, and Bird was quick to point it out. He noted that since the former Seattle SuperSonics forward arrived, he had missed just one practice — and even that one, the team made him sit out because he had "a lot of fluid on his knee."
"He's a true professional. He's one of the greatest I've ever been around; he works hard every day," Bird said.
"Big Smooth" had built that kind of reliability over a long, decorated career. He teamed with Michael Jordan on North Carolina's title-winning squad, then won Olympic gold in 1984. The Dallas Mavericks drafted him fourth overall that year, and he quickly earned All-Rookie honors.
Six strong seasons followed in Dallas before Jerry West brought him to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1991. West later admitted how much he hated moving him, saying, "You can rip me to shreds, but please take care of Sam."
Sam, for his part, found another groove in Seattle. The SuperSonics reached the 1996 Finals, and in 1997, he went 8-for-8 from three against the Toronto Raptors . Three Finals appearances marked his path — one the New York native brought to a close in 2001 after 17 NBA years.
As for Bird — not much of a chubby shooter himself — he later brought Perkins back to Indiana. In 2008, he made him the vice president of player relations, stating , "He's a good man with many qualities that will help the franchise."
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on May 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
