His hands made a better defender than anyone with his lack of speed could possibly have. Remember the people he played with were superior defenders. Hard to look great defending on a team that contained Dennis Johnson, Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale... those were all very good defenders.

And I am from his era. I watched all Birds college games when they finally started televising him (Indiana St. was not a big draw). And I hated his guts because of his mouth.