“This is much more than an honor,” he said. “This is a lifelong dream that actually gets to play out. I think I was in shock a little bit in the beginning on set that I was really doing this.” To say Small was destined to play Bird would be an “understatement,” said Small’s promoters. “And not just because he looks just like the man widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.” But because Small had also been studying Bird, researching him and writing about him for years. Long before “Winning Time” had even been thought of. “He’s been a part of me,” Small said, “for so long.”