Bird was never an off the ball player. Quite the contrary. Gotta remember, back then it was strictly man defense and during the Celtics half court offense, it was quite common to give Bird the ball on one side of the court and have everyone else on the other side of the court. Bird then worked the guy guarding him for some sort of shot or pass to someone cutting.
You can't do that anymore.
Yes, Bird didn't always bring the ball up the court, but did at times. The thing is if he didn't bring the ball up himself, he was the first guy getting passed to in the half court sets so that he could initiate and run the offense.
Yes, Bird was also exceptional off ball but he wasn't an off ball player.