KoriEllis
08-04-2003, 11:24 PM
For Pooh .... (note: they aren't eyeing an NBA title, just an Eastern one :lol )
With Bird in hand, upgraded Pacers eye Eastern title
Aug. 4, 2003
By Mike Kahn
SportsLine.com Executive Editor
www.sportsline.com/nba/story/6518978 (http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/6518978)
At the age of 62, Donnie Walsh had begun to wonder how many more weeks filled with 16-hour days he could handle.
Fortunately, Walsh hired a guy named Larry Bird to replace him as president of the Indiana Pacers to help shorten those days and nights, took on the new title of CEO and finally completed the three-team deal that had made time with his family and a good night's sleep rare commodities.
"It was as hot a time for me as I've ever had in 18 years of doing this," Walsh said. "I had never experienced what it was like to work 16 hours every day just to get a deal done. Talking to other teams, players, agents -- it was incredible.
"But you know what's just as incredible? Once we got the deal done, it's been dead quiet. Nothing. I haven't heard a peep from anybody, and that's a good thing."
Coming off a season with 48 victories and a third consecutive first-round knockout in the playoffs, some changes in the organization seemed inevitable despite a somewhat deceptively good final record. A strange succession of issues with players -- ranging from family deaths and accidents to injuries and suspensions -- transformed a magnificent 37-15 start of the season into an 11-19 conclusion.
So the first order of business was to hire Bird, who was surprisingly foiled in his attempt with Steve Belkin and M.L. Carr to purchase the Charlotte expansion team. The Hall of Fame forward has been out of the NBA since 2000 following three years as coach of the Pacers -- the third season leading to a six-game loss in the Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers.
"I offered him the position then, but for some reason, he wanted a break," Walsh said. "Obviously, he wanted back in the league, and I recommended him for another job. But he called me and said if he was going to run a basketball operation, he wanted it to be Indiana."
So it all came to pass on July 11, slightly more than three years after the native son of French Lick first left the franchise. In less than two weeks, Bird would learn first hand what madness the job can be; he moved Brad Miller to Sacramento to get the three-team deal rolling for Scot Pollard and Hedo Turkoglu, then traded Turkoglu and Ron Mercer to San Antonio for Danny Ferry, who will be released.
It provides the Pacers with not only a more natural inside player, with Pollard to play center next to Jermaine O'Neal, but a trade exception for $4 million, space under the luxury tax to re-sign Reggie Miller and an other free agent if necessary.
"I took a little sabbatical there for a while," Bird said. "Coaching the team that I had and doing the job that we did, I sort of wore down and didn't want any part of it. Now, I'm rejuvenated and ready to go to work."
Just in time to help Walsh get the trade completed, while learning the nuances of the trading world that he never had to deal with as a coach, or as a player during his 13 years with the Boston Celtics.
There was some question about Bird's relationship with his replacement as coach, Isiah Thomas. The two competed in a none-too-friendly fashion while Thomas carved out his own Hall of Fame career in Detroit. And there was plenty of talk about deposed Pistons coach Rick Carlisle -- a Bird assistant, former teammate and a top candidate to replace him -- bumping Thomas aside.
But Walsh insists that's premature, at least for now.
Jamaal Tinsley, the second-year starting point guard, had to deal with his mother's cancer and eventual death. Jermaine O'Neal's stepfather shot himself, Brad Miller had a debilitating foot injury, Reggie Miller never got over his preseason ankle injury, and, well, things never were right after the All-Star break.
And then there's Ron Artest, the brilliantly versatile forward who emerged as the team's best all-around player but fell into a horrid run of suspensions from the league over rough play and ludicrous temper tantrums. Add in the disappointing seasons for young forwards Al Harrington and Jonathon Bender and you know why the disenchantment is building.
"We went West, got our butts handed to us and then we just couldn't get back on track," Walsh said. "We seemed to be missing two starters every game for a while, and with a young team, if you lose your confidence and rhythm, it's not like a veteran team that can get back on track. We just couldn't get it back together again after that. With all the weird things that happened, I'm not about to lay that at Isiah's doorstep. That's not fair."
Dealing Miller wasn't easy. An Indiana native and Purdue grad, Walsh was into paying him somewhere in the $36 million bracket. He had offers of $44 million and $46 million over six years from the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz. But the Kings were willing to go the sign-and-trade route for seven years and $68 million.
"I had a number in mind for Brad, and let's just say that wasn't it," Walsh said. "There is a point where somebody is worth it for you and then not. Some teams need to make a splash to prove they're moving in the right direction (like Utah and Denver). He's a nice piece that could make the difference for Sacramento.
"We think Scot gives us a little more inside and his contract (three years remaining of a $30.7 million deal), gives us a lot more flexibility. Just as much as Jermaine made Brad a better player, we think he can do the same thing for Scot."
Nonetheless, the clock is ticking loudly on all of them. They got Bird back for a strong sentimental boost for Indianapolis and strong support for Walsh, who has been running the basketball operations of the Pacers since 1986 -- the longest continuous run in the NBA today. But this year is all about challenging for the Eastern Conference title.
While rebuilding with Thomas as coach after Bird left, they've won 41, 42 and 48 games -- the latter can be construed as progress or misleading based on the late-season collapse. But Walsh contends the pressure isn't so much on Thomas as on the entire Pacers organization.
Youth is no longer an excuse.
"We stayed in the hunt until the playoffs (when they were surprisingly manhandled by Boston)," Walsh said. "This is the year we have to take the next step. We all know that. It's time for all of us to be judged on how much progress the kids have made on this team."
With Bird in hand, upgraded Pacers eye Eastern title
Aug. 4, 2003
By Mike Kahn
SportsLine.com Executive Editor
www.sportsline.com/nba/story/6518978 (http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/6518978)
At the age of 62, Donnie Walsh had begun to wonder how many more weeks filled with 16-hour days he could handle.
Fortunately, Walsh hired a guy named Larry Bird to replace him as president of the Indiana Pacers to help shorten those days and nights, took on the new title of CEO and finally completed the three-team deal that had made time with his family and a good night's sleep rare commodities.
"It was as hot a time for me as I've ever had in 18 years of doing this," Walsh said. "I had never experienced what it was like to work 16 hours every day just to get a deal done. Talking to other teams, players, agents -- it was incredible.
"But you know what's just as incredible? Once we got the deal done, it's been dead quiet. Nothing. I haven't heard a peep from anybody, and that's a good thing."
Coming off a season with 48 victories and a third consecutive first-round knockout in the playoffs, some changes in the organization seemed inevitable despite a somewhat deceptively good final record. A strange succession of issues with players -- ranging from family deaths and accidents to injuries and suspensions -- transformed a magnificent 37-15 start of the season into an 11-19 conclusion.
So the first order of business was to hire Bird, who was surprisingly foiled in his attempt with Steve Belkin and M.L. Carr to purchase the Charlotte expansion team. The Hall of Fame forward has been out of the NBA since 2000 following three years as coach of the Pacers -- the third season leading to a six-game loss in the Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers.
"I offered him the position then, but for some reason, he wanted a break," Walsh said. "Obviously, he wanted back in the league, and I recommended him for another job. But he called me and said if he was going to run a basketball operation, he wanted it to be Indiana."
So it all came to pass on July 11, slightly more than three years after the native son of French Lick first left the franchise. In less than two weeks, Bird would learn first hand what madness the job can be; he moved Brad Miller to Sacramento to get the three-team deal rolling for Scot Pollard and Hedo Turkoglu, then traded Turkoglu and Ron Mercer to San Antonio for Danny Ferry, who will be released.
It provides the Pacers with not only a more natural inside player, with Pollard to play center next to Jermaine O'Neal, but a trade exception for $4 million, space under the luxury tax to re-sign Reggie Miller and an other free agent if necessary.
"I took a little sabbatical there for a while," Bird said. "Coaching the team that I had and doing the job that we did, I sort of wore down and didn't want any part of it. Now, I'm rejuvenated and ready to go to work."
Just in time to help Walsh get the trade completed, while learning the nuances of the trading world that he never had to deal with as a coach, or as a player during his 13 years with the Boston Celtics.
There was some question about Bird's relationship with his replacement as coach, Isiah Thomas. The two competed in a none-too-friendly fashion while Thomas carved out his own Hall of Fame career in Detroit. And there was plenty of talk about deposed Pistons coach Rick Carlisle -- a Bird assistant, former teammate and a top candidate to replace him -- bumping Thomas aside.
But Walsh insists that's premature, at least for now.
Jamaal Tinsley, the second-year starting point guard, had to deal with his mother's cancer and eventual death. Jermaine O'Neal's stepfather shot himself, Brad Miller had a debilitating foot injury, Reggie Miller never got over his preseason ankle injury, and, well, things never were right after the All-Star break.
And then there's Ron Artest, the brilliantly versatile forward who emerged as the team's best all-around player but fell into a horrid run of suspensions from the league over rough play and ludicrous temper tantrums. Add in the disappointing seasons for young forwards Al Harrington and Jonathon Bender and you know why the disenchantment is building.
"We went West, got our butts handed to us and then we just couldn't get back on track," Walsh said. "We seemed to be missing two starters every game for a while, and with a young team, if you lose your confidence and rhythm, it's not like a veteran team that can get back on track. We just couldn't get it back together again after that. With all the weird things that happened, I'm not about to lay that at Isiah's doorstep. That's not fair."
Dealing Miller wasn't easy. An Indiana native and Purdue grad, Walsh was into paying him somewhere in the $36 million bracket. He had offers of $44 million and $46 million over six years from the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz. But the Kings were willing to go the sign-and-trade route for seven years and $68 million.
"I had a number in mind for Brad, and let's just say that wasn't it," Walsh said. "There is a point where somebody is worth it for you and then not. Some teams need to make a splash to prove they're moving in the right direction (like Utah and Denver). He's a nice piece that could make the difference for Sacramento.
"We think Scot gives us a little more inside and his contract (three years remaining of a $30.7 million deal), gives us a lot more flexibility. Just as much as Jermaine made Brad a better player, we think he can do the same thing for Scot."
Nonetheless, the clock is ticking loudly on all of them. They got Bird back for a strong sentimental boost for Indianapolis and strong support for Walsh, who has been running the basketball operations of the Pacers since 1986 -- the longest continuous run in the NBA today. But this year is all about challenging for the Eastern Conference title.
While rebuilding with Thomas as coach after Bird left, they've won 41, 42 and 48 games -- the latter can be construed as progress or misleading based on the late-season collapse. But Walsh contends the pressure isn't so much on Thomas as on the entire Pacers organization.
Youth is no longer an excuse.
"We stayed in the hunt until the playoffs (when they were surprisingly manhandled by Boston)," Walsh said. "This is the year we have to take the next step. We all know that. It's time for all of us to be judged on how much progress the kids have made on this team."