Larry Bird
Larry Bird
Larry Joe Birdis an American retired professional basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. Since retiring as a player, he has been a mainstay in the Indiana Pacers organization, currently serving as team president. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, spearheading one of the NBA's most formidable frontcourts that included center Robert Parish and forward Kevin McHale...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth7 December 1956
CityWest Baden Springs, IN
CountryUnited States of America
I think he's the right guy at the right time. Sometimes you need a wake-up call. We've got ours.
Some guys can lead and some guys can't. I have a lot of trust in Jermaine and I know he wants to be a good leader. But to just throw him in there and say, 'OK, you're our leader,' that's tough, especially when you're injured a lot. You lead by example and not with words, and when you're not out there every day in practice and games, it's hard to lead.
I can't guarantee all our guys are going to be here, but the way we've been talking it seems like it will be a one-player-for-one or one-for-two trade. We'd like to keep all of our players.
The right guy at the right time after Athens and the World Championships, ... This is the type of guy we need. After 2004 we needed a wake up call and we got ours.
There were some concerns, but I'm a little different. I think we will get a commitment out of our best young players. And the guys that are young now won't be so young by the time (the 2008 Summer Games) comes.
I never dreamed that it would be like this. We're very disappointed in the fact that we had the guys here to do it and to get off to the start we did is very frustrating. We've gone downhill since then. But hopefully we're back on the right track and we can move forward.
It makes me sick when I see a guy just stare at a loose ball and watch it go out of bounds.
Guys like Larry Bird -- he played so hard, he wants everybody else to play hard. That's not unreasonable. Any coach would want that and demand that.
Like me, he plays the game to win, ... Because of his intensity and desire to win, Ronnie's a guy I would pay money to watch play.
I think enough is enough. I think Ronnie will do fine, but not here.
Over the last four, five years, you've seen some of the things, and maybe we did bend over too much for Ronnie to try to help him. But I can sleep good at night, knowing we did the best we could.
I think in another month we'll know if the league will allow us to take him off our cap and give us some relief.
I think he'll make an immediate impact because of the skills that he has.
It depends on what players are offered. The owners have a say in this, too. They want to do the right thing. If we get a good offer, we'll probably take the player. If we don't get good offers, we'll probably take the (draft) choice and do more scouting this winter and prepare for the draft. I think we'll get a good player out of this.