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
My coach told me, "Larry, no matter how much you work at it, there's always someone out there who's working just a little harder - if you take 150 practice shots, he's taking 200." And that drove me.
I've got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.
Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players.
I don't think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You've got to keep pushing.
Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.
We weren't really interested in what teams were talking about. We haven't had our team together for two years. I like how we're playing now. We need to get everybody back and look at the product before we make any type of decision on whether we want to do anything this summer.
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.
Consistency has been one of our biggest problems. I don't see anybody on our team that you can depend on every night to do the same thing. One night they're up, and one night they're down. If you know what you're getting from each player, it's pretty easy as far as coaching. When it's inconsistent, you don't know what you're going to get and it makes it hard to substitute.
There's going to be some changes in the way they play. It's like they're just going through the motions out there at times. We've talked to them and expressed our frustrations, and if it continues to happen, we'll probably have to look in another direction, because one thing we're going to do is put a competitive team out on the court.
My best friend missed three one-and-ones. I still get mad at him for that.
I think Rick will get him the ball. We have a problem now when we drop it in the post; we hold on to it too long. We need more movement with the shooters we have. I think you'll see that.
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's the right guy at the right time. Sometimes you need a wake-up call. We've got ours.
I think he'll make an immediate impact because of the skills that he has.