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
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'm a firm believer you have to be patient in this league. The teams that are patient in trades (have more success). We'd like to get this done, but we've got a job to do and we have to make sure our fans are happy with what we get. They're our paying customers and we're trying to do our best for them.
Won't be much golf this off-season. It's going to be a working summer.
We're still looking and seeing what we can do. We like our team, we're very deep, but we don't like where we're at financially. We'll see what we can do.
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.
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.
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.
My best friend missed three one-and-ones. I still get mad at him for that.
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 what it came down to is that our owner wants to win and, in the end, we did this deal because we knew it would make us a better team.