Advertisement

Larry Bird holds court, and he doesn't disappoint

Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird talks to the media at the Mall of Asia Arena. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)

Larry Legend finally speaks.

After days of avoiding the media, Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird finally agreed to hold a brief press conference, and for the hordes of local sportswriters who crammed into the holding room, it sure was worth the wait.

Bird talked about everything from the Dream Team, to his current Pacers team, what he looks for in a player, and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. And before the session was over, he even gave a sample of his sharp wit.

When a local reporter began asking him which job had more pressure, that of being a player or being an executive, Bird immediately cut her off.

“Pressure? I don’t know what that is,” he deadpanned. “Obviously you’ve never seen me play.”

During his playing years, Bird developed a reputation for being a cold-blooded shooter who never shied away from taking the big shot for the Boston Celtics, whom led to three NBA titles.

The Dream Team

Shortly before retiring, Bird was named to the legendary Dream Team, which was composed of 11 NBA superstars and which romped off with the gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. When asked what advice he’d give Gilas Pilipinas, which recently qualified for the FIBA World Cup, the self-styled Hick from French Lick said the team must stay together and prepare for a tougher level of competition.

“It’s different,” he said of international competition. “It’s like I tell our young players. When you get to the playoffs, the first round is tough. The second round is completely different. As you keep moving up, the competition’s greater. That’s why it’s so hard for teams in this league to beat the top teams night in and night out because the competition level just keeps getting better and better.

“As far as advice, you just gotta keep working, keep playing. And anytime you’re in a competition and you move up, you gotta stay together. You’re gonna have your good days and your bad days, but overall if you stay together and everybody’s pulling in the same direction, it makes it a lot easier.

“The Dream Team had very special players, guys were along in their careers, you had some younger guys coming in. And obviously everybody thinks that (Michael) Jordan is the best player ever. So I was able to play with him and Magic Johnson. I don’t know. That’s a lot of talent.

“In ’92 we were the first as pro to play in the Olympics. It was a great honor any time you got to represent your country. But going in, we knew that we were probably gonna win. We did, we stuck together, took care of business and moved on.”

ALSO READ: McHale: Playing with Bird, Celtics was fun

Pacers' chances

Comparing his old Celtics teams to the team he’s been trying to build in Indiana, Bird said the Pacers have a long way to go.

“It’s tough to win the championship,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is build a team that can compete on a nightly level. There’s great competition in our league. We gotta continue to get better. We’ve got a lot of young players. I don’t compare this team to the Celtics teams because it’s a completely different style that we played.

“But I do think that they’re good enough or deep enough to compete for a championship. As always, our goal is to get to the finals and try to win the whole thing. But overall this team’s completely different from the teams I played on. Obviously last year we got to the Eastern Conference Finals and Game 7 against Miami. But until we take the next step, we’re not gonna get there. But I do like our chances, I like our team. Hopefully in a short period of time here we can compete for a championship.”

The Pacers pushed the Heat to the limit, and Bird feels their second unit needs to step up if they are to go all the way to the finals.

“Our bench has gotta be better,” he said. “We got a good starting five.  Our bench has got to do better than they did last year. I know how hard it is to win championships. It’s not easy. But we do have a group of good guys that stay together and pull for one another. I really believe that we’re built for the playoffs, and when the playoffs come we gotta be ready.”

Erik Spoelstra

Bird, who is the only NBA personality who has won Rookie of the Year, Most Vaulable Player, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year, also had nothing but praises for the Heat’s Spoelstra.

“He’s done a great job,” he said. “Great job. A very young coach, even though he’s been part of basketball for a long time. He had a lot of scrutiny for a long time. A very tough job for him but I think he handled it as well as he could. And things have changed. Obviously he has a lot of talent right now there, but sometimes the teams with the most talent are the most difficult to coach. So he’s done a fantastic job.”

Drafting the right players

The Pacers gradually built their team through the draft, and through the years were able to nab Paul George, Roy Hibbert and Danny Granger, all three of whom have blossomed into stars in their own right but none of whom was drafted higher than 10th.  When asked about his ability to draft such talented players  even without a top pick, Bird said luck played a large role.

“Well, I’ve made some mistakes too,” he said with a laugh. “Danny Granger was one player we thought was going in the top 10 in the draft. We picked him at no. 17. We were very fortunate that he slid to our pick. Roy Hibbert was taken 17th in the draft. A lot of people passed him up. We got Roy on draft night in a trade. Then Paul George was a top 10 pick. Lance Stephenson was like 42.

“But everybody looks at different things when we look at a player. I look at length. I look at shooting, obviously. Can he defend? Is he a team player? Does he do the things necessary to get better every year? And sometimes it’s hard. You gotta talk to the college coach, to different people, the AAU coaches, and get as much information as you possibly can out of them.

“Then you put a team together that fits. Are they going to pass to one another? Do they play team defense? Do they pull for one another? There’s a lot of things that go into it, but sometimes you just get lucky, and my team was fortunate enough to pick some guys that turned out to be pretty good players.”