Bird Sends Thomas Flying,Fires Indy Coach, Ex-Rival

[Walter Cronkite]

Isiah Thomas was fired Wednesday as coach of the Indiana Pacers, a surprise move by new boss Larry Bird that came only two months before the start of the season.

Thomas, an NBA Hall of Famer, led the young Pacers into the playoffs in all three of his seasons, but they were knocked out in the first round each year.

"The major thing was looking at the team, how it finished up last year,'' Bird said. "I came in with an open mind. I never thought we would be releasing our coach.''

Bird said his first choice to replace Thomas was Rick Carlisle, but added that no deal had been reached.

Carlisle was an assistant during Bird's time as Indiana's coach. Carlisle spent the past two seasons as coach of the Detroit Pistons before being fired in May.

"Probably today or tomorrow, probably today, we will talk with him,'' Bird said.

The Pacers were 131-115 in the regular season under Thomas. The team said it would honor the final year of his contract.

Thomas was with the U.S. men's basketball team at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico earlier this week. He checked out of his hotel Tuesday and could not immediately be reached for comment.

Bird guided the Pacers to the 2000 NBA Finals and the best three-year record in their NBA history during his time as coach. Thomas succeeded him as coach.

Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said he agreed with Bird, the president of basketball operations, on the decision to fire Thomas.

"The best thing for us and the best thing for Isiah was to do this now,'' Walsh said.

Indiana had the best record in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break this past season, making Thomas the All-Star coach, but went 14-19 the rest of the season and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Boston.

Walsh, who hired Thomas in 2000, at the end of the season had said he expected Thomas would remain as coach, although he said the second-half swoon was troubling.

Bird and Thomas were contentious rivals from their days of leading the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons to NBA titles in the 1980s.

When he was hired July 11, Bird walked off the podium at a news conference and shook hands with Thomas -- but neither smiled.

Pacers players had continued to voice support for Thomas. Jermaine O'Neal, then a free agent, said before he re-signed with the team last month that he would not play for anybody but Thomas with the Pacers.

The biggest criticism of Thomas was his inconsistent rotations. While most players preferred a set role, Thomas made his decisions on his own feelings for a particular game and team matchups.

Thomas, who led Indiana to the 1981 NCAA championship, retired as a player after the 1994 season, averaging 19.2 points and 9.3 assists over his 13-year NBA career, all with the Pistons. He won NBA championship in 1989 and 1990.

He then became vice president and part-owner of the Toronto Raptors and later worked as an NBC analyst on NBA games before joining the Pacers.

[Modern Arts]

Revenge

This is pure b.s. eveyone and there mother knows these 2 players were arch rivals during their days as players and bird has the opritunity to pay thomas back for that remark he made back in the day about bird. you guys made the playoffs. what did you expect ? that you were going to win it all.? your not that good . the move was personal. plain and simple. what he should have done was made this move as soon as he was hired instead of shaking thomas hand like they had plans to work together . this will hurt bird with other players in the nba in the future. trust me. you will see

[Bob Berkowitz]

O'neal would not have resigned had bird did this earlier , believe it. This will come back to haunt the pacers franchise. There is already talk of O'neal being very angry because of this move.

[AndySMC]

What did Isiah say back in the day about Bird?

[Walter Cronkite]

More info

Evidently, it didn't take long for Larry Bird to find a replacement for Isiah Thomas.

Sources say that Bird, the Indiana Pacers' president of basketball operations, has decided to hire Rick Carlisle as the club's next head coach. An announcement could come as early as Thursday.

O'Neal upset by move
Jermaine O'Neal, the Pacers' best player, said he would not have re-signed with Indiana if he had known head coach Isiah Thomas was going to be fired.


Visibly angered and upset by the move, O'Neal said he will address the situation with the Pacers' front office next week after the Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico concludes.


"Am I disappointed? Hell, yeah. I'm extremely disappointed for multiple reasons," O'Neal said. "I was told he would be here before I re-signed.


"If your boss told you your ace is going to be there for you if you come back, and once you come back not even a month later he's not there, that hurts. That hurts a lot. He was more than a coach to me. He was like a father."

Larry Bird, the president of basketball operations who made the move, understood O'Neal's frustration.

"I think he'll be disappointed, but I also think that he'll sit down and talk to us, and we'll have a conversation with him about why it was done," Bird said.

Carlisle spent the past two seasons as coach of the Detroit Pistons before being fired in May. Carlisle spoke with Bird on Tuesday night and said he was interested.

"He's my first choice," Bird said.

Carlisle said on Wednesday that "nothing's done, but hopefully we can work something out."

Sources now indicate things have been worked out.

Carlisle and Bird's relationship dates to the 1980s when the two were teammates with the Boston Celtics. Carlisle also was an assistant for Bird from 1997-2000, but was passed over by current Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh in favor of Thomas.

Carlisle earned 2001-02 NBA Coach of the Years honors during his brief tenure in Detroit.

As for the firing of Thomas, Bird insisted that he took his new job less than two months ago with an open mind about Thomas' future.


But he wasted little time in making his first major move, firing Thomas on Wednesday.


"I just had a gut feeling this wasn't going to work," Bird said of a surprise move that came only two months before the start of the season.

Thomas has sad that the Pacers called him Tuesday night in San Juan, where Thomas was attending the Olympic qualifying tournament, and asked him to return to Indianapolis to meet with Pacers management.

"I definitely still want to coach, and I know I can coach," Thomas told Aldridge. "I guess I'm disappointed that Larry and I didn't get a chance to work together. I'm disappointed he didn't give that a chance, for us to work together."


Bird said he didn't feel comfortable with the Pacers' direction after a second-half swoon that knocked them out of first place in the Eastern Conference and into third.


Bird also said there were other problems with Thomas.


"I spoke to him one day in a meeting, and I talked to him one day on the phone. The communication wasn't really there," Bird said.


Thomas arrived in Indianapolis early Wednesday and went straight to Conseco Fieldhouse, where he met with Bird.


"I said I'm disappointed he didn't give himself an opportunity to know me," Thomas told the Associated Press about his conversation with Bird. "I think he would have liked me had he got to known me."



Bird said he would have fired Thomas even if Carlisle was not available.


Bird and Thomas were contentious rivals from their days of leading the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons to NBA titles in the 1980s.


When he was hired July 11, Bird walked off the podium at a news conference and shook hands with Thomas -- but neither smiled.


The Pacers were 131-115 in the regular season under Thomas, making the playoffs all three seasons but never advancing past the first round. Speculation swirled toward the end of the season that Thomas would not be back for the final year of his four-year contract.


Walsh, however, said Thomas would return, though they wouldn't discuss an extension. Walsh said on Wednesday he agreed with Bird on the decision to fire Thomas.


Walsh said Thomas would "possibly" have remained on if Bird had not been hired, though he had similar concerns the Pacers wouldn't regroup under Thomas.


"I would have been very worried about going into the season because I would agree that I think that it could blow up early," Walsh said. "And if it did, then we'd be in a worse situation."


The team said it would honor the final year of Thomas' contract.


Bird guided the Pacers to the 2000 NBA Finals and the best three-year record in their NBA history during his time as coach.


"I've always said, three years and you need a new coach," Bird joked.


Indiana had the best record in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break this past season, making Thomas the All-Star coach, but went 14-19 the rest of the season and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Boston.


Pacers players had continued to voice support for Thomas. Jermaine O'Neal said before he re-signed with the team last month that he would not play for anybody but Thomas with the Pacers.


The re-signing of O'Neal and free-agent Reggie Miller, along with the trade of All-Star Brad Miller all fell on Walsh as he eased out of his role as head decision maker.


This one was Bird's.


"I think a new coach coming in is going to bring some freshness, a new style and hopefully he can play the game the way I like it to be played," Bird said.


Bird said the new coach would likely bring in his own assistants.


The biggest criticism of Thomas was his inconsistent rotations. While most players preferred a set role, Thomas made his decisions on his own feelings for a particular game and team matchups.


Thomas, who led Indiana to the 1981 NCAA championship, retired as a player after the 1994 season, averaging 19.2 points and 9.3 assists over his 13-year NBA career, all with the Pistons. He won NBA championship in 1989 and 1990.


He then became vice president and part-owner of the Toronto Raptors and later worked as an NBC analyst on NBA games before joining the Pacers.


"Now we have to look at our team and see if we have the chemistry on the team that can win together and work together," Bird said. "This is just starting."