Larry Bird should be caged!

[tamaraw08]

Larry Bird is a great player….But an executive? The one glaring weakness by Indiana was that they were missing a TRUE POINT GUARD!!
George Hill is an undersized shooting guard who has a CAREER ave of 3 assists per game. The guy is a very good shooter who plays pretty good defense. Yes, he is tough, great locker room presence etc etc etc .

For those who are so myopic and would try to defend Bird and say “well, the Pacers were one win away from dethroning the Heat, blah blah blah!” Miami has been known to coast and play to the level of competition. i.e. losing to Rose-less Bulls, and struggling to beat the Spurs which had Manu Ginobli having his career worst playoff series ever.
By end of half time of game 7 vs Miami, it was OVER as they say, when the going gets tough, the TOUGH gets GOING! George crumbled under the “Heat”…
Bird had a chance to acquire a really good PG like Rondo when Boston was trying to unload all their expensive veterans. He would have lured Toronto to give up Kyle Lowry for Granger and a first round pick but nah, let’s just get the damaged Andrew Bynum because we are 28th in the league in assists/game, 19th in the league in shooting FG%.
21st in the league in most turnovers. Its like buying another fuel pump eventhough your car badly needs a new transmission.
The ironic part was when he was "psuedo coaching" Indiana, as everyone knows that it was Carlisle who was really calling the shots... It was Mark Jackson who spearheaded the offense. No way they would have won the East with the likes of a fake PG like George Hill.

[WillC]

You've convinced me. Larry Bird should be caged.

[freshperry]

If what you are saying about luring Lowry is true, yeah Bird messed up pretty big on that one but I think you are being a little bit unfair on the Rondo trade scenario. If I recall, the celtics were looking to trade Rondo but for a pretty heavy price.... Also at the time, the Pacers were doing great as a team and people were saying it was their chemistry/defense that was winning them games. Obviously looking now, the pacers imploded and chemistry is a huge issue but you can bash bird for that. Plus who do you think made this team/drafted PG in the first place?

[Railgun]

in hindsight every gm makes mistakes.
riley: heat still don't have a capable center
presti: harden
morey: let lowry and dragic go
etc. etc.

[Kblaze8855]

Thus far im not sure ive seen a preemptive strike on the obvious rebuttal to a topic work out. And here:

For those who are so myopic and would try to defend Bird and say “well, the Pacers were one win away from dethroning the Heat, blah blah blah!”

is no exception

"Blah blah blah" it all you want. Bird built a team that took a 66 win defending champ to game 7 in the conference finals. I think his freedom is justified.

[cos88]

yeah i'm not reading your crap

[ProfessorMurder]

I want to know how hard he went after Rondo, if at all.

Rondo would've been so perfect.

[MMM]

Don't think Indy has anything the Celtics want baby in a potential trade.

[ProfessorMurder]

Don't think Indy has anything the Celtics want baby in a potential trade.

Yeah I know, would've been for just an expiring Granger probably... Which isn't good for the C's. I'd really like to see Rondo in Indy. He'd lead them to the championship and be the vet leader they need.

[SHAQisGOAT]

Thus far im not sure ive seen a preemptive strike on the obvious rebuttal to a topic work out. And here:



is no exception

"Blah blah blah" it all you want. Bird built a team that took a 66 win defending champ to game 7 in the conference finals. I think his freedom is justified.

This. And that's on a small market. at OP. I'm sure he knows more than Bird and got info about everything that went down, and so on, though This dude should be running a team, not former MVP, former coach of the year, former GM of the year, great basketball mind Larry Bird

[cuad]

I'd like to put Larry Bird in a cage if you know what I mean. ;]

[LAZERUSS]

If George Costanza had made it to a Yankee GM, they would still be winning championships...

He had some brilliant trade ideas...

[MMM]

Yeah I know, would've been for just an expiring Granger probably... Which isn't good for the C's. I'd really like to see Rondo in Indy. He'd lead them to the championship and be the vet leader they need.

As a Celtics fan I want to see him retire a Celtics. He can be a Paul Pierce level franchise player(perennial all star). The Celtics have the pieces to get quality talent around him just not sure if the timing is ideal.

Rondo is in his prime and all the assets or potential assets are a few years away. The market for prime all star players to trade for is uncertain as well.

I really hope we keep Rondo because it is no guarantee that we find a better piece to build around. If we can't keep him than I love to see him go to a great situation.

[ILLsmak]

Well how many good PGs are there in the NBA that will buy into a system? I'm sure if he could get one, he would...

-Smak

[ImKobe]

How dare you disrespect Larry Legend like that.

He was a damn good coach & he built this Pacer team. Teams go through tough stretches, but the PG position is not that important on that team really. The problem is that Paul George & Hibbert have both been playing like ass(type roy hibbert into the google search box & you get "overrated") since the all-star break. Pacers are going through a tough stretch, but I think they will come out of it fine.

Hibbert before ASB: 12 & 8 +/- of +17.6, 104 ORTG 93 DRTG
Hibbert after ASB: 10 & 5 +/- of -14.3, 94 ORTG 111 DRTG

It's like he forgot how to play basketball

PG's decline has been big as well, he's shooting 40/35/90 post ASB & he's been passing the ball a lot less. He's however gotten better in the last few games, so let's see if he keeps up.