Larry Bird is one of the few great players who went on to have tremendous success both as a head coach and an executive. After leading the Celtics to 3 NBA titles while winning 3 MVPs, Bird went on to coach the Indiana Pacers and even managed to take them to the NBA Finals in 2000.
He would step down after that Finals run, and his successor would be another Hall-of-Famer in Isiah Thomas. The Pacers, who had made the Conference Finals in all 3 seasons under Bird, never made it past the first round with Thomas at the helm. Bird, who was from Indiana, returned to the organization in 2003 as their President of Basketball Operations, and one of his first moves was to fire Thomas.
Isiah Thomas Reveals What Larry Bird Said To Him Before He Got Fired
Thomas was getting a lot of criticism for the postseason failures, and Bird knew right away when he came in that they had to make a change, and he made it. Isiah recently revealed what Bird told him before the firing during an appearance on the Hoop du Jour podcast.
(starts at 39:56 mark):
“Larry goes, ‘You know Cheesy, I really like you, you’ve done a good job here. The team is going in the right direction, but I think I am going to make a coaching change.’ I said ‘Wait, Larry, before you do that, let me just say this, I think you and I would make a great team here. I don’t know who you are thinking about hiring but give me a chance.'”
“He goes, ‘No no, you have done a great job, it has nothing to do with you, nothing to do with your coaching ability, or anything else.’ He said that ‘You know I played with Rick (Carlisle), he is my (Isiah’s) assistant coach, he is a good friend of mine, and Imma bring Rick in, but you have done nothing wrong.’ I say, ‘So I’m out?’ He goes, ‘Yeah.’ I said why? He said, ‘I just like Rick better than I like you.'”
Bird just kept it real with Thomas at the end there, and firing him was the right choice. Under Rick Carlisle, the Pacers made it back to the Conference Finals in his first season, where they lost to the Pistons, who were the best team in the East by that time. Thomas, meanwhile, became the President of Basketball Operations for the Knicks just a couple of months after he got fired by the Pacers. He would go on to coach the team in 2006 but didn’t do a great job and was relieved of his duties after 2 seasons.
Thomas also made the headlines recently for saying that his beef with Michael Jordan won’t end until he gets a public apology, as he took offense to some of the things said about him in the Last Dance documentary. Isiah didn’t make too many friends during his time in the NBA, but he did get some love for once from a former player not too long back when John Salley named him among a star-studded starting 5 of his former teammates.
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