What about guys like: Rudy T. Pat Riley Phil Jackson Byron Scott Etc..etc....all who were players in the NBA who have had good success in coaching. The article is misleading. DD
I agree but how is it ok for Bird to berate O'neal in the press but O'neal speaking of being mislead is pouty and babyish In fact Sounds like Bird is WHINING TO ME 'you don't wanna be here. . .you can go then . . HUH!!!' If he is gonna move him . . . JUST DO IT don't scream it to the media etc. . . . why all the publicity about it? CAUSE BIRD WANTS TO LOOK LIKE HE TAKING A STAND O'NEAL AIN'T GOING NO WHERE POUT OR NO POUT Rocket River
Give me a friggin break. If O'Neal was tricked into signing a contract he has every right to be pissed. His past pouting or his salary are completely irrelevant to the current argument.
That's how i see it too. He's just being loyal to his coach. He probably had a lot of respect for Thomas too, with him being one of the all-time greats.
DD - Why is the article misleading? The point of the article as I understand it is that Bird is the exception of great players being great coaches. (Or at least successful coaches). You are surely not comparing Rudy, Riley, Jackson and Scott to Magic, Bird, MJ and Zeke as players are you?
The article is talking about star players. Out of this bunch Rudy T. was the closest to being a star player but he still had Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, and Calvin being the goto guys.
I guarantee you Bird will make that team a winner, superstars or no superstars. Bird never talked to the press a lot, even in his glory days. Mainly because he tells it like it is. He doesn't coat it with bull****. As for free agents going to Indiana, any free agent who wants to win will give Indiana a serious look now that Bird is there.
If JON wanted Thomas to remain coach, then he should have negotiated an option to void his contract if Thomas was fired. Or he could have waited until a decision on Thomas was made. While I think Indiana's actions are less than admirable, they really didn't do anything wrong.
HAHA.. the funny thing is he dont have to earn his money.. is a guaranteed contract already.. Now the pacers are forced to pay him.. For all Jermaine cares he can deny to play...
That's the way he wanted it. He never led anyone to believe anything differently, like some coaches do...ahem..Phil Jackson. My understanding is Bird was active in Game prep and practice. Thing is, he made it very easy for Carlisle and the defensive coach (?) to *coach*. They didn't have to worry about a thing, because Bird was there to keep the players focused. Not to say Reggie Miller needed any help focusing or anything. But I do appreciate the honesty with which Bird coached and gave Carlisle a lot of control from day one....that was the plan.
I don't understand all the Bird hating. All the guy said was that if O'Neal wanted to be traded, he would try to accomodate him and asked him to focus on helping the Pacers in the mean time. How else should he have handled a situation where a player was suggesting that he might ask to be traded??? In the end, Walsh was wrong if he indeed did promise O'Neal that Thomas would stay (I doubt this was 100% the case however). Bird is just responding to O'Neals complaints about Walsh. Very unfair to say that Bird should keep things "in house" when O'Neal cast the 1st stone.
So do you Doubt O'Neal but not Walsh? It is also unfair to say Bird is great and awesome for doing basically the same thing O'neal did . . . while at the same time cutting O'neal down. Rocket RIver
RR, Honestly, I doubt both. Surely Walsh is not stupid enough to say that Thomas had 100% job security based on O'Neal's signing and surely O'Neal is not naive enough to believe Walsh even if he did say that. The truth lies somewhere in between I am sure. In the end, Walsh probably made overtures that Thomas would be here this season, but I doubt that promises were made in order to get the contract signed. Misleading is misleading, but JO should have been prepared for such a circumstance if he didn't get it stipulated in his new deal. BTW, I am not cutting O'Neal down. YOu are mistaking my admiration for Bird as O'Neal bashing. If I felt I was lied to, I would respond in a similar fashion. Bird called his bluff and now things are A-OK. Bird could have turned this into a media war and gotten real nasty. He responded to O'Neal's potential trade demand by saying "well try to accomodate you and I hope you will play hard for us in the mean time". IMO, that was a perfect response.
