Isaiah Thomas fired...by Larry Bird!

[Miramonti]

story

``After looking at film, seeing how things were and evaluating the basketball operations, I detected the team's chemistry wasn't what it should be,'' Bird said.

A year after bird quit coaching the pacers he criticized them for hiring thomas and said they would have 10% better if they hired carlysle. Will they now?

Can't wait for the ensuing foodfight!

 

[MrDingleDangle]

lol...only a matter of time...those two hate each other

 

[BigSmooth]

Interesting. Everyone is going to think it was personal.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: BigSmooth
Interesting. Everyone is going to think it was personal.

The first thing I thought of when he signed with the pacers again was thomas and whether or not they could coexist. Now we know.

 

[T3C]

hehe that is funny

 

[burnedout]

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: BigSmooth
Interesting. Everyone is going to think it was personal.

The first thing I thought of when he signed with the pacers again was thomas and whether or not they could coexist. Now we know.

To me, there still exists too much "bad blood" between both Isiah Thomas and Larry Bird. The whole mess started when Bird won MVP and Thomas brought up that mess about racism. Even though Isiah supposedly called Bird and apologized, this was what started everything.

The Pistons-Celtics wars in the Eastern Conference during that time didn't help matters any either. I'm afraid they carry over till this day. Then there was the '92 Dream Team and the rumor that both Larry Bird and Karl Malone wouldn't play on the Dream Team if Isiah was on it. Not only had confrontations between Bird and Thomas as well as Malone and Thomas occured (Malone almost put Thomas out of basketball with a wicked elbow in one game), but Malone was lobbying for John Stockton. So Thomas also felt screwed back then and was a bit vocal about it.

Carlisle and Bird go way back to the Celtics championship team of 1986. Their respective mutual success was further demonstrated when Indiana went on that great run for three years while Bird was coach. Both men, Carlisle and Bird, run a variation of the same style offense and preparation which evolved from Red Auerbach.

It will be interesting to see if the handling of this coaching change brings up old grudges, favoritism and charges of racism again. Personally, I didn't think Isiah was that great of a coach compared to Bird and his staff of Carlisle and Dick Harter.

 

[filmmaker]

Originally posted by: MrDingleDangle
lol...only a matter of time...those two hate each other

 

[mpitts]

Here comes Rick Carlisle

 

[vi edit]

I've never liked Thomas.

 

[Nitemare]

Bah... I want to see Bird coach again

 

[royaldank]

Thomas sucked. It wasn't personal; Thomas couldn't get the job done. They should have hired Carlisle years ago.

 

[Stark]

Originally posted by: burnedout

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: BigSmooth
Interesting. Everyone is going to think it was personal.

The first thing I thought of when he signed with the pacers again was thomas and whether or not they could coexist. Now we know.

To me, there still exists too much "bad blood" between both Isiah Thomas and Larry Bird. The whole mess started when Bird won MVP and Thomas brought up that mess about racism. Even though Isiah supposedly called Bird and apologized, this was what started everything.

The Pistons-Celtics wars in the Eastern Conference during that time didn't help matters any either. I'm afraid they carry over till this day. Then there was the '92 Dream Team and the rumor that both Larry Bird and Karl Malone wouldn't play on the Dream Team if Isiah was on it. Not only had confrontations between Bird and Thomas as well as Malone and Thomas occured (Malone almost put Thomas out of basketball with a wicked elbow in one game), but Malone was lobbying for John Stockton. So Thomas also felt screwed back then and was a bit vocal about it.

Carlisle and Bird go way back to the Celtics championship team of 1986. Their respective mutual success was further demonstrated when Indiana went on that great run for three years while Bird was coach. Both men, Carlisle and Bird, run a variation of the same style offense and preparation which evolved from Red Auerbach.

It will be interesting to see if the handling of this coaching change brings up old grudges, favoritism and charges of racism again. Personally, I didn't think Isiah was that great of a coach compared to Bird and his staff of Carlisle and Dick Harter.

what he said.

Isaiah's a punk who can't make it out of the first round as a coach... even in the East.
Carlisle is available and Bird would have to be a fool not to try everything in his power to get him on board.

 

[roncarter]

Jermaine O'neal isnt very happy, but i guess his 100+ million will make him happy.

 

[royaldank]

I'd laugh at Jermaine when he b!tched. I'd laugh in his face. Then, I'd show him his contract and laugh again.

Maybe he'll be the next Barry Sanders.

 

[burnedout]

Of course the conspiracy theories emerge - ESPN

To be quite honest, even if Isiah Thomas had made the second round or perhaps the Eastern Conference championships, I still don't think Bird would have kept him around. There is just way too much animosity between those two.

Their college backgrounds contrast so sharply. Bird was at Indiana (IU) for one year but left for the ISU Sycamores because of friction with Bobby Knight. On the other hand, Thomas played for two years under Knight at IU which resulted in winning a NCAA D-1 championship. When Isiah Thomas took over as coach of the Pacers, what is the first thing he did? He invited Bobby Knight to talk at Pacers practice.

Thomas isn't a bad coach. In fact I thought he was rather resourceful in developing some of his players. During the preseason, sometimes he'd start his younger big men at point guard to develop their passing skills. But with the good comes the bad as he had some loose cannons on board - hello Ron Artest - whom he couldn't control very well.

Understandably, Jermaine O'Neal is unhappy as he respected his coach very much. If Jonathan Bender and Al Harrington can remind him of what real winning was like four seasons ago, I think he'll come on board.