RealGM

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3299455

Even Larry Bird isn't sure of his future with the Indiana Pacers as ownership pledges big changes for the troubled franchise.

Bird, the team president, said Monday he can't be certain whether he will be back next season, The Indianapolis Star reported.

Owners should try and get Bird to their front office if he ever leaves the Pacers.

What do you think?

Of course it would be great to have the legend back, but I wonder if he and Danny would be at each other's throats within days.

Love Bird, but he really hasn't done all that well with the Pacers. Not sure I want him in the Celtics FO. I'll trust Ainge though if he tries to bring him in.

The only position I'd want Bird for would be as a head coach, and even then, it was Dick Harter (still the best name in the NBA today) who took care of the defense, and Rick Carlisle who looked after the offense.

Doc's done a great job with this group, so I don't see as to why the Celts would ask Larry Legend back anytime soon.

He should just retire and play golf and enjoy his life.

Id love him in our front office somehow

Bird would only come back to Boston if he was in control of the team. Quite frankly, Ainge is a better GM then Bird. The Celtics have a winning combination in Ainge & Rivers. Larry Bird should just retire and enjoy life.

my name isnt larry bird so i wont make any assumptions about what he does or doesnt want to do. while i see the point that larry likes to run things, and it makes sense, he also isnt the only guy running the pacers either, and you have to imagine that boston looks pretty good to both larry and kevin if they are leaving indy or minny and want to keep working actively in the league.

theres always room if those guys want to walk through the door... and as much as i love cam neely, they both have way better track records in team management (as in some experience) than cam did for the position the bruins created.

Mchale and Bird were great players BUT BAD GM's. They are both one step up from Isiah Thomas. Danny is a better GM. I really don't think Danny would want either one back.

Larry Bird Isn't A Good General Manager

no one said he was better than ainge, so dont attribute that to me. my comment was that teams hire guys with names and no resume worth considering all the time. kiki vandeweghe still gets hired and all he did was draft melo (slam dunk, you or i couldve made that move)

so considering that, and neither bird nor mchale has been terrible, im sure there are suits in the front office doing jobs they could do, while bringing their names back to the team and making a feel good period of time for us feel even better. thats my point. because even though they arent here now, say bird or mchale, and everyone thinks celtics. its not like we wanted red to go anywhere when danny took over, and we all knew pitino was wrong to mistreat him.

Danny had to live in the shadow of Bird and Mchale as a player, no way he wants to do this as a GM (i assume)... he probably wants to outshine them a GM because he couldn't as a player (very competitive) right now Danny is kicking Bird's and McHale's @ss's as a GM! why bring them in? You make this move to sell tickets if the franchise is suffering... this is what the dolphins tried with Dan Marino

I WOULD HOWEVER BE ALL FOR MCHALE TEACHING THE BIGS THE SECRETS OF THE MCHALE LOW POST MOVES! From time to time I see a little of the "Up and Under" from KG.

first of all danny is the executive director of basketball operations, technically the GM is beneath him. McHale and Bird both have slightly lower positions as execs, and no one is suggesting they would take danny's job. i dont understand why anyone would be against them coming here because they obviously wouldnt come to take danny's job.

danny is a mormon and, i dunno if youve met any mormons, this may be stereotyping but they are usually pretty religious and less petty than most people who dont value their faith so highly. danny considers both men friends, so i dont see jealousy playing a part.

danny is not the owner, so the choice, despite input, wouldnt really be his.

and, why bring them in? thats a joke right, its not like marino. marino is an ass. the celtics are family and i respect our tradition and legacy. why didnt we fire red when he got old, why do our old players come to visit, why do we retire numbers. great question.

if they wanted jobs here, they would have them, but the ownership wouldnt take any of dannys power away, and so that may keep them from taking jobs here, but not for the reasons you said.

Knicks should give him a one day contract just so he can fire Isiah one last time.

^^^^^

AHAHAH. YES!!!

LJB is the type of person who is always going to be busy. He tried retirement and it didn't work. I would like to see him run a franchise where it was just him calling the shots.

I think having Donnie Walsh over his shoulder hurt him. Donnie is an excellent judge of talent. So is Bird.

Great players like Bird and Isiah can be decent judges of draft talent and still be lousy GMs.

Then there's the McHale problem of simply not taking the job seriously and working all that hard at it.

One can be basketball-astute without being analytical or intellectually disciplined enough to be a good GM. Indeed, I'd suggest that VERY few people get the job of GM without understanding basketball very well.

That understanding is the starting point for being a good GM, not the end-all.

can't believe all this nonsense crap about bird being a bad gm. you people are either insane or a bunch of 4-year-olds.

for those who were born AFTER 2004, the pacers had arguably the BEST TEAM that year before artest and stephen jackson went nuts in detroit where they were spanking the pistons who by the way were the DEFENDING CHAMPIONS at the time. then, after that melee, everything went downhill for the pistons.

now, for those who are older than 4...if you'd recall, it was bird who ROBBED the blazers of jermaine o'neal who was arguably the best young big in the league at the time. and the pacers were considered contenders until that ugly mess in detroit. you can't fault bird for that. bird had no control over that. you could argue that bird should've never gone anywhere near artest in the first place, but artest was one of the best two-way players at the time. and bird, this horrible gm you guys are making him out to be, acquired not only artest, but also brad miller, kevin ollie and ron mercer for jalen rose, travis best and a 2nd round pick. that was a great move at the time no matter which angle you looked at it from.

it's easy to tout ainge as a great gm now, but just a year ago people were calling for his head on a platter. i'm not saying ainge isn't a good gm because he is a great one for boston right now, but to call bird a bad gm is just ignorant and downright offensive.

Bird should be brought back in some form or another - even if it's just ceremonial

The team owes him for the way they treated him in the 90s

Big Baby wrote:can't believe all this nonsense crap about bird being a bad gm. you people are either insane or a bunch of 4-year-olds.

for those who were born AFTER 2004, the pacers had arguably the BEST TEAM that year before artest and stephen jackson went nuts in detroit where they were spanking the pistons who by the way were the DEFENDING CHAMPIONS at the time. then, after that melee, everything went downhill for the pistons.

now, for those who are older than 4...if you'd recall, it was bird who ROBBED the blazers of jermaine o'neal who was arguably the best young big in the league at the time. and the pacers were considered contenders until that ugly mess in detroit. you can't fault bird for that. bird had no control over that. you could argue that bird should've never gone anywhere near artest in the first place, but artest was one of the best two-way players at the time. and bird, this horrible gm you guys are making him out to be, acquired not only artest, but also brad miller, kevin ollie and ron mercer for jalen rose, travis best and a 2nd round pick. that was a great move at the time no matter which angle you looked at it from.

it's easy to tout ainge as a great gm now, but just a year ago people were calling for his head on a platter. i'm not saying ainge isn't a good gm because he is a great one for boston right now, but to call bird a bad gm is just ignorant and downright offensive.

Larry Bird did almost none of those things were you alive? Bird was not even with the Pacer organization from '00-'03, when they acquired O'Neal an Artest.

What Bird has done is fire Isiah and hire Rick Carlisle, and traded Al Harrington for Stephen Jackson, the resigned Harrington, and traded both of them for Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy. Basically he has either signed (Tinsley) or acquired some of the worst contracts in the NBA and created one of the least entertaining rosters in the league and spending luxury tax money to do it.

Bird is likely trying to get fired so he can get out of dodge and back to French Lick before Walsh leaves for the Knicks and before KG brings the chickens home to roost on his little quote in my sig.

There is only one way Bird is coming back to this organization and that is as an owner he has said as much and Wyc isn't selling.

I wouldn't want Larry in the Celtics front office.

My reasons are numerous.

1. He's been a charge of all personnel decisions for 2 years in Indiana. He has some players who seem to have major issues off the court (dating back to the brawl in Detroit), and poor attitudes for team play. He's done nothing to fix that.

2. As a player, his attitude was literally keep on playing, even if you just jammed or broke a finger. While this may have worked for him, this does not work with ALL players, and having a negative opinion of someone, who wants to heal, is not going to help the situation.

3. Putting a team together involves a lot more than just looking at how someone plays. It's meshing, and managing, personalities and egos. Larry, from what I've seen, has not done that well.

4. Encouraging players to play their best requires patience. Larry had a weapon when he was coaching the Pacers against the Lakers in Rick Smits. I never felt that Larry got the best out of Rick Smits that there was to get, from someone who could get his shot anytime that he wanted it. I still feel Larry left a series on the table against the Lakers by not better utilizing Smits, who could take his shot anytime he wanted to (he's 7'4"). It seemed to me that Larry just didn't have the patience to go thru a dry spell with Rick, when he was Larry's best option to get a basket on days Reggie Miller wasn't hitting.

Anyway, enough Larry as front office guy bashing. Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers have set a higher standard in terms of human relations and team management that I don't think that Larry can match. So, I wouldn't want him around the team.