How would the Pacers have turned out if Larry Bird remained?

Baller 24 · Post #1 » by **Baller 24** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:15 pm

Larry Bird turned out to be a great coach back in 1997-2000. He coached the Pacers team to the ECF and the Finals, while also getting very high number of wins each year. What do you guys think would have happened to that Pacers team if he was still the coach? The year after Isiah Thomas took over and :roll:

the Pacers turned out 8th in the playoffs, and weren't very strong until Rick Carlise took over who was Bird's assistant coach.

Post #2 » by **tsherkin** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:24 pm

Well, if he convinced himself to stay on and work at being a coach, he'd have undoubtedly continued to have been a good one. It'd be interesting to see how their roster would have developed.

Baller 24 · Post #3 » by **Baller 24** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:49 pm

Yeah I'd love to see what would have happened...I think we would be looking at Jalen Rose right now completely different if Bird stayed. Also I don't think Jermaine O'neal would have been obtained.

The Main Event · Post #4 » by **The Main Event** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:58 pm

Jalen Rose is a cocky good for nothing bum. In his run with the Raps he continually acted as if he was the G.O.A.T. and provided very little for us aside from leadership.

Baller 24 · Post #5 » by **Baller 24** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:05 pm

Thats what happened...but Bird was pretty big on the development of Jalen Rose in those 3 years, hence which is one of the reasons he got that massive deal after 2000. But I'm just saying, we would be looking at Rose different as a player if Bird remained to coach him.

Post #6 » by **studcrackers** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:00 pm

maybe austin croshere wouldve been able to build on his very good nba finals instead of rotting on the bench after they traded for JO. but the pacers had alot of change from the time bird coached to the time carlisle got the job (the big trade with the bulls) so who knows if that wouldve ever happened. not to mention smits retired and sam perkins mightve also. lot of unanswered Q's IMO. i always hated isiah when he was with the team and they really underachieved there, which is why i knew he'd fail in new york when he got that job.

Baller 24 · Post #7 » by **Baller 24** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:31 pm

Like stud said a lot of possibilities, Rose may have devloped into a more respectable player, Reggie Miller may even be in the finals multiple times, who knows. I'd like to get some info from Pacers' fans since they do know more about this. I mean that 1998 Pacers team was also pretty amazing, they went to 7 games against the Bulls and were VERY close to the finals, I think they only lost by 5-6 points in game 7. Mark Jackson also got traded someone that was a big part of the run in the previous years