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particularly, Bird's arbitrary "3 year limit" on coaches and his claim
that he would've "bothered" Paul George by asking him how he
felt about possibly moving to power forward
http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2016/05/05/doyel-frank-vogel-falls-victim-larry-birds-warped-thinking/83978554/
excerpt:
But Bird is getting rid of his overachieving coach because of 1983.
And 1988. Here’s Bird defending the decision:
“Just the history. I’ve been around the history of the game for a lot
of years. My experience has been, good coaches leave after three
years. I played for Bill Fitch and I’ve seen it happen firsthand.
I’ve talked to Red Auerbach on the subject a lot. We had K.C. Jones
for five years. Nicest man I ever met. And they let him go. And we
were having success.”
Bird uses history selectively. Auerbach got rid of Bill Fitch after
losing in the 1983 Eastern Conference semifinals, and that worked
out. K.C. Jones replaced him and reached the NBA finals his first
four years, winning two titles. The new voice worked. Bird remembers that.
Auerbach moved on from K.C. Jones after his fifth year, when the
Celtics lost in the conference finals. Auerbach replaced him with
Jimmy Rodgers, who lost in the first round twice and was fired. The new voice was a disaster.
Did Bird forget that?
When he became Pacers coach in 1997, Bird told anyone who would
listen that he would leave after three years. People didn’t believe
him. He led the Pacers to the Eastern Conference finals all three
years, including the 2000 NBA Finals, then retired to give the Pacers
a new voice. Bird remembers that.
The Pacers replaced him with Isiah Thomas, who bombed.
Did Bird forget that?
“This goes back a long time ago,” Bird said, reminding us that he
knows what he knew. “I’ve seen it. And after a certain number of
years, it’s time to make a move, and that’s how I feel.”
Interesting, the three-year shelf life Bird assigns a coach. The
Pacers have just three players who have been with the team longer,
and one (Ian Mahinmi) is a free agent. The other two are Paul George
and George Hill. Did Larry Bird really say goodbye to a good coach
just so two players can hear a new “voice”?
...
This season didn’t go wrong because of Frank Vogel. It didn’t go
wrong at all, but it wasn’t great for the same reason Vogel is out of
a job: because Larry Bird runs his franchise straight out of the mid-1980s.
Back then, see, Red Auerbach didn’t seek input from players. Not even
from a player as good as Larry Bird.
“He didn’t want my opinion on anything,” Bird said Thursday.
Bird remembered that as he was putting his 2015-16 roster together,
deciding small forward Paul George would move to power forward in an
up-tempo attack. Bird never sought George’s input on that decision.
Just made it on his own, even with George coming off a gruesomely broken leg.
“I don’t like to bother my players,” Bird said. “When I played, I
didn’t want the front office bothering me.”
Pity he never bothered Paul George, because maybe Bird would have
learned George didn’t want to switch positions, would basically
refuse to do it. Forced to return George to the wing and start the
even smaller C.J. Miles at power forward, Vogel eventually had no
choice but to return to a traditional, two-big lineup – despite a
roster put together by Bird to play smaller. That left Vogel starting
two non-starters, Mahinmi and Allen, in the frontcourt until Turner developed.
And still this team won 47 games.
http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2016/05/05/doyel-frank-vogel-falls-victim-larry-birds-warped-thinking/83978554/ _____
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