Larry Bird parts ways with the Indiana Pacers; Donnie Walsh to take over – NBA Update
Larry Bird’s journey with the Indiana Pacers has come to an end. The Hall of Famer has been the integral part of the resurgence which the franchise has seen in the last two years, with the Pacers reaching the Eastern Conference
Semifinals this year.
The rumours of his departure were there for quite some time, but Larry officially announced his retirement on Wednesday in the presence of franchise owner Herb Simon.
The former Pacers coach cited his deteriorating health issues as the reason for his retirement;
"I just think it's time," he said.
“I'm going to take some time off and evaluate what I will do in the future," Bird added. "This has nothing to do with any conflict or anything else, it's just time."
Before assuming the executive role, Bird had coached Pacers from 1997 to 2000, with the Pacers' only NBA Finals appearance coming in his last year in charge.
He then returned to front office in 2003 and after Donnie Walsh left for the New York Knicks, he finally took over as the President of Basketball Operations.
Bird had a vision to rebuild he team around young talent, and for that both patience and time was required. He refrained from hiring experienced and expensive players and developed a core comprising of Danny Granger, Darren Collison
and Danny Granger.
That young group worked wonders and under Frank Vogel, made an appearance in the playoffs 1st round last season. This time they came all the way down to conference semi-finals, where they were eventually ejected by Miami
Heat in a chippy six game series.
Bird was the 2012 NBA Executive of the Year, and at the end of this season it was expected that he will extend his tenure, especially after hinting towards it just last month. However, as it has turned out, that is not the case;
"I considered leaving last year, so this shouldn't be a surprise," Bird said. "I'm proud of what we've accomplished, I like the position this team is in and with Kevin and Donnie, the basketball side won't miss a beat."
Ironically for the Pacers, the man who will take Bird’s position is Donnie Walsh. There has also been a change at the General Manager position with Kevin Pritchard replacing David Morway, who resigned two days ago.
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