Isiah Thomas To Coach Pacers?
The Indiana Pacers are expected to move quickly to name a new coach, and Isiah Thomas reportedly is the leading candidate to succeed Larry Bird.
The 116-111 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Monday night eliminated the Pacers from the NBA Finals and ended the coaching career of Bird, who said all along this would be his final season with Indiana.
Speculation focused immediately on Thomas, a popular player who led Indiana University to the 1981 NCAA championship and was a 12-time NBA All-Star and Hall of Fame player with the Detroit Pistons.
When Thomas stopped playing, he became part owner and general manager of the Toronto Raptors. Last year, he bought the Continental Basketball Association for $10 million, and he would have to sell the league if he were to become a coach in the NBA.
"There's a perceived conflict of interest, and like any other businessman you will resolve that conflict when it's there," Thomas said during the NBA Finals, in which he worked as an analyst for NBC. "There are millions of conflicts in businesses, and people sit down at the table and they resolve those conflicts. If that time came, I will resolve the conflict, whatever that conflict may be."
Monday night, after the Pacers' loss to the Lakers, NBC analyst Peter Vecsey reported Thomas would be hired as the Pacers coach, although he did not say when an announcement would be made. Thomas refused to confirm the NBC report but thanked his NBC studio cohorts for working with him.
Also contenders for the job were Byron Scott, a former Pacers player who is now an assistant with Sacramento, and Rick Carlisle, a former Boston teammate of Bird and current Pacers assistant.
Sacramento, which originally gave Indiana until June 1 to talk with Scott, extended the deadline while the Pacers were in the playoffs.
"All of us as candidates have said, while the Pacers are in the heat of a championship run, we all have to respect the position they're in, whether it be Byron Scott, Rick Carlisle, myself or whoever the other candidates are," Thomas said last week.
He would not be more specific about the likelihood he would become the coach.
"I don't care if you ask it a different way, that way or around the corner, you're still going to get the same answer," he said.
He again was noncommittal Monday night.
Thomas, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, led the Pistons to NBA titles in 198and 1990. A 6-foot-1 guard, he made the NBA All-Star team in 12 of 13 seasons and in 1996 the NBA honored him as one of its 50 greatest players ever.
He averaged 19.2 points and 9.3 assists for his career, both Pistons records, and is fourth in assists and ninth in steals in the NBA.
Bird has had a standing offer from team president Donnie Walsh to move into the Pacers' front office as director of basketball operations. He said Monday night, however, that he was leaning toward retiring completely and returning to his home in Florida.
Bird was expected to meet with Walsh this week, and his decision could affect the choice of coach.
©2000 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed