Larry Legend Named Coach Of Year
Before the season started, Larry Bird said all he wanted was a player who would keep his mouth shut and play hard.
So far, that formula has worked, giving the Indiana Pacers a 3-1 lead over the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and earning Larry Legend coach of the year honors.
Bird, one of the few star players to be a successful coach, today will become only the second person in NBA history to win awards as rookie of the year and coach of the year, The Associated Press has learned.
Two sources close to the NBA who spoke on condition they not be identified confirmed that Bird would be presented the IBM Coach of the Year award today at Market Square Arena.
Pacers spokesman David Benner would not confirm the reports, but he said the Pacers will hold a news conference today for a "major announcement" regarding the team and the NBA. He and league spokesman Brian McIntyre declined to discuss the nature of the announcement.
When Bird took over the Pacers last year, there were doubts the superstar player would have the patience to coach players with ordinary skills in a league whose flashy style differs greatly from the blue-collar game Bird was famous for.
"I'm not asking for that," Bird said after he was named to coach the Eastern Conference squad in this season's All-Star game. "All I want is hard work in practice and for about 25 minutes in a game. ... If a guy can't give that, he doesn't belong in the NBA."
In his first year, Bird took a Pacers team that missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years to its best winning percentage in franchise history. The team's 58 wins were second-best in the NBA's Eastern Conference.
"Who in their right mind wouldn't listen to what Larry Bird tells them?" Pacer Reggie Miller once said. "He knows what it takes to be a successful player, and he's letting us do the things to have the success."
The Indianapolis Star reported in today's editions that Bird is believed to have received nearly half the votes cast by NBA media representatives, winning in a landslide over Cleveland's Mike Fratello and Utah's Jerry Sloan.
Bird has often downplayed the possibility of winning the honor, deflecting praise to his assistant coaches, Dick Harter and Rick Carlisle, and to his players.
But Pacers players point to his no-frills, democratic style of coaching as the impetus behind their success.
"He's absolutely the coach of the year," point guard Mark Jackson said. "I think it's a no-brainer, because he's allowed us to be ourselves."
Bird already had cemented his future as a Hall of Famer before taking over the Pacers last year after coach Larry Brown moved to the Philadelphia 76ers. The 12-time All-Star was the league's MVP three times and took the playoff MVP award in 1984 and 1986. He also was named the MVP of the 1982 All-Star game.
Celtic Tom Hinsohn is the only other person to win the rookie and coach awards. In 1980, Bird was the rookie of the year after leading the Celtics to a league-best 61-21 record, a 32-game improvement over the previous season. Heinsohn won the rookie award in 1957 and the coaching award in 1973, both with the Celtics.
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