Larry Bird sounds off: The Indiana Pacers are starting to turn their season around, little by little, and once again are back in the playoff mix. A lot more was expected of the Pacers, who replaced head coaches in the offseason and seemingly upgraded their point guard situation by getting Jeff Teague. Yet the task of surrounding Paul George with enough talent to take advantage of his prime years is going slowly. Lots of this falls on the desk of team president Larry Bird. Here’s the Bird Q&A with Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis News:
Question: What are your overall thoughts on the season at the midway point?
Bird: “I think it took a little bit longer than I thought it would to come together. We’ve had stretches where we’ve played really well. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed in how we’re playing on the road. At the beginning of the year, I thought that if we come together, we can probably win a lot more games than we have so far. Overall, I can’t say I’m too disappointed. It’s just that I know going forward that we’ve got to continue to get better and get (Rodney) Stuckey healthy and see what we’ve got.”
Q: The new collective bargaining agreement was signed Thursday. What are your overall thoughts on where the league is going and some of the changes that have been made?
Bird: “It’s a little bit different. What it comes down to, basically, is that the guys are going to get paid a lot more money and you have a better opportunity to keep your own free agents. It leads to smaller markets having an opportunity to do that if they’re willing to pay the money. There’s some changes in there that we like and some we don’t like, but that’s collective bargaining. I think the Commissioner (Adam Silver) and the players got together and they did a deal that they felt was fair to both sides. That’s always good.”
Q: What are the changes that you see as favorable to the Pacers?
Bird: “Well, if you want to keep your free agents, you’re going to have an opportunity to, at least, I think, have a better chance of keeping them. If a player don’t want to be here, and he wants to go somewhere else, that’s just a part of free agency. That’s what’s in the collective bargaining for. But at least you have an opportunity to pay them a little bit more and give them an extra year and be able to keep them and sign them up earlier. I think that’s a plus. I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’ve read that thing inside and out because that’s what Peter (Dinwiddie) is for. We feel that there’s some advantages and the disadvantage is that we’ve got to spend the money. That’s something we’ve got to decide as a franchise, how far we’re going to go.”
Q: What are your thoughts on Paul George’s upcoming free agency and the possibility of offering the extra sixth year if he’s named to the All-NBA team?
Bird: “I don’t want to get into Paul’s free agency. Before the year started, I told Paul and I said, ‘Look, if you want to sign a long-term deal, we’re willing to do that max (contract) and if you want to wait, I understand.’ But this year, we’re not going to worry about it, we’re not going to talk about it and he’s going to make the decision that’s best for Paul when it comes down to it.”
Q: Do you see any changes in the new collective bargaining agreement having any impact on George’s free agency or is your position still the same in terms of offering him the max, whether it’s five years or six years?
Bird: “Yeah, we want to keep him here long term. That’s the plan.”
Q: You’ve mentioned in the past how you want to score more points and you’ve made a lot of moves in the offseason to get the offense to be better than previous years under coach Frank Vogel. What are your assessments of the team’s offense?
Bird: “Well, you can always get better. I think my biggest beef with the team is winning on the road and pounding the basketball. I said earlier I think the last time I talked to you guys is that one of the things I worry about is that we’ve got a lot of ball pounders. If you move the basketball and everybody gets a touch, you’re going score a lot more points. This goes back three years ago when I said this league is changing and the rules have changed. Teams are shooting more 3s and they’re going to continue to shoot more 3s and the scoring is going to go up. If you don’t try to hold pace, I don’t care how good of a defensive team you are, you better score points or you’re not going to have a chance to win. I feel that way and that’s my philosophy and I think scoring is going to continue to go up year after year. You’ve got some teams right now shooting 20-25 3s, some shooting 30-35 and there’s teams shooting in the 40s. Two, three years from now, I think everybody is going to be shooting 40 3s a game. The scoring is going to go up and you better be on pace with it.”
Q: You promoted Nate McMillan as head coach in the offseason. How would assess what McMillan has done through 41 games?
Bird: “Well, it’s going to be hard for me sit here and tell you. I like Nate. I liked him when I hired him. But anything I say positive about Nate, you’re going to take it as a negative to Frank (Vogel), and that’s not what it’s about. I like Frank. Frank did a hell of a job here. We wish him all the best. We made a lot of changes over the last two or three years, even when Frank was here. We changed a lot of guys on the roster. With Nate came in, we changed coach and a lot of guys on the roster. We’d like to get away from that and have guys longer term and have a team that he can build with and grow with as we go forward.”
Q: Are you pleased with the way McMillan has tried to hold players accountable in trying to get them to play hard every night?
Bird: “I’m pleased with Nate. I’ve always admired Nate as a coach and as a person and I think he’s a great fit for us. I thought Frank was great for us while he was here. He did a lot great things and had some success. Now, it’s a different time and it’s Nate’s turn.”
Q: What has surprised you most this season?
Bird: “That it took us longer to come together than I anticipated, knowing that we weren’t going to be a top-1o defensive team. We want to keep our pace up. You get rid of George Hill and (Ian) Mahinmi and you know you’re going to lose something on the defensive end. It’s hard to compare, but George Hill is a hell of a basketball player and he was great for us. But Jeff Teague is a different type of player. He can make plays and score the basketball and he can get to the foul line. It’s just a different team and a different look. I want to score points and our bench has been struggling at times. Some nights are decent and a little streaky. But overall, if you need a basket we know we can go to big Al (Jefferson) and maybe he can get it for us. I think the guys are still learning one another. I’ve never played on teams where I thought it would take this long for guys to really mesh. They’re starting to play better. I think they’ll continue to get better. Obviously, our schedule is going to be tougher from here on out. That’s just part of it. We should be better as a team.
