Larry Bird Is Ready To Call It Quits As Pacers President

 

According to the people who actually know him, one fact that we should all be aware of when it comes to Larry Bird is that he’s a man of his word.

Donnie Walsh, who gave Bird his first coaching job in the NBA and currently works as a consultant with the New York Knicks, said:

“He tells you what he wanted to do, then he went out and did exactly what he told you he was going to do. I wish all people were like that.”

Well, now Bird is saying he’s only sticking around as the Indiana Pacers President of basketball operations for one more season as a favor to their owner, Herb Simon:

“It’s at a point now in my life where I think it might be time to really reconsider and see how long I want to do this,’’ said Bird, now 54. “They asked me to stay another year through the lockout season, the owner did, for a favor. I was leaving, but he asked me to stay, and I will and I’ll get the job done.

“I just think the franchise is in a good position right now, and I want to leave it in a good position for the next guy to do some good things. Sometimes you just look at it and say, ‘Hey, I’ve done enough. I’ve got it in the position I want to get it in,’ and you move on. I’ve got another year here and I’m going to try to do the best I can to get this team back to winning.’’

Bird must be tired of Indiana’s losing ways. As a player he was used to winning championships or at least making the playoffs – — so his disappointment filled tenure with the Pacers organization must have hit the NBA legend pretty hard.
As far as his decision to walk away from the game Larry had this to say:

“It’s tough after a while to not be involved, but I’m a little bit older now,’’ he said. “I’ve been in this league for 31 years, so it’ll be tough, but we’ll see what happens.’’ -Source