Isiah Thomas recalls brutal response he got from Larry Bird when he fired him

[JSD]

Isiah Thomas recalls the brutal response he got from Larry Bird when he fired him as the head coach of the Indiana Pacers
Thomas thought Bird would give him another chance as a head coach of the Pacers but Bird was brutal when he told Thomas he was fired


Isiah Thomas recently got a lot of media attention for criticizing Michael Jordan because of his portrayal in The Last Dance documentary saying their beef will go on for a long time if Jordan doesn't apologize to Thomas. However, in the same interview where he openly criticized Jordan, Thomas also shared a story about how Larry Bird fired him as the head coach of the Indiana Pacers back in 2003.

Thomas thought he and Bird would make a great team together
After his playing career was over, Thomas served in several coaching and executive roles, one of which was as the Pacers' head coach after they made it to the NBA Finals in 2000, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. Unfortunately, during his tenure as their head coach, the Pacers couldn't repeat the same success and were constantly out of the playoffs after the first round, and by that time, it was evident his future with the Pacers was at risk.


Bird was the head coach of the Pacers before Thomas took over, and after taking a break, he came back and served as a President of Basketball Operations. Thomas recalled their encounter at his office one day and how he was trying to convince Bird to give him another chance after unsuccessful trips into the playoffs, saying he and Bird could make a great team that would finally bring success to the Pacers franchise.


"You know Cheesy, he always called me Cheesy; I really like you; you've done a good job here. The team is going in the right direction, but I am going to make a coaching change. I said wait, Larry, before you do that, let me just say this, I think you and I would make a great team here. I don't know who you think of hiring but give me a chance."

Bird was absolutely real with Thomas when firing him
Bird was a very straightforward guy, and he immediately told Thomas Rick Carlisle would take over his position as the head coach of the Pacers. Carlisle served as an assistant coach to Thomas during those years, and when Thomas asked Bird directly what was the reasoning behind his decision, Bird simply said he liked Carlisle much better than he liked Thomas.


"He goes you have done a great job, and it has nothing to do with you, your coaching ability, or anything else. He goes that he played with Rick, he is my assistant coach, he is a good friend of mine, and I will bring Rick in, and you have done nothing wrong. I just like Rick better than I like you."

Obviously, Carlisle and Bird had a long history together when they were teammates with the Boston Celtics, and they remained friends after that, which wasn't the case with Thomas and Bird, who were fierce rivals in the NBA for almost a decade. Carlisle also didn't have much success with the Indiana Pacers, even though he had a good chance of actually making that extra push in the playoffs, but in 2004 Malice at the Palace happened and the Pacers' hope and dreams of winning a championship remained just that.


Thomas also said he believed he would have handled that situation much better than Carlisle and actually utilized that team much better, but as we all know, that didn't happen, and soon after, Thomas found himself in the role of President of Basketball Operations for the New York Knicks.

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/old-school/isiah-thomas-recalls-the-brutal-response-he-got-from-larry-bird-when-he-fired-him-as-the-head-coach-of-the-indiana-pacers

[SparzWizard]

Idk but...Larry Bird can get pretty brutal at times. He sure likes "friendly fire" as an operations guy. Remember he got in the middle and intercepted his beloved Celtics in acquiring David West back in 2011-2012? Imagine we had West...think we could've won it all that year.

[bdm860]

Bird's infamous for his "coaches get stale after 3 years philosophy."

Although he hasn't held firm to that over the years (Carisle got 4 years, Vogel got 5 1/2), he supposedly used that logic when he fired Vogel (technically he just didn't renew Vogel's contract).

While I can 100% picture Bird saying what Thomas is saying he said, I just can't picture it in the context Thomas is giving.

"I just like Rick better than I like you." I can actually see Bird saying this in a trash talking, friendly banter sort of way.

But I think Thomas is playing up the praise Bird gave him, while also ignoring the fact that Bird probably emphasized the team needed a new voice, and that Bird himself just stepped down after 3 years as coach.

[libermaniac]

Come on Isiah, don’t be naive. It was payback for when you said if Bird were black he’d just be considered a good player. 😂 That was my favorite post-playing career moment in Bird’s career. Patiently waiting to get revenge for that petty sore-loser comment.

[GreenEnvy]

For such a great player and career, Thomas has quite the fragile ego.

First MJ, now talking about Bird. I guess Magic is next?

Forever salty about not making the Dream Team.

[Who]

Correction on article: Carlisle was Larry Bird's assistant coach. Not Isiah's. Carlisle was head coach of the Pistons while Isiah was head coach of Indiana.

Carlisle was hugely successful too and led a less talented Pistons team to back to back 50 win seasons and a trip to the ECF.

In his book, Larry called Carlisle the best offensive mind in the NBA when he hired Carlisle as his assistant coach in 1997-98 and let Carlisle run the offense. Dick Harter (best defensive coach in the league) ran the defense. Larry managed the guys.

I have no problem seeing Larry telling Isiah he just thought Carlisle was better than Zeke. Carlisle was awesome.

[Who]

I felt bad for Zeke when he got fired from Indy. I thought he did a great job developing all those young guys especially Jermaine O'Neal. Indiana had a tough job after Bird's old 2000 Finals team fell apart and was rebuilt around a bunch of youth. Zeke did a great job building them up.

That 2002-03 team if I recall correctly was top of the East at midseason and then fell off the map in the 2nd half of the year culminating in a disappointing playoff showing. I can't remember the details but there was a huge amount of off-court issues that that group was dealing with / not dealing well with. Multiple players had family members die in a really short space of time. There was other stuff. The team just ... spun out of control. Too young, still maturing group of players who couldn't keep it together in difficult circumstances.

I was really excited to see what Zeke could do with them next year after they had an offseason to recover. It was a hard way to go out for a coach who had done such good work in Indy and had gotten Indy to such heights. With or without Carlisle, Indy was set to be a title contender in the East in 2003-04. I would've loved to have seen Zeke get one more chance to show whether he could have delivered that. He did such a good job there and a lot of the bad things that happened in 2002-03 where beyond his control.

[Moranis]

That doesn't seem brutal at all.  You did a great job, I like you, I just like MY guy better.

[Donoghus]

That '02-'03 Pacers team should've never lost to the Celtics in the playoffs (glad they did, though).

[td450]

That doesn't seem brutal at all.  You did a great job, I like you, I just like MY guy better.

"Brutal" is a clickbait description tossed into a lot of stuff these days. It appears Isiah didn't say it, the writer did.

I don't know about this story. Bird is hyper competitive and isn't stupid, and Thomas is making it sound like Bird preferred Carlisle as a  purely personal preference, rather than the more likely "I just like him better, as a coaching talent". Possibly the second part went unsaid, but that would likely have been what he meant.

[Moranis]

That doesn't seem brutal at all.  You did a great job, I like you, I just like MY guy better.

"Brutal" is a clickbait description tossed into a lot of stuff these days. It appears Isiah didn't say it, the writer did.

I don't know about this story. Bird is hyper competitive and isn't stupid, and Thomas is making it sound like Bird preferred Carlisle as a  purely personal preference, rather than the more likely "I just like him better, as a coaching talent". Possibly the second part went unsaid, but that would likely have been what he meant.

I know Thomas didn't say it, I was just disagreeing that it was brutal.  It was anything but brutal.