If they beat Toronto and Miami it's likely that they still attract no marquee free agents. What marquee free agent was drooling to get to Indy when they made back to back conference finals two years ago? The Hibbert situation isn't going to help either. Unless Bird can flip Rodney Stuckey for an All-Star, he might as well trade Paul George to LA now.
Pacers got David West to go there over going to the Celtics. Pretty nice get considering George hadn't even made the leap yet. If Celts had him over Bass that year, they might have won the title. They had to pay George/Hibbert so couldn't really bring anyone else notable in after that.
Mike Conley is from Indiana. Horford/Whiteside/Dwight/Batum....Not like we're talking Kevin Durant signing there or anything. I definitely think a longer playoff run would increase equity in getting 1 of these guys. Even if you aren't likely to get them, that is kinda the main point, you're a small market NBA team. Nothing is really that likely to work, you just need to take every edge you can get and hope it adds up to something.
I actually do think if they strike out in free agency that they would be better off playing the Celts and Lakers against one another and dealing George for a motherload. Almost every marquee free agent from a small market team has left or was going to leave after the 2nd deal in recent memory. Tough to want to spend your prime on a team that isn't a contender when your prime is ticking away.
The only problem with that is the Pacers financials aren't great to begin with. They've had attendance problems even with good teams, so they would need to sell their fans on rebuilding and that isn't always the easiest thing. Something like Turner+Russell+Ingram is a really nice young core though.
She is his biological daughter from his first marriage, and in her formative years growing up she reached out to Larry
to have some kind of a relationship, and from what I remember, he pretty much just ignored her.
Yeah, not nearly as bad as what others have done, but still pretty classless in my book.
The problem is the roster is flawed and every team has cap space this summer. It's not going to be easy for Indy to grab Dwight, Horford, etc.. Now when you add in that there really isn't a name out there who is an upgrade from Vogel, I don't see how this team gets much better. You're basically firing a good young coach to try to hit the lotto.
Here you go, Chop. This is from an SI article years ago.
Larry Bird is an out-of-wedlock father who has
not sought a close relationship with his child. In 1975, after
enrolling at Indiana State, Bird married his high school
sweetheart, Janet Condra. They divorced on Oct. 31, 1976, but on
Aug. 14, 1977, Janet gave birth to a daughter, Corrie. Initially
Bird denied he was the father and rejected Janet's request for
$40 a week in support. But he admitted paternity after a blood
test and, before his rookie season with the Celtics, in 1979,
agreed to set up an account from which monthly support checks
could be drawn until Corrie turned 18. Now a 20-year-old junior at Indiana State majoring in elementary
education, Corrie is unmistakably her father's daughter, from
her aquiline nose to her penetrating eyes to her sandy blonde
hair. With prodding, she even confesses to having a reliable
outside shot. But what she doesn't have, and what she has wanted
for two decades, she says, is a relationship with Bird that goes
beyond physical resemblance and financial support. "When I was
younger, I would send him letters, and my mom would send him my
school pictures and report cards," she says. "We would send them
certified mail to make sure he received them, but he just didn't
respond."
When Bird took the Pacers' coaching job last spring and moved
just an hour from his daughter's apartment, Corrie was
optimistic that their relationship would improve. "I went to see
the Pacers play earlier this season, and I went down to talk to
Dinah [Bird's wife of eight years] and see their kids. [He]
looked over and saw me holding [Bird's daughter, five-year-old]
Mariah, but he just kind of smiled awkwardly. I didn't get to
talk to him, though."
Corrie grew up with the ability to separate Larry Bird the
basketball player from Larry Bird the absent father. Her bedroom
was a shrine to Bird, its walls covered with clippings, posters
and Celtics memorabilia. (Even now, Corrie's black Ford bears a
newly attached Pacers license-plate bracket.) When Corrie made
the basketball team at Northview High in Brazil, Ind., her
choice of uniform number 33 was an easy one. "It sounds corny,
but it kind of made me feel closer to him when I played," she
says. "I put one of his old high school jerseys in my gym bag as
a good-luck charm."
Overlooking the high school graduation that Bird did not attend
and all the times he was playing golf in Terre Haute but never
made the 20-minute drive to see her, Corrie holds out hope of an
ongoing relationship with her dad. "I've never gotten so mad
that I haven't wanted to see him," she says.
Bird declined comment for this story. But on April 17 he visited
with Corrie for the first time since taking over the Pacers.
Dinah left a pair of tickets for Corrie and a friend to attend
the Pacers' last home game of the regular season, and after the
game Bird talked with Corrie. "I was really happy to go to the
game," says Corrie. "Dad seemed interested in what I had to say.
He walked me to my car, and he hugged me. I hope I can see more
of him now."
Larry Bird is an out-of-wedlock father who has
not sought a close relationship with his child. In 1975, after
enrolling at Indiana State, Bird married his high school
sweetheart, Janet Condra. They divorced on Oct. 31, 1976, but on
Aug. 14, 1977, Janet gave birth to a daughter, Corrie. Initially
Bird denied he was the father and rejected Janet's request for
$40 a week in support. But he admitted paternity after a blood
test and, before his rookie season with the Celtics, in 1979,
agreed to set up an account from which monthly support checks
could be drawn until Corrie turned 18. Now a 20-year-old junior at Indiana State majoring in elementary
education, Corrie is unmistakably her father's daughter, from
her aquiline nose to her penetrating eyes to her sandy blonde
hair. With prodding, she even confesses to having a reliable
outside shot. But what she doesn't have, and what she has wanted
for two decades, she says, is a relationship with Bird that goes
beyond physical resemblance and financial support. "When I was
younger, I would send him letters, and my mom would send him my
school pictures and report cards," she says. "We would send them
certified mail to make sure he received them, but he just didn't
respond."
When Bird took the Pacers' coaching job last spring and moved
just an hour from his daughter's apartment, Corrie was
optimistic that their relationship would improve. "I went to see
the Pacers play earlier this season, and I went down to talk to
Dinah [Bird's wife of eight years] and see their kids. [He]
looked over and saw me holding [Bird's daughter, five-year-old]
Mariah, but he just kind of smiled awkwardly. I didn't get to
talk to him, though."
Corrie grew up with the ability to separate Larry Bird the
basketball player from Larry Bird the absent father. Her bedroom
was a shrine to Bird, its walls covered with clippings, posters
and Celtics memorabilia. (Even now, Corrie's black Ford bears a
newly attached Pacers license-plate bracket.) When Corrie made
the basketball team at Northview High in Brazil, Ind., her
choice of uniform number 33 was an easy one. "It sounds corny,
but it kind of made me feel closer to him when I played," she
says. "I put one of his old high school jerseys in my gym bag as
a good-luck charm."
Overlooking the high school graduation that Bird did not attend
and all the times he was playing golf in Terre Haute but never
made the 20-minute drive to see her, Corrie holds out hope of an
ongoing relationship with her dad. "I've never gotten so mad
that I haven't wanted to see him," she says.
Bird declined comment for this story. But on April 17 he visited
with Corrie for the first time since taking over the Pacers.
Dinah left a pair of tickets for Corrie and a friend to attend
the Pacers' last home game of the regular season, and after the
game Bird talked with Corrie. "I was really happy to go to the
game," says Corrie. "Dad seemed interested in what I had to say.
He walked me to my car, and he hugged me. I hope I can see more
of him now."
It wasn't going to be easy before losing to Toronto. Getting to the 2nd rd or even the conference finals definitely helps the equity in signing free agents. Should Vogel have lost his job is debatable but I don't think whether or not he coached bad in rd 1 is up for much discussion. Is that enough to lose his job? He was probably on the borderline before that and Bird felt justified to make the move. It might be a Sonny Corleone move, but if I had to sit there and watch Lavoy Allen and the bench mob then I'd probably have wanted to can him too.
It's like my guy Republican nominee Donald Trump says regarding Mitt Romney "He choked, it should've been won, we can't go back to him."
Ya, I'm certainly with you that this was not a great series for Vogel. I just don't know that you fire a good coach, who happens to be young, and has overachieved with less than wonderful talent because of one series. I mean the bench sucks largely because of Bird's personnel. The Budinger move was horrible, CJ Miles can't play with Paul George, and they had no backup PG. I know Bird has never been a big Vogel guy, and you are right he was probably borderline before the series. I just don't think he should have been borderline. Bird's been looking for a reason to can him for 2 years, which is his prerogative. It just makes me question the decision when names like Brian Shaw and Jim Boylen are tossed around as replacements. Either way, I respect your opinion. You know your NBA stuff.
