O'Brien answers the call
Bird knows this coach won't just phone it in
You wonder how the Indiana Pacers were able to keep the Jim O'Brien situation under wraps? He and Pacers basketball boss Larry Bird never met during the interview process. Everything was done over the phone, which meant the only people who knew what was going on were Bird, O'Brien, and Homeland Security.
"It would have been one thing if I had no history," O'Brien said Friday from Indianapolis, less than 24 hours after being introduced as the next coach of the Pacers, his third NBA team. "But I didn't have to tell him in person how my teams would play. They have a library of film on that. They know my vision.
"Larry had talked to Dick [Harter] before he called me and we had maybe four or five phone conversations, which was a part of the interview process."
O'Brien had been out of the NBA since the 76ers dismissed him following the 2004-05 season. The Sixers made the playoffs that year with a 43-39 record, a 10-game improvement. They had not made the playoffs the year before O'Brien arrived and they have not made them since O'Brien left. Yet the Sixers wasted no time in firing O'Brien -- he knew it was coming for a while -- and he acknowledged that his reputation took a hit, mostly for non-basketball reasons.
The rap was that he had been too arrogant, too uppity, and alienated anyone and everyone in Philadelphia. "Ridiculous," he said. But that was what he heard, and it was out there and needed to be dealt with.
"Whether it's justified or not, when you get fired from a job, you have to be concerned about your reputation," O'Brien said. "But there were enough people who were with us in Boston and in Philadelphia who saw us turn things around there.
"I am who I am. I'm not the most charismatic personality. I think it takes at least a year to get to know a person. If that was what was being said in Philadelphia, about alienating people, I would respond, 'I've been in this business for 30 years. Talk to the people who knew me for the other 29.' "
Bird certainly was not bothered by whatever transpired in Philadelphia. For starters, he knows Harter, who will accompany O'Brien to Indiana. Harter was an assistant on Bird's staff when Bird coached the Pacers and was on O'Brien's staff in Boston. Bird and O'Brien have chatted occasionally over the years but did not really know one another. But Bird came away impressed by O'Brien's discipline and vision after their phone chats over a 10-day period.
"Discipline is always a part of anything," Bird told reporters at the hiring announcement. "It's a big part of how you practice, how you play, how you conduct yourself. We're moving in the right direction here and we've got the right guy to do that."
The hiring of O'Brien and Harter will jump-start the "whither Jermaine O'Neal?" discourse even more, if possible. O'Brien said, "Jermaine is an All-Star. He's one of the great shot-blockers in the league and he is a force inside. But if Larry decides to trade him, let's just say that no one is going to pull the wool over Larry Bird's eyes."
O'Brien said he's also confident that he will be part of the personnel process and cited the presence of Bird ("Who wants to win more than he does?") and the venerable Donnie Walsh as an ideal setup.
Whoever they are, the Pacers of 2007-08 (and Jamaal Tinsley is another who is, as they say, available) will be tough going for O'Brien. But he has never missed the playoffs when coaching a team for an entire season.
He did his homework; he noted how Indy finished 6-23, a stretch that included an 11-game losing streak. He likes the spacing possibilities with Danny Granger, Troy Murphy, and Mike Dunleavy. And, he emphasized without needing to, defense will be his primary focus.
"Any time you take over a team that did not make the playoffs, it's a challenge," he said. "You have to find a way to prepare your team to win. And I think the culture and ethic that Larry wants to create is going to pay dividends."
There could be a Boston Redux look to the Indiana bench if O'Brien persuades Lester Conner (currently with the Bucks) and Frank Vogel to join him. Even if they don't come, O'Brien is happy to be back on the bench -- period. He has been away for two years, the NBA definition of "out of sight, out of mind," and -- gulp -- had actually turned to writing for ESPN.com.
But this is indisputably Bird's hire, and his neck is on the line as well. The Pacers were a train wreck last season and fans stayed away from
Credit Bryant with a steal
Leave it to Kobe Bryant to steal the spotlight from the NBA's conference finals. (Then again, having witnessed much of the Rust Belt matchup between Cleveland and Detroit, maybe we all needed a distraction. The Indy 500 rain delay was watched by more people than Pistons-Cavs and for good reason: It was more exciting, until LeBron James's explosion in Game 5.)
As this is being written, it is believed that Bryant has backed off his demand to be traded. Or maybe not. Charles Barkley kept joking Thursday night that his cellphone was ringing, with Kobe on the line.
Before going on a vacation to China, Lakers owner Jerry Buss chatted up Kobe and then released a statement saying he was the cornerstone of the team. Buss himself had been through a tough week, getting pulled over for DUI with a 20-something in the car. And, lest we forget, Jerry West was compelled to issue a statement saying he wasn't planning on returning to the Lakers, even though he'll always be a Laker at heart. In other words, it was a Lakerpalooza.
It's hard to think Kobe will be traded, and he does have the final say, thanks to a no-trade clause. He also has a 15 percent trade kicker -- there's $88 million-plus still coming his way -- and a stipulation that 70 percent of his pay be delivered every year by Sept. 1.
He has put the pressure on management to do something, and Jermaine O'Neal's name already has come up in rumors. That duo might get the Lakers into the second round.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers received more than 500 e-mails from season ticket-holders and nine out of 10 want Kobe to stay. It was not so one-sided on the Times's website, where 55.3 percent of more than 20,000 respondents said the Lakers should not trade Bryant.
Because there is an opt-out clause in two years, this is a crucial summer for the Lakers and Kobe. If nothing improves, a trade might be much more realistic next summer.
Idle thoughts about the Finals
The Spurs were scheduled to return to practice yesterday, still not knowing whom they will face in the NBA Finals. Coach Gregg Popovich gave his troops a couple of days off after they eliminated the Jazz Wednesday night in five games.
San Antonio will have a week off between games (and will play one game in 10 days). San Antonio had nine days off before the 1999 Finals and still won the first two games at home. The Spurs had a week off in 2005 but also won the first two games at home.
In this, their fourth trip to the Finals, the Spurs have never not had home-court advantage -- and they are 7-2 in nine home games. The Spurs also have never lost an NBA Finals series. Ditto for Robert Horry, who has six rings from his six appearances in the Finals (three with the Lakers, two with the Rockets, and one with San Antonio). He now will seek to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen and move into territory occupied mainly by Celtics legends.
If it's a Cleveland-San Antonio final, it will be another friend-vs.-friend between the coaches. Back in 2005, Popovich bested chum Larry Brown (Pop was best man at Brown's wedding). Cleveland coach Mike Brown is a Pop disciple as well -- he was an assistant in San Antonio for three years -- and Cavs GM Danny Ferry played and worked for the Spurs.
This will be the first Finals since 1999 in which neither head coach played professional basketball, in the NBA or ABA. And if the Cavs do make it, Brown will be the youngest coach in a Finals (37) since Jeff Van Gundy (also 37) with the Knicks in 1999.
Etc.
Graduating from college
It's hard to fault Billy Donovan for taking the proverbial Next Step. What more can he do at Florida? The NBA is the logical move, and the Orlando Magic tossed a lot of money at him. Donovan strikes me as someone who has his eyes wide open and won't expect to be The Man in the NBA, which is the mistake his mentor, Rick Pitino, made. (Actually, that was one of many mistakes.) But the NBA also can be a graveyard for college coaches; just ask Pitino, John Calipari, Mike Montgomery, and Lon Kruger, to name four recent ones who among them had one winning season in 10 and no playoff victories. The Magic are hoping Donovan is more like the college coaches who came into the NBA decades ago -- guys like Jack Ramsay, Bill Fitch, and Dick Motta.
We hardly know Yi
Chinese big man Yi Jianlian is on the Celtics' radar screen for this month's NBA draft. Is he a Chinese Stromile Swift or a Chinese Toni Kukoc? Dallas assistant coach Del Harris had Yi on the 2004 Olympic team and offered these thoughts: "He was quick, a great runner and jumper, could block shots, had nice touch from 15 feet. He did not have great hands at the time, but he had never been on the senior team before. They criticized me for putting him on the team. What a surprise when I made him a starter! He should be a good player."
Turnover coming?
Celtics general manager Chris Wallace is in Chicago this morning, trying to finalize a deal with Memphis to take over as the team's top executive. Initially, the Grizzlies had hoped to bring in Phoenix executive David Griffin, who in turn was going to try to hire Leo Papile, the Celtics' assistant executive director of basketball operations (they were seen as a tandem). But the Suns sweetened Griffin's deal Thursday and he now is staying in Phoenix, which takes Papile out of the Memphis picture for now. The Grizzlies want to wrap up everything by Tuesday, which is when owner Michael Heisley and outgoing hoops boss Jerry West are to take a golf trip to Ireland. Meanwhile, Celtics assistant Tony Brown appears headed to Milwaukee. Boston offered him only a small extension and Brown feels he can get a better deal with the Bucks. Additionally, he'll be closer to his Chicago home. As for a possible replacement for Brown, the name of vaunted European coach (and Framingham native) David Blatt has surfaced.
