Larry Bird wins executive of year award
Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird was voted the NBA's Executive of the Year on Wednesday, becoming the first person to win that award, plus the MVP and Coach of the Year honors.
The Pacers went 42-24 and are tied 1-1 with Miami in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Bird's moves to strengthen the team during the offseason included promoting Frank Vogel from interim to head coach and signing starting forward David West.
He acquired point guard George Hill in a draft-night deal with San Antonio, and traded for Lou Amundson and Leandro Barbosa to fortify the bench for the Pacers, who earned the No. 3 seed in the East and had the fifth-best record in the league.
"This is an honor for the Indiana Pacers, not an award for Larry Bird," Bird said in a statement. "Everyone in this franchise put in a lot of work and showed a lot of patience as we have tried to get this team to a level on and off the court the fans in Indiana can be proud of. You always believe, and hope, the players you get will fit into a plan and I'm very proud of what our guys and our coaches have accomplished so far this year."
Larry Joe Bird simply dominates at everything. MVP as a player. Coach of the Year. Executive of the Year. He built a nice Pacers squad in a small market without any high lottery picks. Then he added a nice finishing touch stealing David West from Danny Ainge and the Celtics (Bird and Danny never really got along well as teammates). It's a pity that none of Bird's post playing career success has come in Boston. I think there was a short window in the 90's that if he had been offered a major role by the Celtics he would have stayed in Boston (He was a consultant more or less for a few years).
Congrats to Bird on his latest accomplishment. Sucks that his West signing hurt the C's, but that's life. Now take down the Heat please.
