Reuters: Sports News: Bird will not return to the Pacers: report

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Bird will not return to the Pacers: report Jun 26th 2012, 16:30 Tweet Share this Email Print Former NBA player Larry Bird attends the premiere of the Broadway play Magic Bird in New York April 11, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Allison Joyce Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:30pm EDT (Reuters) - Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird is quitting the team with unspecified health issues cited among the reasons for his exit, the Indianapolis Star reported on Tuesday. Bird, a Hall of Famer and the 2011-12 NBA Executive of the Year for his work with the Pacers, was quoted as saying he was "100 percent sure" he would not stay on as president after meeting with owner Herb Simon. The development came three days after the Star reported that Bird's predecessor and former boss, Donnie Walsh, was expected to return to the club in some capacity. Walsh spent 24 years with the Pacers, rising to CEO of the team before leaving in 2008 to become president of basketball operations with the New York Knicks, with whom he parted ways before taking the last year off. Bird's work to help rehabilitate the franchise began to pay dividends the past two seasons with the team making consecutive playoff appearances, including a tense Eastern Conference semi-final series against the eventual NBA champion Miami Heat. Indiana was 42-24 in this year's strike-shortened season, finishing in second place behind the Chicago Bulls in the Central Division. Bird, 55, is dealing with back and shoulder issues and will likely take a year off before deciding if he wants to return to any sort of front-office position, the newspaper reported. A 12-time All-Star for the Boston Celtics, Bird is the only person to be named league MVP, Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year. (Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; editing by Steve Ginsburg) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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