Pacers Ex-Player Reveals How Larry Bird Came to His Rescue and Put an End to Coach’s Name-Calling Drama
One of the all-time great forwards in the NBA is Larry Bird. One of the hardest players of the 1980s, the Boston Celtics icon stood 6 feet 9 inches tall. A three-time NBA champion (1981, 1984, and 1986) for the Boston Celtics, he was also a model leader who led by example.
A former NBA player recounts an instance in which Larry Bird defended him against hazing in a recent podcast episode.
In his capacity as the Pacers’ “President of basketball operations,” Larry Bird saved him.Shawne Williams discusses how he was “hand-picked” by Larry Bird to play for the Indiana Pacers. Then he thinks back to the one instance when Indiana coach Rick Carlisle
Pacers used a racial term against him.
Williams then discusses Larry Bird’s response to the previous statement made by Rick Carlisle. “I looked up at Larry, because he would sit in all the practices, and his face was red as a motherf*****,” the former Indiana Pacers player exclaims.
After practice, Larry Bird summons Shawne Williams and Rick Carlisle to his office. In front of the young Pacers star, he then yells at the coach and orders him to never do such a thing again. Additionally, he advises Shawne Williams never to accept nicknames like that.
Larry Bird was brought in as the Head Coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000, despite having no prior coaching experience. After the Pacers’ exemplary performance in the 1997-1998 NBA season, he was named the ‘NBA Coach of the Year’. Under his leadership, the Indiana Pacers even reached the NBA Finals against the Lakers in 2000.
In 2003, Larry Bird was hired as the ‘President of Basketball Operations’ in the Indiana Pacers organization. During his 14-year-long tenure as the president, he was also named the ‘NBA Executive of the Year’ in 2012. This incredible feat made him the only person in all of NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.
