Cavs Contacted Larry Bird About Coaching Job

The reason it worked so well in Indiana during his Coaching stint about a decade ago is that all the pieces were in place and his staff basically ran the Xs and Os. It was a very veteran team that was at it’s peak and Larry just stepped in and oversaw it. The Cavs needed a game-manager.

That Pacer team that made it to the Finals and gave the Lakers a pretty good run was stacked:
Miller, A Davis, D Davis, Jalen Rose, Rik Smits, Mark Jackson, Croshere, Harrington, Mullin, Foster, McKey, Bender.

The Pacers pushed the Lakers to 6 and Game 4 & 6 could have broke Indiana’s way. That series should have at least gone 7.

Larry is past his window in terms of Bench Management and Coaching. He’s having a hard enough time being a GM.

The Cavs had a great squad if it was kept whole and if a few FA acquisitions were made they could have made another run, but by no means was it the deepest roster. It was very top heavy and was exposed by the Celtics and would have been even further exposed by the Lakers (sorry, but it’s true).

Bird would not have been the right fit or choice for the Cavs.