Empty the Bench

Hopefully he splurged on Guinness draught and didn’t shortchange him with tall cans of Pabst. After kicking back a few brews last night with the formerly head coach of the Indiana Pacers, Larry Bird fired Rick Carlisle this afternoon in a move they claim was mostly mutual. Carlisle seemed beaten down by all the zaniness in Indianapolis since his arrival (team mascots kicking the handicapped, SJaxes fighting three-fingered men, etc). And for his part, Bird wanted to lay most of the blame for his team’s futility this season squarely at the feet of someone else.

“It’s time for a new era. We shouldn’t point fingers at anyone,” Bird said. “We’re all at fault. If you want to blame somebody, you have to blame the people at the top. I understand that. It’s part of the business. There were a lot of things that went on here in the last three years that were embarrassing. It hurts, being from Indiana. I had a major problem with a lot of it. And we can’t have that. So we’re going to get the right players with skills and the right players to build our community. And we’re going to build from that.”

This move isn’t at all surprising; it was more a matter of when than if. Unfortunately, there are few building blocks for the team to work with moving forward. Jermaine O’Neal doesn’t seem happy, and there are legitimate concerns about his ability to carry the load as the Pacers’ go-to guy for an entire season. That mega-midseason trade that netted Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, and Ike Diogu was partially done so the team could have players who better suited Carlisle’s plodding style of play. Jamaal Tinsley, well… he’s successfully taken over the departed Stephen Jackson’s role as DLC (Designated Loose Cannon). Second-year forward Danny Granger is promising, and the jury is still out on last year’s first-round pick, Shawne Williams (both are 6-9 forwards… sigh).

Hey, at least Bird doesn’t have to worry about who’ll speak at his funeral. “We made a deal last night,” Carlisle said. “Whoever dies first, the other one does his eulogy.” Oh, you jokers you! Your funerals! Oh, how the time flies when you’re having fun.

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