Re: Jackson: Thomas is right fit for new Pacers

[Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

Mark Jackson is another overpaid big mouth that probably believes he could be player, coach and an administrative genius. I don't believe the Pacer's would have been better off with anyone else last season. I thought they over achieved as it was. They only did that because of Bird's presence. Let's see what Isiah does with what's left of a declining franchise. 

Dan

At 08:50 PM 10/25/00 -0400, you wrote: 
>>>>
> Interesting quotes from Mark Jackson.  Sounds like he wouldn't have thought Bird would have been good for the Celtics three years ago, either.
>
> Jim
>
> <http://www.starnews.com/sports/indianasgame/pacers/articles/jside1024.html>http://www.starnews.com/sports/indianasgame/pacers/articles/jside1024.html
>
> TORONTO -- Mark Jackson says he enjoyed playing for Larry Bird the past three seasons with the Pacers. But he expects Isiah Thomas to be more effective as a coach. 
>
> "When you talk about coaches, there's a whole different caliber out there (than Bird)," Jackson said. "Isiah Thomas is a coach. Larry Bird would tell you, he had an offensive coordinator and a defensive coordinator. And sometimes those guys (Rick Carlisle and Dick Harter) need to sit back and shut up. 
>
> "But we had a great run. For us, he was probably the coach that was needed. We needed a guy to sit back and let us run the show because we had a bunch of guys who knew what to do. Would he work with the team they have now? Absolutely not. But he did a great job with us."
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