Pacers sour grapes

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I do not feel the least bit sorry for Isaiah Thomas, despite what some 
lamebrains in the Pacer press would have us think about the situation.

If Isaiah thought for one moment that his job wasn't toast as soon as Larry 
became GM, he's proven beyond doubt he's not smart enough to run a team, as 
the rest of the NBA learned ages ago.

Jermaine O'Neal should stop his whining--and bragging, if he's actually 
telling people Thomas is responsible for his ballhandling and 
personality--about the timing of his contract vs. Thomas' leaving.  Unless 
Isaiah had a written guarantee signed by Bird, Thomas was gone, long before 
Jermaine took his money and ran.  O'Neal shouldn't talk about deceit 
without admitting to everyone he's been trying to convince us he's a go-to 
guy at crunch time.

On Bird's part, I personally question the wisdom of keeping O'Neal, 
unless  he's planning to use O'Neal's dissatisfaction to support a trade to 
another team.  But if anyone believes that he was letting Jermaine--or 
ANYONE--think that Thomas was going to be in Pacer training camp, I have 
some land her in Florida to sell, cheap.  (And you'd be supporting the CBW, 
too.)

I DO think Bird gave serious consideration of the chemistry between Thomas 
and the team.  What he found was, apart from Jermaine, there wasn't 
any.  Rick Carlisle may not be everyone's cuppa, but he could be dead and 
an improvement over Thomas.

If Thomas was really serious about keeping his job, what in the name of 
Linus and Lucy was he doing annoying the US team in Puerto Rico?  He should 
have been marshalling the players to work hard in the offseason and 
publicly state they were doing it for their beloved coach.  The problem is, 
he's neither beloved, nor a coach.

He's a fast talker who smoothed his way into a position where he was so far 
over his head he should have been wearing a spacesuit.  Remember the 
CBA?  I wonder what Thomas' tax returns looked like the year he rendered it 
into nonexistence.  He squandered the potential of his team, especially 
last season.  In one of my rare moments of objectivity, I know the C's 
shouldn't have won the series so easily.   Ok, back to normal, now--we'd 
have decimated them no matter who coached!  (ah, much better)

As much as it will create headaches for the C's in the regular season and 
the playoffs, I'm glad he's gone.  When the Celtics beat a team, I don't 
think it should be because the opposing coach shows symptoms of being 
brain-dead at crunch time.  I want the game to mean something, win or 
lose.  It was frustrating when Larry kept coaching the Pacers to wins over 
Boston, but at least we were losing to a legend, not a nitwit.

Bird wants, more then almost anything, to win.  Being good at basketball is 
what he's done all his life, as a player and as a coach.  Now, he wants to 
see if he can do it as a manager.  I hope he does well.

Not TOO well---after all, I'm rooting for Boston.  But I think Larry would 
respect that.

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
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