How Bird Is Handling this Frank Vogel Decision Is Not a Good Look
By Jared Wade
As Larry Bird prepares to make a major decision about Frank Vogel’s future, he is mostly just making himself look bad.
It is widely assumed that Larry Bird is about to tell the world that Frank Vogel will no longer coach the Indiana Pacers. This dismissal seems a bit rash given how the team overachieved in what the whole franchise said was a transition year.
But while there are logical reasons that a GM could want to part ways with even a coach as successful as Frank Vogel has been, that’s not the real issue.
In my eyes, the unseemly aspect is how this is going down.
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On top of being a bit blindsided by all this, Vogel is having to listen to Bird discuss his future in the press in a way that is unbecoming of the franchise and certainly isn’t warranted when dealing with someone who has, regardless of how you feel about his coaching, been a great representative of the Indiana Pacers organization for more than a half decade.
Vogel didn’t deserve to read that he will find out about whether or not he’s getting fired only once Bird can track down Herb Simon for a phone call because, when it comes to the team owner , as Bird told the press, “he’s busy.”
It goes deeper than that, though.
Larry Bird is now showing little regard for any of his employees while talking in public. He now sounds like an old man who can no longer be bothered to operate with the sort of decorum that was once standard for this franchise.
I’ll stop here. I’ve already written enough on this topic over at the FanSided mothership.
Here is an excerpt.
"So here we are. After spending last Summer dropping one-liners, Bird is again involved in a strange saga that feels out of character for the Pacers.If they want to move on, this isn’t the way to do it … This seems like Larry Bird, an ornery sumbitch as long as he’s been involved in the NBA, again letting the world know that he makes that he the decisions around here. Everyone else is welcome to go to hell and can wait their turn to find out what that decision is.But rather than disrespecting a 7’2″ punching bag, he has taken to airing his indecision about firing a coach. Now, a coach who has been to two of the past four Eastern Conference finals — and seems to be one of the nicer men in the league — gets to read about his job status in the newspaper … Frank Vogel was the architect of a defense that put a team nobody cared about back on the map and oversaw the development of several young players who vastly outperformed that draft location. He took the franchise to within five wins of a title and has represented the team with class and honor throughout his tenure.He deserves as much in return.Fortunately for him, Vogel has that respect across the league — even if he no longer is getting it from his boss.So whether Larry Bird does fire him for good or not, it won’t be a black mark on Vogel’s resume. It will just be another indiscretion on the timeline of a GM who increasingly seems disinterested in running a franchise like a professional."
You can read the full TL:DR version here.