Movatterモバイル変換

NEW YORK — Larry Bird of the Indiana Pacers today became just the fourth rookie coach in NBA history to win coach of the year honors.

Bird received 50 of a possible 116 votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Utah's Jerry Sloan was second with 29 votes and Cleveland's Mike Fratello was third with 15.

Also receiving votes were Miami's Pat Riley (5); Phoenix's Danny Ainge and Seattle's George Karl (4); Boston's Rick Pitino and Chicago's Phil Jackson (3); and Orlando's Chuck Daly, New Jersey's John Calipari and New York's Jeff Van Gundy (1).

The other three first-year coaches to win the award were Harry Gallatin with St. Louis in 1962-63, Johnny Kerr with Chicago in 1966-67 and Mike Schuler with Portland in 1986-1987.

The trophy is named for Red Auerbach, who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships from 1956-57 through 1966-67 and who drafted Bird out of Indiana State in 1978.

Bird led the Pacers to a 58-24 record, best in franchise history, and second place in the Central Division behind defending champion Chicago. Indiana improved its record by 19 games over last season's 39-43 record and had six consecutive winning months. The Pacers eliminated Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs and hold a 3-1 lead over New York in the second round.

When Bird, one of the NBA's all-time greats with the Celtics came out of retirement to take over the Pacers last year, there were doubts the superstar player would have the patience to coach players with ordinary skills in a league whose flashy style differs greatly from the blue-collar game Bird was famous for.

"I'm not asking for that,'' Bird said after he was selected to coach the Eastern Conference squad in this season's All-Star game. "All I want is hard work in practice and for about 25 minutes in a game. ... If a guy can't give that, he doesn't belong in the NBA.''

The players responded.

"Who in their right mind wouldn't listen to what Larry Bird tells them?'' Pacer Reggie Miller once said. "He knows what it takes to be a successful player, and he's letting us do the things to have the success.''

Bird has often downplayed the possibility of winning the Coach of the Year honor, deflecting praise to his assistant coaches, Dick Harter and Rick Carlisle, and to his players.

But Pacers players point to his no-frills, democratic style of coaching as the impetus behind their success.

"He's absolutely the coach of the year,'' point guard Mark Jackson said. "I think it's a no-brainer, because he's allowed us to be ourselves.''

Bird already had cemented his future as a Hall of Famer before taking over the Pacers last year after coach Larry Brown moved to the Philadelphia 76ers. The 12-time All-Star was the league's MVP three times and took the playoff MVP award in 1984 and 1986. He also was named the MVP of the 1982 All-Star game.

Bird joins fellow former Celtic Tom Heinsohn as the only two people to win both the rookie and coach of the year awards. In 1980, Bird was selected NBA Rookie of the Year after leading the Celtics to a league-best 61-21 record, a 32-game improvement over the previous season. Heinsohn won the rookie award in 1957 and the coaching award in 1973.