IC Cold Links: Bird Doesn't Sound Like He's Leaving The Pacers

Larry Bird and Frank Vogel are scheduled to offer their season-ending thoughts on the Indiana Pacers this morning starting at 10:00AM. You can watch it live at Pacers.com.

In the case of Bird, I'm sure most of the questions will be about the future as opposed to the past. In today's column by Bob Kravitz, Bird offers up some great quotes on several players and sure didn't sound like he was ready to walk away from them.

For straight chuckles, it doesn't get any better than this quote on Lance Stephenson.

"When he's playing, he's fine and has as much talent as anybody on this team," Bird said. "He's a long shot, but he's my ace in the hole. If we can get him to grow up, he knows how to play . . .

"I know he's a pain in the ass and the guys in the locker room get frustrated with him, but I'm not giving up on him. Unless he does something crazy."

What are the odds?

I remain confused by the whole stay through the draft line of reasoning and hope that is just a filler line until they resolve the issue of Bird staying, which it appears is at the top of the to do list, as it should be.

After the jump, a few more links of interest.

• Pain of defeat fuels motivation to improve - Bruno's Caught in the Web
• Plenty of questions after Pacers finally reaches playoffs | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com
  Mike Wells raises the key questions facing the Pacers now. What will Larry Bird do? Did Frank Vogel earn the right to have the 'interim' label removed from his title? Can the Indiana Pacers acquire a go-to scorer?
• Kravitz: Pacers show improvement, but there's still long way to go | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com
  Kravitz comments on Larry Bird's assessment of the Pacers heading into the offseason.
• On the Pacers' Frank Vogel and Coaching Audacity - NYTimes.com
• Young Pacer team looks to the future - fox59.com
• The list: NBA head coaching candidates - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN
  Henry Abbott puts together a nice thumbnail sketch of the NBA coaching options currently available.
• Keith Smart out as Golden State Warriors coach - ESPN
  Former IU legend, Keith Smart was let go by the Golden State Warriors after just one year on the job.
• Did Keith Smart get a fair chance with Golden State? - Ball Don't Lie - NBA Blog - Yahoo! Sports