Larry Bird named Executive of the Year
Larry Bird, president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers watches Game 4 of an NBA first-round playoff basketball series between the Orlando Magic and the Indiana Pacers. (May 5, 2012) Credit: AP
Fellow league executives named Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird the NBA's Executive of the Year on Wednesday.
Bird is the first Pacers executive to receive the award.
The Pacers finished 42-24 under Bird, and earned the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Indiana is tied with Miami, 1-1, in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Among Bird's notable roster moves this year were the hiring of Frank Vogel, who finished the 2010-11 season as the Pacers' interim coach, and the free agent signing of David West. The former Hornet played in all 66 games for Indiana, and averaged 12.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
As a player, Bird was named MVP three times -- 1984-86 -- and as a Coach, he was named Coach of the Year in 1998. He is the first person in league history to win all three awards.
Bird appeared on 24 ballots, and received 12 first-place votes, eight second-place votes and four third-place votes for a total of 88 points. The Spurs' R.C. Buford finished second in voting (eight first-place votes), and Neil Oshley from the Clippers was third (six first-place votes).
The Knicks' Glen Grunwald was sixth in the voting, one spot ahead of Miami's Pat Riley.
Gar Forman of the Chicago Bulls and Riley shared the award last year.
More NBA news
