Bird faces daunting task rebuilding wayward Pacers

Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh's departure has left Larry Bird (above) as the unquestioned leader of the front office. AP

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Rebuilding is like recession: No one wants to hear about it or talk about it, but after enough time passes, it becomes inevitable.

For the Indiana Pacers, that inevitability has arrived.

While the Pacers are not in as dire straights as the Knicks (no marketable talent besides David Lee) or the Bucks (gambled -- and lost -- that Michael Redd was a franchise player and overpaid for nearly everyone else on the roster), the situation in Indiana is far from appealing.

The capped-out Pacers, who have a $66.7 million payroll this season, are tied into numerous long-term contracts. They are drawing crowds like Kevin Federline, with a league-low average attendance of 12,045. They have as many off-the-court problems as the Cincinnati Bengals. And they have a franchise player in Jermaine O'Neal who, at 29, is on the downside of his career.

"I think everyone knows our challenges," said Pacers president Larry Bird, who has assumed total control of basketball operations from Donnie Walsh. "It's not only on the court but it's off the court. Financially, we're in a situation [where] we're up against the [luxury-tax threshold] and we will not go over, so we've got to do some constructive things to make this team better. Hopefully in the summer we'll be able to talk to a lot of different teams and make the moves we need to make and have a great draft pick."

Where does Bird start? Here are four things Indiana has to do to get back in contention:

1. Regain stability.

Walsh's decision to step down as the team's CEO has shaken up an already tumultuous situation. While Bird has been running the day-to-day operations since Walsh hired him in 2003, that didn't stopped general managers throughout the league from calling Walsh or, in some cases, Pacers vice president David Morway.

"When other general managers call, they really want to call the person that they're going to be talking to and going to make that decision," Walsh said before being named Knicks president. "Since I've been here so long, a lot of them would call me because they felt I would ultimately make the decision. A lot of them would call Larry. You don't want that confusion out there."

Added Bird: "There is no question one voice is the way to go. A lot of younger GMs in the league would call me and some of the older guys would call Donnie. That really didn't make a lot of sense."

That sentiment was echoed by several executives I spoke with over the last week. "Larry could be tough to talk to if you didn't play with him," a Western Conference GM said. "And the older guys, the Rod Thorns of the league, they would always call Donnie."

With Walsh gone, Bird needs to establish stability in the front office. His first order of business should be to give coach Jim O'Brien a well-deserved vote of confidence, as the Pacers have stayed in the Eastern Conference playoff race despite playing half the season without O'Neal or starting point guard Jamaal Tinsley. Certainly the Pacers are not yet built in O'Brien's image, not when they are surrendering the fifth-most points in the league (105.8) and ranking a mediocre 14th in field-goal-percentage defense (45.8). But O'Brien is a proven defensive coach who will eventually mold the team to his liking. (For instance, in O'Brien's first full season in Boston, the Celtics improved from 27th to third in field-goal defense.)

The fact that Bird and O'Brien are on the same page regarding the team's future is a positive. O'Brien said he and Bird have had "hundreds" of conversations since he was hired last May and "have not disagreed on anything in any of them." Throwing his full-throated support behind O'Brien would be a strong statement by Bird to his players that the coach is there to stay.

"I appreciate [O'Brien's effort] both on and off the court," Bird said. "Hopefully moving forward we will have a great working relationship."

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