January 5, 1979
Picture the Boston Celtics with Pete Maravich at guard and Larry Bird at forward. Picture the Celts rising from the ashes next year. Bet your boots boss Red Auerbach is thinking along those lines.
Maravich, finally frustrated enough to want out of New Orleans, is on the NBA trade block. Eight clubs are in the bidding, and the Celts -- whose Jo Jo White has been bucking to be traded for some time -- are in the forefront. The Maravich deal could break any day now, letting the Jazz unload the knee-braced ace and the 3 1/2 years left on his big, big contract while maybe even getting N'Orleans forward Truck Robinson out of the mood to be traded, too, as he has wished aloud in the past because of the club's "special treatment" of Maravich.
Celtic owner John Y. Brown qualifies: "I'm aware that Red has always been fond of him, but I'm also aware of Maravich's contract." Meanwhile, Auerbach finds Bird-watching at Indiana State pure pleasure.
The Celts drafted Bird No. 1 last year as a junior and are enjoying a winter of anticipation, avowedly not unhappy that the 6-foot-7 All-America opted to play his senior year at Indiana State before going pro. The NCAA Division I statistics just out show Bird the only player among the top five in both scoring and rebounding -- No. 1 in scoring, 33.3; No. 4 in 'bounding, 14.6; but that's not all. Auerbach beams, after a visit to Terre Haute to watch Bird against Tulsa (27 points, 19 rebounds, six assists): "I don't think there is any forward in the pros now who can pass any better than he can. In fact, he's the best passing big man I ever saw."
February 13, 1979
Every national survey that has crossed Larry O'Brien's desk since he was named commissioner of the National Basketball Association almost four years ago has arrived at the same conclusion: Basketball is the favorite sport among this country's 18-to-35 age group.
"The fans are out there, no question about it," said O'Brien. "I don't believe the figures are lying to us."
June 10, 1978
The rich, in this case the Portland Trail Blazers, got richer in yesterday's National Basketball Association draft.
Portland, the 1977 NBA champion and possessor of the league's best won-lost record last season despite losing center Bill Walton to injury late in the season, started the draft by selecting Minnesota's Mychal Thompson, a 6-foot-10 forward-center.
Portland had gotten first choice in the draft by sending guard John Davis and its first round pick, third overall, to Indiana.
April 14, 1978
The Kansas CIty Kings Have lost another coin toss for first dibs in the NBA draft, this time to the Indiana Pacers - who'd like a Bird to trump the Kings' Birdsong.
Oh what a tangled web they weave. The New Jersey Nets should have lead-off selection by virture of the leadge's worst record - but long ago traded the right to K.C. Meanwhile the Kings' own first pick had been swapped to Golden State. Okay. Indiana tied the Kings for last in the Western Conference (31-51), giving it equal priority to K.C. 's "earned" spot - and won a draw with the Warriors, since they owned same. The left Pacers and Kings facing off by conference call, and the toss in New York GHQ came up tails for Indiana.
The pacers would like to telepathize 6-9 Indiana State forward Larry Bird into forgoing his senior year - as U. of San Francisco's 6-6 1/2 Winford Boynes will - and hope if he does, he has a better rookie season than last years' No. 1 from the same state, the Bucks' Kent Benson.
The Kings followed in '77 by taking Otis Birdsong who has come through nicely - and, of course, the Bucks covered their tracks in a hurry with the very next selection in the one (via an old trade): marques Johnson.
This year Pacers and Kings agree it doesn't much difference. Jerry Oliver, Indiana assistance coach: "There's really no No. 1 player graduating everbody wants. We might consider a player and trade. We have all kinds of options." Joe Axelson, Kansas City general manager: "There's no turnaround player out there. There are two players to choose from Phil Ford and MYchai Thompson). There are also a couple of underclassmen who would really excite us if they came out" . . .
February 9, 1979
Indiana Stater Master of All He Surveys
One Look at Bird's Act Starts Heads Shaking
Larry Bird plays the No. 1 city game with such panache that you'd swear he was weaned on the playgrounds of New York City, Washington, D.C., or Philadelphia.
Uh, uh.
February 26, 1979
Larry Bird was driving a garbage truck in his hometown of French Lick, Ind., when Bill Hodges, then the assistant basketball coach at Indiana State University, decided to pay him a visit. Hodges remembered Bird as a high-school all-star and knew he had the ability to turn a mediocre team into a winner. But Bird had already tried college and dropped out. He wasn't interested in trying again - until a week after Hodges's pitch. "The people in town never let Larry forget that he'd quit," said Mrs Georgia Bird, a widow who works as a short-order cook at Flick's Cafe. "I asked God to do something. And when Bill Hodges came to my front door, it was like all my wishes were answered."
