Mark Montieth of Pacers.com sat down with Larry Bird to discuss all things Pacers. Here are a few highlights from that discussion.
- Bird thinks the Pacers are the best option for Lance Stephenson and says the Pacers would want to resign Stephenson next summer. Bird claims they will offer Stephenson a “great offer” but doesn’t know what is going to happen next summer.
- Bird attributes David West‘s signing with the Pacers for less money than the Celtics were offering, to West’s agent, Lance Young of Excel Sports Management, expressing to him that West was very interested in playing for the Pacers as well as his willingness to meet with Pacers’ doctors regarding his knee injury.
- Had it not been for Roy Hibbert‘s agent, David Falk, the Pacers might not have drafted Hibbert. Bird was promised by Falk that he would make sure Hibbert fell to the Pacers 17th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. When Falk kept his end of the deal, Bird followed through and drafted Hibbert.
Except the Raptors drafted Hibbert and traded his rights to Indiana…
What options does Indiana have to re-sign Stephenson? I know he’ll be an unrestricted free agent, but since they have his bird rights, can they offer him anything from the minimum to the max with that? Or would they have to use an exception to sign him to a competitive deal?
Yep, Bird rights will allow them to offer anything up to the max, including a five-year deal (where other teams could only offer four). No exception required (besides the Bird exception).
— Luke