NBA Rumors: Larry Bird's Coaching Plans Questioned By Association

Larry Bird has a knack for brilliant trash talking. This time though, he seems to have gone beyond amusement as a number of coaches and franchise executives in the league criticize his warped philosophy that a coach's optimal effectiveness with a team is only good for three years. His coaching plan of having coaches turned over every three years doesn't sit well with many NBA folks.

Bird explained his philosophy saying that his parameters were pretty much based on his own experience as a player. Too long a tenure makes a coach's commanding voice lost on players he leads on the hardcourt.

"My experience has been, good coaches leave after three years. I played for Bill Fitch and I've seen it happen firsthand. I've talked to Red Auerbach on the subject a lot. We had K.C. Jones for five years. Nicest man I ever met. And they let him go. And we were having success," Larry Bird as quoted in a report by Fansided.

Jeff Van Gundy, however, strongly disagrees with Bird's proposition. While it his right as Pacers president to get Coach Frank Vogel off the roster, he finds Bird's coaching plan logic just incomprehensible.

"The rationale, to me, is absurd, this notion that after three years every great coach gets turned over," Van Gundy as quoted by Indianapolis Star.

Van Gundy then enumerated a number of immensely successful coaches who established a strong coaching reputation beyond their three years of tenure in a particular team including Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Gregg Popovich and Pat Riley.

In his defense, Bird does back it up with real-life examples. As Pacers coach, he went on to lead Indiana to the Eastern Conference finals for three seasons and even to the NBA finals once in his three-year tenure before walking out.

But his own experience does not resonate with everyone else in the league. For many NBA sports observers, the three-year shelf life is just absurd and off target.

For example, Ron Borges of Boston Herald presented a totally opposite mindset from that of the former Celtics legend. In his article, Borges argued that Gregg Popovich's long-term tenure with San Antonio Spurs that spans for nearly two decades is a terrific example how coaching for more than three years can lead to stability. Over the years, Popovich has consistently made Spurs a powerhouse and title contender in the league with five NBA titles to his name.

At the end of the day, Larry Bird is Larry Bird. He is brutally frank with utter disregard for language decorum. But he is faithful to his principles which do not make him right all the time.