There remain "whispers" that Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird "may walk away at season's end," according to Bob Kravitz of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. Bird recently said, "I'll sit down with [Owner Herb Simon] when it's all done and we'll move from there. Herbie will ask me about it every once in a while, but I don't want to be a distraction. Right now, it's the furthest thing from my mind." Kravitz writes it "doesn't make sense for Bird to leave now, but, then, it didn't make sense for Bird, as the coach, to walk away after he led the Pacers to the NBA Finals" in '00. There have been "some mistakes along the way but, by and large, Bird has done a masterful, if understated job moving the Brawling Pacers into this new era." Bird said of his work, "All I can say is, I held up my end of the bargain." However, there are "frustrations" that linger for Bird, including the Pacers' attendance. The team is "second-to-last in the league in average attendance." Bird said, "I wish our fans would come out and watch our games more. Look, revenues drive everything. It's easy to sit here and say, 'We'll go get this guy,' but if the revenues aren't there, you can't compete with teams that have $80-90 million payrolls. We just can't be where we were three, four years ago when we were losing $20 million a year" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 4/18). In N.Y., Benjamin Hoffman noted the Pacers are "unexpectedly in line for the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs." Yet the team has "drawn the fourth-smallest NBA home crowds, by percent of arena capacity filled," with an average of 14,064 fans a game, or 77.4% of Bankers Life Fieldhouse’s capacity. The team has "not drawn much better on the road, where the Pacers had played in arenas that were 85.8 percent full, also fourth worst" entering last weekend. What makes the team "hard to market is also one of its biggest assets: the absence of a superstar." However, the Pacers' "improvement has gained notice." The team’s average attendance "is up by more than 500 from that of last season." TV ratings also "are higher, and the Pacers have a franchise-record 115 sponsors" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/15).
