Isiah Thomas fired by the Pacers

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Isiah Thomas was fired Wednesday as head coach of the Indiana Pacers, a surprise move that came only seven weeks after Larry Bird was hired as president of basketball operations. Thomas, an NBA Hall of Famer, led a young Indiana team into the playoffs each of his first three seasons, but they were knocked out in the first round each year. He was 131-115 in three years. "We have decided to go in a different direction," Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said. "When I hired Isiah, I thought he was the right man for the job and at the time and he was." The team's announcement said it would honor the final year of Thomas' contract with the team. Thomas, who is with the U.S. Olympic qualifying playing in Puerto Rico, could not immediately be reached for comment. Bird and Thomas were contentious rivals from their days of leading the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons to NBA titles in the 1980s. When he was hired July 11, Bird walked off the podium at a news conference and shook hands with Thomas -- but neither smiled. Not that Thomas' firing was a total shock. Zeke took a lot of heat this season for the Pacers' second-half collapse and his sometimes odd substitition patterns. But he did manage to win 40, 41 and 48 games, respectively, and make the playoffs in each of his three seasons. Usually that would be good enough to get at least one more year. Thomas' fate probably was sealed the day this summer when Larry Bird was brought back as team president. Bird and Thomas were natural rivals, both in their alma maters (Indiana State/Indiana) and in the NBA (Celtics/Pistons). With CEO Donnie Walsh, the man who hired Thomas, having yielded day-to-day control, it was perhaps inevitable Bird would want to bring in his own man. The question now is who Larry Legend might bring in to run his team. Carlisle, who served as Bird's top assistant during the Pacers' run to the 2000 Finals, would be a logical candidate. Former Suns coach Scott Skiles, a popular Hoosier schoolboy star who lives in the area, and Bird's former Celts teammate Dave Cowens also could get a call. Bird led the Pacers to the 2000 NBA Finals and the best three-year record in their NBA history during his time as coach. Thomas succeeded him as coach. "After looking at film, seeing how things were and evaluating the basketball operations, I detected the team's chemistry wasn't what it should be," Bird said. "Donnie and I decided that a change was necessary and a fresh start was important." The Pacers did not immediately pick a successor or set a timetable for choosing a new coach. Indiana had the best record in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break this past season, making Thomas the All-Star coach, but went 14-19 the rest of the season and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Boston. Walsh at the time gave no indication Thomas wouldn't return, although he said the second-half swoon was troubling. Pacers players had continued to voice support for Thomas. Jermaine O'Neal, then a free agent, said before he re-signed with the team last month that he would not play for anybody but Thomas with the Pacers. The biggest criticism of Thomas was his inconsistent rotations. While most players preferred a set role, Thomas made his decisions on his own feelings for a particular game and team matchups.