As President of Basketball Operations for the Pacers, Bird is flying solo, no longer sharing duties with his front-office mentor and longtime chief executive Donnie Walsh. In an interview with John Hareas of NBA.com, Bird discussed the Pacers’ biggest need of improvement, who will fill the leadership role, why you should keep an eye on Troy Murphy and his passion away from basketball, Legends wine.

NBA.com: What do you see as the No. 1 area of improvement for the Pacers this season?
Larry Bird: Obviously we have to get better on the defensive end. Last year we committed too many fouls and we didn’t defend the three-point shot. So overall our defense has to get better to win games. Offensively, we’ll score a lot of points. Defense was the problem last year. As far as the team goes, I think we did something in the draft to help us overall, and I think we solidified our point guard position with Travis [Diener],T.J., and Jarrett Jack so we’re very strong in that area right now.

NBA.com: How big of an impact will rookie Roy Hibbert have on the defensive end in the role of shot blocker, overall defensive presence?
Larry Bird: It’s always good to have a big guy in there. Without Jermaine last year we didn’t have that potential to block shots. With Roy in there he takes up a lot of space and even if we don’t block a lot of shots, you can get guys to shoot up over him and maybe distract them a little bit. I think it’s going to be a major plus for us. Obviously he’s a rookie and he’s got a lot of learning to do, but in the long run he’ll be fine.

NBA.com: Who is the team leader?
Larry Bird: I think it can be a couple guys. We’ve had some players around here just waiting for the opportunity to step in and I think now they’ll look at the training camp and go through and you’ll sort of see after a while who the players gravitate to. So I don’t think that will be a problem anymore. Some of those guys would be Mike Dunleavy, Danny Granger, Jeff Foster, T.J. Ford, even a new guy coming in can lead. But I think they’ll do it by committee. They’re a good group of guys that want to win and work hard, so we’re looking for some good things out of them.

NBA.com: Danny Granger made some big strides last season. What’s the next step for Granger this season?
Larry Bird: Well, Dunleavy and Granger both made great strides on the offensive end. The style we play, we put up a lot of shots and score a lot of points, so there’s more freedom on the offensive end. Hopefully they can give us a few more points out of their positions and help us overall. Both of them are very good basketball players and I really feel that they’ll take the next step. This is Mike’s seventh year and Danny’s fourth year, and Danny got a real good taste of it last year so I look for him to improve.

NBA.com: You’ve said that Troy Murphy is going to have his best NBA season this year. Why do you think so?
Larry Bird: He’ll play probably 35 minutes a game and he’s always played around 30 or 32 minutes. At the end of the season last year when he was playing the 35 minutes he started producing more. Plus in the offseason the last couple of years he’s really worked hard. Each summer you do that you continue to get better, so I look for a big year out of Troy.

NBA.com: What has Austin Croshere shown in camp thus far?
Larry Bird: He has played very well. Austin’s been one of our better players in camp. He came in in great shape, he’s hit his shots, he’s rebounded, he’s played tough, and I know Austin. I was here when we drafted him in my first year when I coached in ’97, so I know all about Austin. But he’s looked very well. He’s done a good job for us.

NBA.com: How has your job changed day to day without Donnie Walsh around?
Larry Bird: You’re in a position to make the decisions. For a few years we were stuck at the luxury tax, which we are this year. Next year we’ll have some flexibility; we’ve got a lot of guys up on contracts and we’ve got flexibility to either keep some of the same guys or go out and get new ones. It’s different because it is day to day control. It’s something I enjoy, but I also miss Donnie.

NBA.com: Have you reached out to Donnie since he left?
Larry Bird: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

NBA.com: Larry Bird, the wine connoisseur? Tell me about your other passion, Legends wine. How did you get involved with wine?
Larry Bird: I got into this years ago. I used to make some. I didn’t drink it but my brothers liked it and their wives liked it. So it’s just been a hobby when I was retired. I would go out and try to make some different kinds. A friend of mine got me hooked up with Mitch Cosentino, the owner of Cosentino Winery and knowing all the success that he’s had in it.

It seemed like a great combination – somebody that knew what the heck he’s doing and somebody that had a passion for it. Mitch made some samples, sent it out, and I really liked it, so we were off and running.

NBA.com: How involved are you in the overall process?
Larry Bird: I talk to a guy out in Chicago, a guy that owns the company, and he sends me the wine and we talk about it. I’ve been very impressed with everything they do as a company and extremely impressed with the way Mitch handles everything. They’ve got the Legends brand out but they’ve also got the Consentino brand out that is excellent wine. They won a lot of awards over the last three or four years. They do very well.

NBA.com: Is this a good outlet for you since so much of your life revolves around the game?
Larry Bird: It’s funny. When you go in a restaurant and see a bottle of Legends, it’s just like when I was a player and go in and see a basketball with my signature on it when I was with Spalding and the shoes we had out; it’s not different now. When we go out to eat, a lot of restaurants know I’m coming and they’ll put the wine out on the table, so it’s pretty neat. It’s a neat little thing to be involved in.

NBA.com: What are some of your favorites?
Larry Bird: Well, I can sit here and say I like them all. The cabernet is good. Meritage. The chardonnay I like as well as any of them. It’s been good. I like a different variety and that’s what it gives you.

NBA.com: Don’t you have a wine cellar in your house?
Larry Bird: Yes, I have one. It’s pretty neat going down there and seeing all the different styles and having friends over and have them pick out what they want. It’s pretty big – I don’t have it completely full – but it will hold a couple thousand bottles.

NBA.com: Does Larry Bird offer wine tips among your basketball friends?
Larry Bird: (Laughs) It’s funny, I’ve had some coaches come up to me and ask me. They always want me to send them a bottle, which I do occasionally. Not the players as much as the coaches.