Knight Blasts Indiana Pacers for Releasing Buckner

Coach Bob Knight of Indiana University, irate over the release Wednesday of guard Quinn Buckner by the Indiana Pacers, Thursday blasted the team’s management as incompetent.

“It’s a shame for a state that’s as good in basketball as this one is to have a team in professional basketball in the hands of, and surrounded by, people who don’t know anything about it except for (consultant) Wayne Embry,” Knight said. “The best thing they could do is turn the thing over to him, and then something would get done. It’s really a shame to have a professional team that is handled as incompetently as that one is.”

Both Pacer President Bob Salyers and Embry declined comment on Knight’s outburst, which occurred only hours after Buckner had been released to make room on the roster for Clark Kellogg, who was reactivated from the injury list.

“He contributes so much to any team that understands basketball or has people that understand basketball, which obviously the Indianapolis team doesn’t have,” Knight said of Buckner, who played on Indiana’s 1976 NCAA championship team.

“These people up there just don’t know enough about the game to know how to utilize the guy.”