The Indiana Pacers were somewhere between rebuild mode and a contending mindset this season. They came into the postseason as a seven seed and not one person was expecting them to be much of a threat to the Cleveland Cavaliers this season. Frank Vogel, however, did a good job to get these guys to the playoffs, and almost coached them to a first round upset of the second seeded Toronto Raptors.
Now, after the series loss, Larry Bird decided to throw some uncertainty on Vogel’s name. Via the Indy Star:
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Bird said.
He doesn’t know when, either. Bird said he will make the decision after meeting by conference call with Pacers owner Herb Simon, but he said no call has been arranged.
“He’s busy, so it could be a week or it could be tomorrow,” Bird said early Monday evening. “What I don’t want to do is leave Frank hanging – there’s other jobs out there he could get.”
So, let’s get this straight, after a 250-181 record with Indiana, Vogel’s job is on the line. Understandably, teams decide to part ways with some coaches just to get some new faces in the program. However, Vogel has been able to coach this team to some of the best defensive ratings the franchise has seen over an entire season. He has been able to develop guys like Paul George and, so far, Myles Turner. Lance Stephenson was looking like a max contract kind of player under Vogel and now he’s just an ongoing Twitter joke.
More offense is something that Bird and the Pacers want to see, but when you have a team where Paul George is the only go-to offensive player, and the next best guy seems to be a rookie, then the coach isn’t necessarily the problem there. This roster needs an upgrade badly, and Vogel deserves a chance to show what he can do with said roster. He’s proved he can take a decent squad to the Eastern Conference Finals, so why can’t he do it again?
Say the Pacers do decide to cut ties with Vogel and go a different way. Well, reports are saying that the Knicks and Vogel have some mutual interest. Vogel, being more of a defensive coach, could fit very well in New York with a developed roster. Obviously the Knicks are heading into an off-season where a lot of roster moves are needed, and one of the biggest problems they’ve faced is on the defensive end. The only issue arising with this report is if Vogel would be running the triangle like Phil Jackson wants to.
