Larry Bird delivered a decisive message when he fired head coach Frank Vogel back in May: Nothing would get in the way of the vision he mapped out for the Indiana Pacers—not loyalty, not stability, not even finishing one win shy of a surprising second-round postseason bid.
Indiana's team president wanted his troops to play smaller and faster. He made that much clear at the end of the 2014-15 season. It didn't matter that jettisoning Roy Hibbert and signing Monta Ellis hardly fit the bill. The Pacers squad he watched on the floor in 2015-16 never met his standards.
Paul George spent most of his time at small forward. The Pacers cracked the top 10 in pace but finished bottom eight in offensive efficiency. They were middle of the road in three-point accuracy.
Vogel, in that sense, failed, so the next coach would be a better reflection of the identity Bird wished to champion. But then he named Nate McMillan as Vogel's successor, which portended a series of aggressive offseason moves that indicate no discernible identity.
Next season's Pacers are more confusing for it, their floor as l ...
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Article written by Dan Favale
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