Frank Vogel Still Optimistic About the Indiana Pacers’ Upcoming Season

You’d think after losing 36 percent of the Indiana Pacers scoring offense that Frank Vogel would be a little bit pessimistic about the Pacers chances going into the 2014-15 season. But you’d be wrong.

Frank Vogel sat down with Steve Aschburner of the NBA Hangtime blog and told him that he expected another competitive year and for players to step up in the absence of Lance Stephenson and Paul George.

"“We’re going to be fine,” Vogel said. “We’ve got more than enough to compete with the best and we’re going to have another great season. Our approach is, we’re going to try to not skip a beat.”Vogel’s fingers were not crossed. There was no whiff of rum in the room, and he wasn’t talking in Comic Sans.He continued: “Two guys being gone – Lance being gone, Paul not being with us because of injury – creates opportunities for other guys. Both at that position and also at other positions to carry a bigger role.”Ah, OK, so maybe it was the whole interview thing. So you switched off the recorder, looked the Pacers coach in the eye and said, now Frank, how do you really feel?“I really feel that way,” Vogel said. “I think we’re going to be OK.”"

You don’t need numbers to explain why missing nearly 36 points a game and David West being your leading returning scorer might be a cause for concern, but Vogel expects veterans C.J. Miles and Rodney Stuckey and younger guys like Solomon Hill and Damjan Rudez are expected to help pick up the slack.

Whereas last year The Five might have been the norm, the Pacers have the chance to experiment with lineups more this season, and may well be forced to.

Also, expect more Chris Copeland this year … maybe.

"“Chris Copeland is going to get a chance to play more. Damjan Rudez, one of the best shooters in Europe, is coming over to play at the ‘three’ or the ‘four.’ So we’ve got answers. You look at that, combined with our point guard rotation’s intact with George Hill and C.J. Watson, our big rotation’s intact with [Luis] Scola, [Roy] Hibbert and [Ian] Mahinmi. There are reasons to be optimistic.”"

Considering the Pacers had 23rd ranked offense last year, Indiana will certainly need the guards to step up. The front court is mostly unchanged from last season, but George Hill and C.J. Waston might be expected to play more minutes than they did a year ago.

Maybe Frank Vogel is just shell-shocked from the past six months and disconnected from reality, but you can’t say he’s ready to throw the towel in.