8p9s Roundtable: Nate McMillan Is The New Boss

Were there any other coaches you wish the Pacers would have hired?

Furr: I would’ve cheered for Messina or Mike D’antoni, but some of that is a general “grass is always greener” sentiment. Messina is an unknown, and has international and Spurs experience. D’antoni modeled small ball and had significant success with the 7 seconds or less Suns. They were exciting options.

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Comstock: Other coaches: Yes, many. I think Bird’s 3-year philosophy is asinine. I would have preferred long-term organizational stability with Vogel at the helm, but with Frank gone, I was hoping for a “next level” type of candidate. McMillan is the opposite— a competent, replacement-level coach with absolutely no chance for greatness.

Donahue: Frank Vogel. Coaching was a problem that neither Larry Bird nor the Pacers needed to solve — at least not at this point. Once Vogel was fired, everything became an unknown. There are coaches out there that would have been more interesting — Messina, D’Antoni, maybe one of the assistants like Stephen Silas — but that’s mostly just the optics.

Eggers: I still remain in the camp of people that believe Vogel should never have even been in consideration for the chopping block. That being said, the prospect of having a big change like this was interesting, and McMillan doesn’t bring it. Someone like Mike D’Antoni would’ve brought that change on the offensive end. Someone like Ettore Messina would’ve brought that change in the excitement of a new coach (a member of the Popovich brain trust, mind you) and seeing what he could do. Either of those coaches would’ve been preferable over this hire. McMillan isn’t a bad coach by any regards, but if Bird was going to get rid of Vogel, I wanted to see a hire that justified it. An assistant coach doesn’t justify it by any means.

Ochoa: Realistically, I didn’t see many “free agent” coaches out there that would have been an upgrade from Vogel. Vogel was a really solid coach and if you’re going to fire him, you have to have a better plan for a replacement. Of all the rumored candidates I heard, I think Brian Shaw or Mike D’Antoni would’ve made the most sense, but not even sure if those guys would have been much of a major upgrade either. Basically what Bird did was the equivalent of a twenty-something fresh out of college quitting his first real job because he didn’t like it, but didn’t have a new job lined up so now he has to move back in with mommy and daddy until he figures out how to be an adult in the real world.

Next: Will the team be better in 2016-17