The Indiana Pacers formally announced Nate McMillan as the new head coach.
While everyone tries to make sense of everything that’s happened since the season ended, the Indiana Pacers formally announced Nate McMillan as the new head coach.
The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski originally broke the news on Saturday. It is reported as a 3-year deal with no team or coach options.
McMillan has a 478-452 (.514) record as a head coach in the NBA, with his last stint with the Portland Trail Blazers.
What did we learn from the press conference?
While for now this is only talk, at least McMillan didn’t pull a Byron Scott and say the team wasn’t going to shoot a lot of 3-pointers. He acknowledged the NBA has made major changes since he was a head coach just a few years ago.
McMillan: "My approach will be different than it was in 2005. The game has changed... A lot."
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) May 16, 2016
He’s also acknowledging that the players have changed as well and that he’s willing to adapt. All of this is easier to accept as truth as he’s been an assistant coach with the Pacers. It isn’t as if he’s suddenly rejoining the NBA world.
"There is a lot of old school in me, but you have to adapt to this generation of players... the millennials."
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) May 16, 2016
McMillan was careful to say he wasn’t committed to playing big or small, as the roster will dictate that decision.
Offensive philosophy will depend on roster.
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) May 16, 2016
On small vs. big this season: "It worked at times, but at times the bigger unit worked better."
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) May 16, 2016
Nate McMillan being careful not to say team will play big or team will play small. Has said numerous times that it depends on roster.
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) May 16, 2016
While McMillan says he’s ready to adapt, some things he hopes to keep the same, such as Dan Burke coaching the defense and giving excellent interviews.
Larry says he hopes to bring Dan Burke back to help on defense: "He'd be my first free agent."
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) May 16, 2016
No big surprises from the news conference, but it is now official that McMillan will be the head coach.
While many fans reactions were negative or at best neutral, there are plenty of reasons to expect McMillan will continue to keep the team headed in the right direction.
His team progressively got better both with the Seattle SuperSonics and the Portland Trail Blazers. With a few hiccups, the team’s records generally improved as time went on. The offense in particular improved by leaps and bounds in Portland. When he took the job it was ranked 30th in the NBA, but four seasons later he had them ranked second.
Nate McMillan's teams have ranked in bottom 6 in pace in 9 of his 10 full seasons, but he's had 4 top-5 offenses. pic.twitter.com/n7lJXNm6wd
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) May 15, 2016
A few legitimate concerns might be the pace of the team, often one of the slowest or the slowest in the NBA under his watch. The defenses he had were rarely better than average, but one can hope that Burke can continue keeping Indiana in the top of the league and they won’t forget all of Frank Vogel’s coaching.
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The only real problem with McMillan’s hire is that it doesn’t make sense considering all of the things Larry Bird complained about, and you had to fire Frank Vogel to do it. It isn’t exciting, but considering few of the other coaching candidates were either unproven or retreads, it is unlikely any of them would have got the pulse of the Pacers fans going either. It is natural to be frustrated with how Larry Bird handled this situation, but that shouldn’t shade our view of McMillan. I imagine McMillan would have prefered a less controversial path to his new position than the one Bird created.
At worst, McMillan was an average coach in his stints with the Sonics and Blazers, but there aren’t a lot of reasons to see him as a failure as a head coach. His promotion may not grab headlines, and he’ll have to prove that he is going to continue to improve this team, but he should at least get a chance to prove himself before everyone rules this an unmitigated disaster.
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He’s the new boss, whether the fans like it or not, and he deserves a chance to prove himself.