Coach to avoid for the Indiana Pacers if Nate Bjorkgren is fired: Alvin Gentry
Without question, Alvin Gentry would’ve been the perfect coach for a team that is inept on offense, but the Indiana Pacers aren’t that team. The Blue and Gold’s overlooked improvement in this turbulent season is on offense, with Nate Bjorkgren installing a scoring scheme that ranks 14th in offensive rating and generates the second-most assists.
If anything, what the Pacers need is a defensive mastermind and Gentry is antonymous to that. The brilliant offensive coordinator engineered effective and high-octane offenses in Phoenix, LA, Golden State and to an extent, New Orleans, but his acumen is too funneled towards a single end of the spectrum that his miscues on defense simply overshadow his prowess.
Offense is not the reason why Bjorkgren is on the hot seat, thus, hiring Gentry would likely result in a replay of this season. Indiana has bigger fish to fry, especially on defense and on the locker room, and those tenets aren’t exactly his calling cards.
No disrespect to the widely-acclaimed offensive genius, but with his proclivity for offense to generate competitive,winning basketball, he may be better off as a lead assistant, or as a head coach for teams lacking luster on offense but are already solid defensively.