- Ty Lawson, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, said he would like to return to the Pacers next season, the team relayed (via Twitter). “It was a fun time. I liked the culture here. … Hopefully I can come back next year,” Lawson said. The point guard made 13 appearances for Indiana this season, averaging 4.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 18.1 minutes per outing.
Pacers coach Frank Vogel‘s contract expires this summer, and he and the team reportedly haven’t discussed an extension yet. Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post heard that Vogel might have been coaching for his job Sunday, when the Pacers lost the deciding game of their first-round series to the Raptors. President of basketball operations Larry Bird declined to answer a question after Sunday’s contest about whether Vogel would return for next season, saying, “Come on, man, the game just ended.”
Bird had spoken in January about a philosophical difference between himself and Vogel, saying that he preferred an up-tempo attack with Paul George at the power forward while Vogel favored a more conventional approach with two traditional big men. George put up resistance to playing the four at the beginning of the season and Indiana largely abandoned the idea. The executive said he’ll speak with owner Herb Simon at an undetermined point to figure out whether to re-sign Vogel. Finding a way to generate more offense is the key, Bird insisted. “We need to score more points,” Bird said to Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star. “If Frank comes back, what can we do to get better offense? It’s on all of us. Frank’s a great guy. He’s going to be fine no matter what happens. If he’s back, he’ll be fine here. If he’s not, he’s not. We’ll see.”
Vogel has a record of 250-181 in parts of six seasons with Indiana, his only NBA head coaching stop. That mark doesn’t include a 31-30 record in the playoffs, where Vogel guided the Pacers to back-to-back appearances in the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and 2014.
This brings me to the topic for today: Should the Pacers retain Frank Vogel as their head coach?
Has Vogel done enough in your eyes to be re-signed, or is it time to bring in some new blood to coach the team? Keep in mind that many of the top coaching targets are already off the board this offseason, which may weight things in Vogel’s favor. Take to the comments section to share your thoughts and opinions on the matter. We look forward to what you have to say.
Solomon Hill thinks Indiana’s decision against picking up its team option on him for next season drove him to become a better player, observes Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star. The combo forward who shot a sizzling 11 for 19 from 3-point range in the team’s seven-game first-round series didn’t play nearly as well in summer league this past July, and so he understands why the Pacers made the call they did this past fall, even though he led the team in minutes played during the 2014/15 season. Buckner notes. “I kinda felt like my 82 [games] last year was kinda thrown out and they just [said]: ‘This is what he’s done,’” Hill said. The Pacers will face a challenge to re-sign him, since any new contract they give him can’t have a salary for next season that exceeds $2,306,019, the value of the option they declined.
- Pacers coach Frank Vogel never gave Jordan Hill an explanation for why he dropped out of the rotation in the playoffs, Hill said, and the 28-year-old is hoping that front offices focus on his production in the regular season, when he averaged 8.8 points and an efficient 6.2 rebounds in 20.7 minutes per game, Buckner relays in the same piece. Hill is set for free agency again after signing a one-year contract last summer.
Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird criticized coach Frank Vogel‘s shift back to a lineup with two bigs in the middle of the season, a move that rookie Myles Turner helped to prompt, as Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis Star examines. Turner paid dividends after the Pacers drafted him at No. 11 last year and Bird, in spite of his desire to move away from a traditional lineup, is impressed with the rookie. Vogel is too, as Turner relays.
“Myles Turner emerged,” Vogel said after Sunday’s game. “Myles Turner showed what he’s made of by having a great series in his first go-around in the NBA playoffs. He just had a great series. He didn’t shoot the ball well tonight, but he played well, had dominant defensive stretches and learned to read and trust the pass. There’s a lot of reasons to be excited and hopeful about our future because of that kid.”
See more from Indiana, where Vogel’s future is suddenly and surprisingly uncertain:
- Soon-to-be free agent Ian Mahinmi indicated after the game Sunday that he’d like to re-sign, Taylor notes in the same piece.
- Bird doesn’t want to leave Vogel’s job status up in the air for too long, telling Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star that he knows other job opportunities exist for the coach. That would suggest Bird’s mind is already made up, argues Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Vogel has performed capably in parts of six seasons with Indiana and did well to win 45 games this season, Berger posits, but Bird thought the seventh-seeded Pacers would upset the No. 2 seed Raptors in the first round of the playoffs, as Doyel relays. Still, the issue doesn’t appear to be about performance nearly as much as philosophical differences, Berger contends.
- Those in the locker room Sunday saw 2015/16 as a successful campaign, and Paul George, under contract for at least two more years, expressed optimism about what’s to come, as the Star’s Candace Buckner relays. “At the end of the day we had a good year, had a good run,” George said. “We had a rookie in our lineup [Turner] who’s going to get better, going to learn, going to come back a completely different player. This is a two-seed. A 55-plus win team. We took it to Game 7 … .”
5:34pm: Bird said he’ll speak with owner Herb Simon at an undetermined point to figure out whether to re-sign Vogel, as Bird told Doyel. Finding a way to generate more offense is the key, Bird insisted. “We need to score more points,” Bird said. “If Frank comes back, what can we do to get better offense? It’s on all of us. Frank’s a great guy. He’s going to be fine no matter what happens. If he’s back, he’ll be fine here. If he’s not, he’s not. We’ll see.”
8:45am: Pacers coach Frank Vogel‘s contract expires this summer, and he and the Pacers have yet to discuss an extension, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link). Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post heard that Vogel might have been coaching for his job Sunday, when the Pacers lost the deciding game of their first-round series to the Raptors (Twitter link). President of basketball operations Larry Bird declined to answer a question after Sunday’s game about whether Vogel would return for next season, saying, “Come on, man, the game just ended,” according to Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link).
Bird spoke in January about a philosophical difference between himself and Vogel, saying that he preferred an up-tempo attack with Paul George at the power forward while Vogel favored a more conventional approach with two traditional big men. George put up resistance to playing the four at the beginning of the season and Indiana largely abandoned the idea.
That Vogel is on an expiring contract is a surprise, since the Pacers announced in October 2014 that the extension he signed then was for multiple seasons, notes Scott Agness of VigilantSports (Twitter link). Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reported shortly after the extension that indications were that it ran through the 2016/17 season. However, it appears in the wake of today’s news that the multiple years to which the team referred included the 2014/15 season, which had already been a part of Vogel’s pact.
The 42-year-old Vogel would become an intriguing candidate on the coaching market were he and the Pacers to part ways, as Wojnarowski points out (Twitter link). He’s 250-181 in parts of six seasons with Indiana, his only NBA head coaching stop. That doesn’t include a 31-30 record in the playoffs, where Vogel guided the Pacers to back-to-back appearances in the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and 2014. The Kings, Rockets and Knicks are the NBA teams looking for head coaches at present.
Do you think Vogel will be coaching the Pacers next season? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
- One NBA GM thinks Solomon Hill warrants between $7MM and $9MM a year on his next contract, reports Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (ESPN Now link). That would be a problem for Indiana if it wants to keep him. The Pacers can’t re-sign the combo forward for a salary greater than $2,306,019 next season because they declined the team option for that amount on his rookie scale contract.
The Kings have scheduled an interview for early this week with former Cavaliers coach David Blatt, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Blatt was one of the first names connected to the Sacramento coaching vacancy and has been a rumored candidate for several jobs since Cleveland fired him in January.
Blatt met with the Knicks this week to discuss the possibility of replacing interim coach Kurt Rambis and was believed to be a candidate for the Lakers’ job before they hired Luke Walton. During his brief stay in Cleveland, Blatt led the Cavaliers to the 2015 NBA Finals and compiled an 83-40 record.
Blatt will be at least the fifth candidate to interview for the head coaching position, according to James Ham of CSNBayArea. Ham reports that Sam Mitchell, Mike Woodson, Kevin McHale and Vinny Del Negro have all gone through formal interviews.
Indiana assistant Nate McMillan may soon join that group, Ham reports, depending what the Pacers do in tonight’s Game 7 with the Raptors. McMillan has a 266-269 career record in 12 years as head coach of the SuperSonics and Blazers.
The Kings are also planning to interview Charlotte assistant Patrick Ewing, whose team was eliminated from the playoffs today. Ham says Mark Jackson of ESPN and Grizzlies assistant Elston Turner are also on the list to be interviewed.
Once the interviews are complete, GM/executive Vlade Divac plans to whittle the list down to three finalists that he will present to Sacramento management. Despite earlier reports that the Kings wanted to find a coach this week, Ham says there is no timetable. The organization has been without a coach since it fired George Karl after the season ended.
- Pacers coach Frank Vogel is used to the level of criticism he received after the Game 5 loss to Toronto, which included calls for his firing on social media, writes Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star. “I don’t take it personally,” Vogel said after the Indiana blew out the Raptors in Game 6. “I hear everything. I don’t take anything personal. The passion the fans have? It isn’t as strong as mine.”
- The loss of Paul George for all but six games of the 2014/15 season placed the Pacers in the position to land Myles Turner in the 2015 NBA Draft, and he’s outperformed a number of those selected ahead of him last June, notes Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News. Turner, the No. 11 overall pick, appeared in 60 games and averaged 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 22.8 minutes per outing on the season.
- The Pacers recalled power forwards Shayne Whittington and Rakeem Christmas from their D-League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, according to the team’s website. Whittington played in 40 games for the Mad Ants, averaging 12.1 points and 7.9 rebounds, while Christmas appeared in 48 games, averaging 13.9 points and 7.1 rebounds.