Pacers make mistake with Frank Vogel
The Indiana Pacers are moving on from head coach Frank Vogel. That is a major mistake.
Nobody here is writing that Vogel is Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach or Pat Riley, but he has certainly done a nice job with the Pacers during his six seasons as the main man. Vogel took over a ragtag team midway through the 2010-11 team and led it to the playoffs, squeaking in as an eighth seed.
In the ensuing five campaigns, the Pacers would make the playoffs four times and reached the conference finals twice, only to lose to Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Considering James has not been beaten short of the NBA Finals in what is now becoming six years, there is certainly no shame in that.
Despite coaching a team in 2015-16 with Paul George, a young talent in Myles Turner and a litany of spare parts, Vogel once more got Indiana to the postseason with a 45-37 record. The Pacers took on the No. 2 seed in the Toronto Raptors and pushed them to the limit, losing in a tough seven games in the first round. Apparently that was enough for team president Larry Bird to turn his back on Vogel, who was informed that his contract would not be renewed.
For Vogel, this is a temporary setback. It has to sting for a man who has been with the Pacers since 2007, beginning his tenure as an assistant. Yet he will bounce back in a major way, perhaps even with the New York Knicks or Houston Rockets this offseason.
The consequences of moving on from Vogel will be far worse and longer-lasting for Indiana. The Pacers are not an overly-talented team even with George, and they play in the middle of nowhere. No head coach with a big name is going to be dying for a contract in Indianapolis. Coincedentally, the same could be said for free agents with any options at all.
Would you rather coach/play in New York, Los Angeles or Indiana? Case closed.
Vogel was good enough to win a title for the Pacers, but the pieces were never completely in place. The best team he had was the 2013-14 edition, with David West and George leading the way. Indiana looked like the team to beat that season for the most part, until center Roy Hibbert completely fell apart during the final few weeks of the regular season and well into the playoffs. Both Hibbert and the Pacers never recovered.
Bird will now look for a new head coach, and he better make the right move. If he fails to do so, he will be the one having to explain why he made such a bold move when he could have retaining a quality man.
