The Indiana Pacers have officially turned the page on the Nate McMillan era as they announce the hiring of Toronto Raptors assistant Nate Bjorkgren on Tuesday afternoon.
Pacer fans first reaction was who? It wasn’t one of the familiar names that folks were hoping for but it was a person with a resume you have to respect. Most fans want the sexy familiar basketball name or former superstar hooper but Indiana wanted a coach that had a winning resume under his belt first.
Bjorkgren is a branch off of the Nick Nurse tree that has proven success. Before following him to Toronto in July of 2018 the summer before winning the NBA title. He worked with Nurse in two stops in the G League, winning a title with him in 2011 in Iowa. Bjorkgren reached the G League Finals as a head coach with Santa Cruz in 2013 before becoming an assistant in the NBA in 2015 with Phoenix.
“We are very pleased and excited to have Nate as our new coach,” Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said in a statement released by the team. “This was an extensive and thorough search, and when we reached the conclusion, we felt strongly Nate is the right coach for us at the right time. He comes from a winning background, has experienced championship success, is innovative and his communication skills along with his positivity are tremendous. We all look forward to a long, successful partnership in helping the Pacers move forward.”
Most fans aren’t familiar with Bjorkgren but I believe however, that they should at least give him a fair chance to prove that he can coach their beloved team.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! It’s the NBA playa and if you don’t have horses you won’t compete for a title. The Pacers are always just good enough to land in the fourth or fifth spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Therefore, they draft in the same spot every year and add to that the fact that they can’t attract superstar free agents. So I don’t see Bjorkgren having anymore success than both Vogel and McMillan had.
They may as well have kept Frank Vogel in the first place. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Vogel or McMillan for that matter. McMillan was short handed in the playoffs this year. That’s why they got swept. However, they were swept by the team that competed for an NBA title.
The biggest problem the Pacers face is trying to convince Victor Oladipo to stick around and signing TJ Warren to an extension. Can that happen? We’ll have to wait and see.
You have to have horses to win. Ask Frank Vogel if I’m lyin’? He went to Orlando and was a dumpster fire and then was blessed to land in LA with LeBron and he’s now an NBA champion. He was no better a coach in LA than he was in Indiana. He just had horses.
I wish Nate B the best of luck in Indiana but I don’t expect any better results than we’ve seen from the previous two head coaches. Stop me when I start lyin’!
