The Pacers are transitioning from Larry Bird to Kevin Pritchard and the move could signal an active offseason for the team, Mark Montieth of NBA.com writes.
“You have to be bold in this position,” Pritchard said. “But the one thing I’ve learned from Larry is how important continuity is.
“When you say I’ve been a dealmaker, a lot of them have been in the summer, specifically the draft. I don’t mind moving up. Once I see someone in the draft that I think can really help us, I want to be aggressive that way. [Scouting director] Ryan Carr and our scouts do an amazing job identifying talent, and it’s up to me to go get them. I like moving around in the draft. That doesn’t mean it happens every time. But I want to be aggressive.”
Indiana owns the No. 18 and No. 47 overall picks in the upcoming draft and the team could have upwards of $32MM in cap space this summer, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors recently detailed.
Here’s more from Indiana:
- Owner Herb Simon may be willing to pay luxury tax under the right circumstances, Montieth adds in the same piece. “I don’t like talking about a small market; we are a market,” Pritchard said. “We’re given every opportunity to succeed. Going into the tax will be challenging, but I’ve never heard Herb say, ‘Hey, listen, we can never go into the tax.’ If you’re on a timeline where you’ve got good players and you want to win, you’re on the cusp of moving up, I don’t think there’s a doubt he would take a look at that.”
- Paul George told Pritchard that he wants to remain with the Pacers, though it must be a winning situation, Monteith relays in the same piece. “The one thing Paul realizes is, the Indiana Pacers drafted him, developed him, gave him an opportunity to succeed. He talked about how much he enjoyed getting to the Eastern Conference Finals. He wants to win. The Pacers want to win. We’re on the same page,” Pritchard said.
- The Pacers might be better off moving on from Nate McMillan, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe argues. Washburn cites Indiana’s first-round matchup with the Cavs where Tyronn Lue seemingly outcoached McMillan.
- Bird will stay with the organization as an advisor and the Hall of Famer doesn’t believe his move will have any impact on George’s future with the team, as we passed along earlier today. “Paul is going to do what Paul wants to do.”
George should stay out East at least he would have a shot at getting to the Finals, out West you got GS,SA,Houston, and Memphis along with the Clippers and other up and coming teams like Minnesota and Utah. Go to Charlotte with Kemba and Batum, Hes exactly what they lack.
They lack cap space too
THEy could work something out
Not a mcmillan fan and not addressing this situation but I hate it when people use the out coached by so and so in the playoffs arguement for firing someone. Every team that plays the spurs will be out coached by popovich and the same can be said for a lot of the upper echelon coaches. Not the best barometer for a coach. That being said McMillan seemed to be out coached a lot in the regular season as well and probably should go and Lue isn’t a great coach either.
Dude look at the roster he was handed, its George and a bunch of bums, Turner talks and make videos about his supposed work ethic but I don’t see any big strides from this dude like I have with Towns and Booker. McMillan coached the Sonics to a really good record back in 06-07 with that cast of Ray Allen,Rashard Lewis, and Jerome James, there is just no way he can beat a team like Cleveland who has the best player in the game along with 2 other stars and a boatload of shooters. McMillan is not to blame what so ever, he actually overachieved with that roster.
Turner improved almost every area of his game. He’s a beast!! I’d rather have him than booker, and he’s a way better defender than towns.
No doubt he will be a beast I see his ceiling like Amare Stoudemire