Pacers Fire Nate McMillan As Head Coach

Post #1 » by **RealGM Wiretap** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:55 pm

The Indiana Pacers have fired Nate McMillan just a week after agreeing to a soft extension.

The Pacers had reworked the final season on McMillan's contract for 20-21 and added a team option for 21-22. The Pacers were subsequently swept by the Miami Heat.

McMillan was head coach of the Pacers for four season and complied a 183-136 record.

Mike D'Antoni will be a candidate for the Pacers should he become available.

"On behalf of the SImon family and the Pacers organization, I'd like to thank Nate for his years with the team," Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said in a statement. "This was a very hard decision for us to make; but we feel it's in the best interest of the organization to move in a different direction. Nate and I have been through the good times and the bad times; and it was an honor to work with him for those 11 years (in Indiana and Portland)."

Via ESPN

BigHustle · Post #2 » by **BigHustle** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:10 pm

Hans1984 · Post #3 » by **Hans1984** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:16 pm

Weird

Daver · Post #4 » by **Daver** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:36 pm

So no sabonis victor only at 50% and nate gets canned wtf whats he supposed to do hes a great coach

MrDollarBills · Post #5 » by **MrDollarBills** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:48 pm

Embarrassing, the team wasn't even at full strength.

njknicks · Post #6 » by **njknicks** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 6:06 pm

Inexplicable for the Pacers to offer him a contract extension and then fire him 2 weeks later.

For a small market franchise, especially during COVID - every financial transaction / commitment counts ten fold.

McMillan has done an solid job developing a young roster -- not his fault that each post season they have a starter / players out with injury.

Oladipo was jut returning from injury & Sabonis was out : how would you expect any team to compete without to key starters ( i.e. just look @ Blazers -- multiple starters & rotation players injured or unavailable ).

Head scratching move ...

Hullajelolt · Post #7 » by **Hullajelolt** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 6:18 pm

What a bad move by the Pacers. McMillan actually did a very good job this year. But I get it, four exits in the first round means some heads have to fall.

Bidofo · Post #8 » by **Bidofo** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 6:36 pm

Did the people calling this a bad move even watch the Pacers this year? His offense was archaic. 19th in the league and DEAD LAST in 3pt attempts. That's just unacceptable for a playoff team. This was a good fire and Pacers fans are actually pretty happy about it lol.

sean1913 · Post #9 » by **sean1913** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:11 pm

BS. he has a 57% win ratio in 4 years and had no VO or DS for these 4(!) games.
at the VERY least he stays another year to see where they're really at. disgraceful, and a bad look on the P's front office.

Cassius · Post #10 » by **Cassius** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:11 pm

So... Nate's playoff resume:

16-17: Swept by Bron by a TOTAL of 16 points in a 2 vs. 7 matchup. Playoff Pee shows how un-clutch he is.
17-18: Lose to Bron in 7, four losses by a TOTAL of 14 points. They outscore the Cavs by 43 in the series.
18-19: Swept by Celtics. 48 win team despite only 36 games from Vic.
19-20: Swept by Heat. 45-28 over 73 games (50 win pace). All-star Sabonis out, 16 games from Vic.

Glass half full, yes, but this feels a lot like what happened to him in Portland. Complete BS, and if you're going to blame anyone, blame the medical staff.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/mcmilna01c.html

Temuhjan · Post #11 » by **Temuhjan** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:12 pm

Nate deserves to keep his job

Cassius · Post #12 » by **Cassius** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:20 pm

Bidofo wrote:Did the people calling this a bad move even watch the Pacers this year? His offense was archaic. 19th in the league and DEAD LAST in 3pt attempts. That's just unacceptable for a playoff team. This was a good fire and Pacers fans are actually pretty happy about it lol.

Their accuracy from 3 has been well above average the past two years, largely playing without their best drive and kick threat, and with two relatively stiff bigs on the floor most of the time. I'm not sure how you'd expect him to successfully play a "pace and space" game without your fastest ballhandler/scorer and two slow big men.

grindtime22 · Post #13 » by **grindtime22** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:02 pm

Bidofo wrote:Did the people calling this a bad move even watch the Pacers this year? His offense was archaic. 19th in the league and DEAD LAST in 3pt attempts. That's just unacceptable for a playoff team. This was a good fire and Pacers fans are actually pretty happy about it lol.

Roster construction. They played a style the front office and injuries set them up to play. The money was invested in players who aren't exactly volume 3 point shooters. Two bigs making starter money? Yeah, that's a recipe for an archaic offense. Even Malcom Brogdan was not a volume guy despite coming from one of the ultimate volume teams. He shot them at the pace he pretty much always has. TJ Warren? He's been allergic to 3s most of his career. You go up and down the roster and who is supposed to be providing this pace and space?

MitchB3 · Post #14 » by **MitchB3** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:02 am

This is by far a dumb move, they could have given him one more season or al least trade for another star player.

rand · Post #15 » by **rand** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:56 am

Bidofo wrote:Did the people calling this a bad move even watch the Pacers this year? His offense was archaic. 19th in the league and DEAD LAST in 3pt attempts. That's just unacceptable for a playoff team. This was a good fire and Pacers fans are actually pretty happy about it lol.

Their top-6 players missed 114 games in a reduced season and they still managed a .616 win pct. His entire tenure their roster has either been injury ravaged or just plain weak, yet still finished over .500 and made the playoffs every season because they play solid defense.

Well if Pacers fans really are happy about this then congrats to them I guess. We'll see how it works out. I bet the next coach ends up with a worse win pct than McMillan.

PDXKnight · Post #16 » by **PDXKnight** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:13 am

Good move. He won’t get ya past the first round

Temuhjan · Post #17 » by **Temuhjan** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 6:43 am

Oden2 wrote:Good move. He won’t get ya past the first round

I believe this cohort of players and coaches have put their best foot forward and done an excellent job.

No offense, but how are you supposed to get this group of average players past the first round unless your Head Coach happen to be Brad Stevens?

PDXKnight · Post #18 » by **PDXKnight** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 9:30 am

Temuhjan wrote:
Oden2 wrote:Good move. He won’t get ya past the first round

I believe this cohort of players and coaches have put their best foot forward and done an excellent job.

No offense, but how are you supposed to get this group of average players past the first round unless your Head Coach happen to be Brad Stevens?

Wasn’t saying anything about the team, I know they’re depleted. I just saw Portland never get very far with him and we choked time and time again

jk31 · Post #19 » by **jk31** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:45 am

rand wrote:
Bidofo wrote:Did the people calling this a bad move even watch the Pacers this year? His offense was archaic. 19th in the league and DEAD LAST in 3pt attempts. That's just unacceptable for a playoff team. This was a good fire and Pacers fans are actually pretty happy about it lol.

Their top-6 players missed 114 games in a reduced season and they still managed a .616 win pct. His entire tenure their roster has either been injury ravaged or just plain weak, yet still finished over .500 and made the playoffs every season because they play solid defense.

Well if Pacers fans really are happy about this then congrats to them I guess. We'll see how it works out. I bet the next coach ends up with a worse win pct than McMillan.

and why did they Play Good defense? because of dan burke,who was also responsible for the historic defense season back under Frank Vogel.
who Was responsible for the horrible offensive "scheme"? nate mcmillan. have you watched a Single Pacers game? All they did was isolating with brogdon and oladipo, ending in Well defender pullups threes Most of the time.
i hope the New coach knows how to use the strengths of their players. maybe myles Turner finally will be more than the 7th Option on this Team getting neglected by any offensive Action All the time.

rand · Post #20 » by **rand** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:54 am

jk31 wrote:
rand wrote:
Bidofo wrote:Did the people calling this a bad move even watch the Pacers this year? His offense was archaic. 19th in the league and DEAD LAST in 3pt attempts. That's just unacceptable for a playoff team. This was a good fire and Pacers fans are actually pretty happy about it lol.

Their top-6 players missed 114 games in a reduced season and they still managed a .616 win pct. His entire tenure their roster has either been injury ravaged or just plain weak, yet still finished over .500 and made the playoffs every season because they play solid defense.

Well if Pacers fans really are happy about this then congrats to them I guess. We'll see how it works out. I bet the next coach ends up with a worse win pct than McMillan.

and why did they Play Good defense? because of dan burke,who was also responsible for the historic defense season back under Frank Vogel.
who Was responsible for the horrible offensive "scheme"? nate mcmillan. have you watched a Single Pacers game? All they did was isolating with brogdon and oladipo, ending in Well defender pullups threes Most of the time.
i hope the New coach knows how to use the strengths of their players. maybe myles Turner finally will be more than the 7th Option on this Team getting neglected by any offensive Action All the time.

Nah dude, I missed all I their games. The Pacers you say? Are they a new franchise?