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Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat)

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Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#1 » by Jake0890 » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:32 pm

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Comes only a couple weeks after signing him to a contract extension.

Have at it.
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#2 » by Jake0890 » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:35 pm

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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#3 » by Jake0890 » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:36 pm

This simply would not have happened if we had not been embarrassed by the Heat on national television. Any semblance of a close series would've kept Nate as coach for next season.

Thank you Jimmy Butler.
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#4 » by Scoot McGroot » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:37 pm

Crazy!

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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#5 » by Scoot McGroot » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:37 pm

Jake0890 wrote:This simply would not have happened if we had not been embarrassed by the Heat on national television. Any semblance of a close series would've kept Nate as coach for next season.

Thank you Jimmy Butler.



Absolutely agree.
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#6 » by Jamaaliver » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:47 pm

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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#7 » by Scoot McGroot » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:57 pm

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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#8 » by Jake0890 » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:59 pm

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I'm not sure if this is what you're implying, but I don't buy into the sob story for McMillan over these injuries. We've had injuries all year but so has every other team in the league. It's unfortunate that we didn't have Sabonis in the playoffs but we were handling just fine in the seeding games without him. Jeremy Lamb is an average shooting guard at best so I have no sympathy for having to start Aaron/Justin Holiday in his place. And even with these guys out, the caliber of players remaining on our roster is respectable. He had plenty to work with.

McMillan isn't being fired because of the way he's handled injury rotations. He's being fired because he doesn't win big games. The Pacers have been swept only 4 times in franchise history. 3 of those times have come in the last 4 years under Nate. We had absolutely no business being swept by either the Celtics or the Heat in the past two years based on talent alone. FFS, we were the higher **** seed this year. But when it came time to actually play the games, we looked totally outmatched because they are coached by 2 of the best coaches in the NBA, Brad Stevens and Erik Spoelstra.

Nate is still running a team like he's coaching his '90s Supersonics. It's time to move on. This experiment clearly isn't working any longer and running it back another year hoping for the mythical injury-free season serves no one well.
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#9 » by Scoot McGroot » Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:03 pm

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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#10 » by Scoot McGroot » Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:06 pm

I’ll wait to see who we hire, but getting swept alone is not just why Nate got fired. HOW we got swept was even worse. Sure, Oladipo not at full strength, and Sabonis and Lamb out, but man! We went truly in any of the games and they were just painful. And it took to the 4th game for any adjustments to truly be made.

I’m guessing that Oritchard was pushing Nate to adjust throughout these 4 years, and Nate was probably slower than Pritchard would’ve liked for all his adjustments.

Or, conspiracy theory, maybe some of the players had some new input or “feelings”?
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#11 » by Pacers_Freak » Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:07 pm

Really shocked to see this. Small market team after an extension. Anywho... who do we like to bring in?
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#12 » by pacers33granger » Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:30 pm

Scoot McGroot wrote:I’ll wait to see who we hire, but getting swept alone is not just why Nate got fired. HOW we got swept was even worse. Sure, Oladipo not at full strength, and Sabonis and Lamb out, but man! We went truly in any of the games and they were just painful. And it took to the 4th game for any adjustments to truly be made.

I’m guessing that Oritchard was pushing Nate to adjust throughout these 4 years, and Nate was probably slower than Pritchard would’ve liked for all his adjustments.

Or, conspiracy theory, maybe some of the players had some new input or “feelings”?
Yeah he didn't make an adjustment until the final game and then let everyone dribble into contested threes.

And I think the injury excuse did him in honestly. We all understand we weren't at full strength at all but come on. It was the staffs fault that young guys weren't developed over the season and couldn't provide anything when their numbers were called. And it's the staffs fault that there wasn't any plays to get open threes for shooters without Domas.

I could go on but we all know the strengths and weaknesses. Nate did some good for us but it was time to move on.
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#13 » by Scoot McGroot » Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:36 pm

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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#14 » by Tom White » Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:09 pm

Scoot McGroot wrote:Or, conspiracy theory, maybe some of the players had some new input or “feelings”?


I'm likely reading too much into this, but Myles did speak at one point about being relieved to be playing at center again while Domas was out. He meant nothing negative towards Domas when he was speaking. It was all about playing the position he thought he should be playing instead of being a forward. He had a bit of frustration in his voice as he spoke.

Then we have Vic leaving early towards the end of one game. Unusual for him.

To be fair, these do not necessarily mean they had any problem with Nate. Could have been the whole swarth of circumstances surrounding this year, what with the on-and-off-again virus influenced nature of the season, the injuries and everything else.

I do hate to see this happen though. Nate always seemed to be a straight up, stand up sort of guy. Hope he lands on his feet.

But now we move on to the search for a successor to the coaches seat. At least we will have the suspense of that to look forward to.
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#15 » by Wizop » Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:29 pm

I'm not buying that the sweep did it. I think Kevin and Nate had a post season meeting and disagreed about what needed to change. Perhaps, Kevin wanted new assistants. I'd hope he wanted new schemes on both offense and defense and more playing of the youngsters. I knew Miami was one of the worst possible match ups, but guys like Robinson and Herro shouldn't beat you.
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#16 » by Scoot McGroot » Wed Aug 26, 2020 6:02 pm

Wizop wrote:I'm not buying that the sweep did it. I think Kevin and Nate had a post season meeting and disagreed about what needed to change. Perhaps, Kevin wanted new assistants. I'd hope he wanted new schemes on both offense and defense and more playing of the youngsters. I knew Miami was one of the worst possible match ups, but guys like Robinson and Herro shouldn't beat you.


My gut is that the sweep in and of itself didn't do it. How bad the sweep was (we weren't truly in any of the 4 games), followed up with probably just an insurmountable gap in vision of how to fix it in Pritchard and Nate's first meetings or conversations. My gut is that Nate thought that just health and incremental process would fix it and the players would "figure it out". Pritchard probably wanted some visible change, such as staff or a new offensive system, or something concrete. Just my instinct, factored in no document-able information anywhere.


In the other direction. I think Nate would be a great fit in Brooklyn or Philadelphia. Absolutely a great fit in Brooklyn where he could just let Kyrie, Durant, Dinwiddie, and even Levert just run the offense and let it flow.
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#17 » by boomershadow » Wed Aug 26, 2020 6:50 pm

I don't think there is any need conspiracies or reading between the lines. McMillan had a decent 4 years here. I was one of his biggest critics, and even I say there are a number of good things to say about his time here. He was always an utmost professional, saw the team through a tough trade of the best player we had seen play here in years, and kept the team competitive and on the playoff hunt despite a number of injuries that could have thrown the team off track. There are a number of complete clown coaches in this league, and Nate was absolutely head and shoulders better than any of those guys.

There are several HC jobs around the league that might suit Nate really well. Basically any team in the league would do well by adding him as an assistant. And I wouldn't even mind seeing him join the Pacers organization in some role.

I do think it is time and am glad to see that we will be searching for a new voice and leader on the court. I don't think we need to create drama between players and coaches and whatnot or read into stuff that isn't there. It is just time for a new direction.
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#18 » by Wizop » Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:24 pm

Scoot McGroot wrote:Pritchard probably wanted some visible change, such as staff or a new offensive system, or something concrete. Just my instinct, factored in no document-able information anywhere.


or a new defensive system. perhaps even a new defensive coordinator and Nate refused to fire assistants. (see, Jim Mora)
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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#19 » by Jamaaliver » Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:29 pm

These tweets seem to encapsulate both sides of the McMillan debate, right?

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Re: Pacers FIRE Nate McMillan (YES hot seat) 

Post#20 » by Moooose » Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:31 pm

Not really surprised, Pritchard has to do something about it. If the Pacers hadn't been swept, I agree, it could've been a different story.

I've always admired Nate, even in his playing days. I still think he's a good coach. How he's handled the injuries and inconsistencies of this roster could've been better, but I do think he did what he could. If Vic and Domas had been healthy, it would be a different situation for him, for all of us. I wish him the best.

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