Vogel's dismissal a product of Bird's stubborn competitive drive
During Thursday's news conference where Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird announced head coach Frank Vogel wouldn't be retained, Bird offered a somewhat telling moment.
"We didn't really meet," the NBA playing-legend-turned-executive said when asked about recent conversations with Vogel.
"We talked this morning probably for half an hour on the phone. He was trying to talk me out of this decision ... he kept bringing it up about, 'can we sit out and delay the news conference and start all over again?'" Bird said, trailing off.
"He's going to be missed."
Bird admitted he'd been considering a coaching change since the All-Star break. At the time, the Pacers sat at 28-25, in the wheelhouse of virtually all preseason predictions. The squad that reached two straight Eastern Conference Finals in 2013 and 2014 had effectively been turned over, key players like David West, Roy Hibbert, Luis Scola, and Lance Stephenson all gone. Paul George's broken leg rendered 2014-15 a lost season, but his return, along with additions like Monta Ellis, set the Pacers up to basically be what they, at best, were - a lower-tier Eastern Conference playoff team led by George.
As such, not even stretching the No. 2 seed Toronto Raptors to seven games in the first round was enough to save Vogel's job.
The decision was Bird's, and Bird's alone, and really comes as little surprise from one of the most ferocious competitors in NBA history. Not totally unlike Michael Jordan's foray into team management, there's only one Pacers drummer whose beat is marched to.
Not renewing Vogel's contract given the Pacers' circumstances was promptly ridiculed in many circles, and it's not hard to see why. The 42-year-old compiled a 250-181 record in 5 1/2 seasons as head coach. The Pacers ranked in the league's top three in points allowed per 100 possessions in three of those seasons, with players like George Hill blossoming defensively under his tutelage.
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Yet, it's a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, and Bird wants more up-tempo offense. The Pacers ranked 23rd in offensive rating this season. Yet beyond George's impressive return from a catastrophic injury, Ellis has never been known as an efficient scorer. Signed by Bird to a four-year, $44-million contract last summer, his 13.8 points per game this season coming with sub-43 percent shooting and no real threat from deep.
Is Bird overestimating his talent?
"I expect to be in the playoffs and make it through a few rounds," Bird said Thursday. "Because the first round is always nice, but you don't really start getting into the playoffs and knowing what the playoffs are about until you get to the Eastern Conference Finals and Finals."
Perhaps the team president knows something nobody else does. While Vogel was thought to be well-regarded among players past and present, Bird alluded to the risk of complacency, that players can tune out coaches after hearing the same voice for a few years. Even with the talent on the roster, perhaps rejuvenating the Pacers' stagnant offense may have been too high a hill to climb for the defensive specialist coach.
"Frank was here 5 1/2 years, and that's a long time for me for a head coach," he said.
The fact Vogel posted the second-best winning percentage in Pacers' history (after Bird's tenure from 1997-2000) during that time means very little. Bird never hesitated to do anything it took to win as a player, including playing with a back injury so severe that doctors publicly marveled at his ability to do it.
In terms of who will replace Vogel, Bird said it will not be his former Boston Celtics teammate Kevin McHale.
"There's a lot of people that want this job and I know why," Bird said. "We're Hoosiers and we treat people good."
Vogel may have a case for disagreement.