Pacers Fire Nate McMillan

[Donoghus]

Per Shams

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
Pacers have fired coach Nate McMillan.

[ederson]

Pacers fired Nate McMillan... I didn't see that coming

Donoghus beat me to it... Please delete it or merge it

[Who]

Dumb decision. Nate has done great work there.

[Roy H.]

3-16 in the playoffs will do that.  Overall, though, he was solid there.

[Surferdad]

Maybe Philly picks him up and runs it back one more time....

[GreenShooter]

Nate is a very good coach. Hope Philly DOESN'T pick him up. No!

[Somebody]

Some Pacers fans actually dislike him and I see why: he really doesn't know how to run a quality offence (some of the stuff he ran in the series against the Heat was brutal to watch when there were alternatives that were clearly superior, eg. asking Brogdon to be the lead ballhandler in half court sets when Oladipo was on the court, playing an East-West offence with only two capable ballhandlers, etc).

[Phantom255x]

Hold up, didn't they extend him just a few weeks ago? Like a few days before Brad Stevens got his?

[Donoghus]

Hold up, didn't they extend him just a few weeks ago? Like a few days before Brad Stevens got his?

Yes.  August 12th.

[Phantom255x]

Hold up, didn't they extend him just a few weeks ago? Like a few days before Brad Stevens got his?

Yes.  August 12th.

Dang, guess Brad Stevens isn't really safe either right now 

[Ogaju]

Hold up, didn't they extend him just a few weeks ago? Like a few days before Brad Stevens got his?

Yes.  August 12th.

Dang, guess Brad Stevens isn't really safe either right now 

There goes Danny again. He probably knew the Pacers would be going for Brad, so he made his move. Go Danny.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Hold up, didn't they extend him just a few weeks ago? Like a few days before Brad Stevens got his?

Yes.  August 12th.

Wow. Seriously?

I don't think simply getting beat badly without your all-star forward is bad enough to get fired right after an extension. This kinda' smells of something that happened behind the scenes. McMillan has always seemed like an upstanding guy, so I doubt its a character thing. I wonder if there was a sharp disagreement in the season review meeting with the front office about the future direction of the roster.

For example, I wonder if the front office wanted to trade Sabonis this off-season and move forward with a more modern offensive scheme, especially with the pressure of Oladipo's upcoming free agency. McMillan developed Sabonis and he fits his scheme well. I wonder if McMillan pushed back against a trade like that.

That kind of breakdown about the future is the only possibility that really makes sense to me.

[hpantazo]

I thought after re-uping him and then going into the playoffs without Sabonis, they'd give him a chance next season to see what he can do with a fully healthy roster with Oladipo back. Odd move. As others suggest, maybe the players really wanted him out.

[tonydelk]

Hold up, didn't they extend him just a few weeks ago? Like a few days before Brad Stevens got his?

Yes.  August 12th.

Wow. Seriously?

I don't think simply getting beat badly without your all-star forward is bad enough to get fired right after an extension. This kinda' smells of something that happened behind the scenes. McMillan has always seemed like an upstanding guy, so I doubt its a character thing. I wonder if there was a sharp disagreement in the season review meeting with the front office about the future direction of the roster.

For example, I wonder if the front office wanted to trade Sabonis this off-season and move forward with a more modern offensive scheme, especially with the pressure of Oladipo's upcoming free agency. McMillan developed Sabonis and he fits his scheme well. I wonder if McMillan pushed back against a trade like that.

That kind of breakdown about the future is the only possibility that really makes sense to me.

Or maybe with Dipo and his upcoming FA and rumors he will not resign in Indy they want to rebuild and NM doesn't want to do that.  If they move Dipo then I can see Turner out as well.  Maybe Nate didn't want to go through a rebuild and said cancel the extension and let him go.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Hold up, didn't they extend him just a few weeks ago? Like a few days before Brad Stevens got his?

Yes.  August 12th.

Wow. Seriously?

I don't think simply getting beat badly without your all-star forward is bad enough to get fired right after an extension. This kinda' smells of something that happened behind the scenes. McMillan has always seemed like an upstanding guy, so I doubt its a character thing. I wonder if there was a sharp disagreement in the season review meeting with the front office about the future direction of the roster.

For example, I wonder if the front office wanted to trade Sabonis this off-season and move forward with a more modern offensive scheme, especially with the pressure of Oladipo's upcoming free agency. McMillan developed Sabonis and he fits his scheme well. I wonder if McMillan pushed back against a trade like that.

That kind of breakdown about the future is the only possibility that really makes sense to me.

Or maybe with Dipo and his upcoming FA and rumors he will not resign in Indy they want to rebuild and NM doesn't want to do that.  If they move Dipo then I can see Turner out as well.  Maybe Nate didn't want to go through a rebuild and said cancel the extension and let him go.

That could be. They have significantly developed Dipo and Sabonis, which increases their value from when they traded George. Maybe they want to sell high on Dipo?

One interesting possibility could be a swap of Dipo for Ben Simmons. Then if the Pacers could move Sabonis or Turner for a shooter on the wing to go with Brogdon. Pacers spread the court and have a pretty similar scheme to the Bucks (Giannis-Simmons, Lopez-Turner, Middleton-Warren, Bledsoe-Brogdon). Not sure that's a championship team but it's a lot more dangerous.