He said the decision to not renew Vogel’s contract was a very hard one. That’s why I hope the Kings can bring Vogel in soon and at least get a chance to convince him otherwise. Bird said Vogel even asked Thursday morning if the news conference could be postponed so the two could talk. He was sacked midway through this season, but he’s an intriguing candidate for the pace-and-space style Bird wants to use after having that initial success with it in Phoenix. Instead, he allowed Vogel to finish out his contract and, in reality, didn’t linger with the decision after the Pacers were eliminated on Sunday night.
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Of course, Stein also is hearing that former Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw could get a look for the job, too.
Recently J.B. Bickerstaff, who was the interim head coach taking over after Kevin McHale was sacked earlier in the regular season, withdrew his name to be considered for the head coaching job in Houston. “That’s not fair. I respect him too much”.
Former Knicks head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Pitino told the New York Post in an interview that Vogel is the ideal coach for the Knicks. He later was promoted to assistant coach.
Though there will be ample salary cap space to work with, the Pacers aren’t alone; in fact they rank 18th in the league in maximum available space and among the teams ahead of them on that list are Toronto, Miami, Boston, Charlotte, Detroit and Atlanta.
“What we do, me and Frank sit down every summer and strategize how we want to play”, Bird revealed.
Whoever it is, the new coach will face daunting expectations. The Bulls team is not built for offense. The man really deserves better. “If you have a new coach and a new strategy, people listen”.
Will Jackson call ex-Pacers coach Vogel for Knicks’ job?
You can just imagine owner Vivek Ranadive and general manager Vlade Divac sitting down after letting George Karl go and saying, “We need to be thorough this time around”. Fired Isiah Thomas before he ever coached a game under Bird.
Prerequisite No. 1 should probably be “the ability to develop a strong relationship with DeMarcus Cousins”, but even Cousins’ future in Sacramento is unclear. They both missed the playoffs altogether this season.
“That’s why it’s fairly easy for me to feel grateful”, Spoelstra said.
So now begins the search for the Pacer’s next head coach for the 2016-17 season. Vogel felt strongly that the best way for this Pacers roster to compete was to continue to play big and defend the rim. We’ve been though 15-win seasons together, put together teams, rebuilt teams. “So what am I, the second-longest-tenured?”
This is a blasphemous question in a place where the state bird is Larry, but here it goes anyway: At some point, might we conclude the problem isn’t the coaches, but Bird himself? Kind of seeing things from a players’ perspective as well as a coach’s perspective.
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Of the eight teams now playing in the playoffs, five of them are led by head coaches that were hired less than four years ago.
