Pacers may regret parting ways with Frank Vogel

Frank Vogel was dismissed – OK, not offered a new contract – on Thursday, and across the NBA, coaches, players and executives are asking the same thing:

Why?

Didn’t win enough? Vogel won 58 percent of his games in Indiana, with two trips to the conference finals along the way. No, Indiana couldn’t get past Miami, but at that point (2013) the Heat were basketball’s Death Star. Miami was one of the best teams of this generation; the Pacers a collection of still developing 20-somethings learning how to win.

Didn’t develop players enough? Have you heard the story of a man named Roy? It’s winter 2011, and Roy Hibbert is a mess. Two-plus years under then-Pacers coach Jim O’Brien had yielded modest progress, but Hibbert had long chafed at O’Brien’s stern hand and struggled to adapt to his ever-changing role in Indiana’s half-court offense.

After O’Brien was fired in January 2011, Vogel was hired, and a resurgence began for Hibbert. Vogel planted Hibbert in the low post and hammered home the importance of defending vertically, breathing confidence into an introvert desperate for some. The result: two All-Star appearances, a max contract and a place, albeit brief, on any list of the NBA’s best big men.

George Hill went from super sub in San Antonio to a polished starter in Indiana; Paul George a raw, talented rookie turned into an MVP candidate; Lance Stephenson – Lance Stephenson! – had his best days in Indy, where Vogel molded him into a terrific two-way player.

Didn’t score enough? This was the complaint Pacers president Larry Bird voiced to the Indianapolis Star¬ on Monday, before, it should be noted, Bird had any conversations with Vogel about the coach’s future. “I want us to score more points,” Bird said, which is akin to an offensive lineman declaring he’d like to run a 4.4 40-yard dash. Indiana was a middle-of-the-pack scoring team this season (102.2 points per game), and even that should be considered an accomplishment. Shedding Hibbert and David West made the Pacers smaller, not faster, and Indy started to roll when teenage phenom Myles Turner was plugged into the starting lineup and power ball returned to the Midwest. As defensive coaches go, few are better than Vogel, who navigated an overhauled roster into a top-three defensive efficiency ranking for the third time in his five full seasons.

Bird wanted more, expected more. On Thursday at his news conference, Bird said he had higher expectations for this team than most, that 45 wins and a first-round exit were not enough. He pointed to the Pacers’ pedestrian offensive efficiency rating – 25th, two spots below last season – and said, “It’s all about scoring points.” He said he started thinking about making a change at the All-Star break, saying, “at times, players [didn’t] listen.” Vogel tried to talk Bird out of his decision, Bird said, but ultimately Bird decided it was time for a new voice.

Dimissing Vogel is Bird’s prerogative, but, hey, come on, do it with some class, huh? Letting Vogel twist in the wind for days was embarrassing, and it didn’t go unnoticed. “So [expletive] up,” a head coach told The Vertical. “Complete garbage,” said a high-ranking NBA executive. “You want to go in a different direction, do it with some dignity.”

Vogel won’t hit back, of course. It’s not his style. He’ll thank Indiana, thank Bird, and move on. He’s humble, almost to a fault. Indeed, if there’s one knock on Vogel it’s that he doesn’t know who he is. To Vogel, he’s still the video guy, the advance scout, the coaching journeyman headed to Louisville to join Rick Pitino’s staff before O’Brien tapped him to join him in Philadelphia in 2004. He doesn’t see himself as a proven commodity, even though many others in the NBA do.

Vogel will learn that, soon, because as coaching free agents go, he will rocket to the top of teams’ wish lists. He can afford to be choosy, too. That could mean saying no to New York, which is in the fledgling stages of rebuilding with a top executive in Phil Jackson who may not be long for the job. That could mean saying no to Sacramento, with its checkered past, combustible star and overly hands-on owner.

He will get paid, which is something that never would have happened in Indiana. Vogel made $2.5 million last season, peanuts by today’s coaching standards. The five-year, $35 million deal Scott Brooks signed with Washington last month is a fair benchmark for Vogel, and make no mistake: This year or next, he will get something in that neighborhood.

Bird will begin the search for a new coach now, and his words on Thursday may have shallowed the pool some. “My experience is good coaches leave after three years,” Bird said, but is that really true today? Gregg Popovich has been in San Antonio for 20 years; Erik Spoelstra in Miami for eight. Rick Carlisle just finished his eighth season in Dallas and inked an extension that will keep him there until 2022. Bird says Pacers owner Herb Simon will pay the going rate, but will credible candidates wonder just how long Bird wants them to be there?

It’s a seminal moment for Bird, for the Pacers, because recent history suggests these moves don’t always work out. The Bulls missed the playoffs after firing Tom Thibodeau, and the Thunder have not exactly taken off after canning Brooks. A new voice can be good, but only if it has more credibility than the old one.