Indiana Pacers Hiring Wrong Head Coach in Nate McMillian
By Kyle Nishida
The Indiana Pacers have apparently found their next head coach in team assistant coach Nate McMillan.
Oddly enough, this move comes just a few days after team President Larry Bird told multiple media outlets that he had not started his coaching search yet. Clearly, this was not a hard decision for Bird to make.
The Pacers and McMillan are still finalizing the details on his promotion. Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report that both sides were working on a deal Saturday evening.
The Indiana Pacers are finalizing a deal to promote assistant Nate McMillan to head coach, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 15, 2016
Before joining the Pacers as an assistant in 2013, McMillan had head coaching stints with the Seattle Supersonics from 2000 to 2005 and with the Portland Trail Blazers from 2005 to 2012. He has a 478-452 coaching record in the regular season and has a 14-20 record in the postseason.
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When the Indiana Pacers parted ways with head coach Frank Vogel over a week ago, Bird made it clear they were looking for an offensive coach.
"“I’d like to score more points than what we’re scoring… It’s all about scoring points. If your defense is better, you don’t have to score as many, but you’d like to score as many as you can.”"
McMillan’s hiring does not bring Bird any closer to achieving that goal. McMillan is known as defensive coach. In his 12 seasons as a head coach, none of his teams averaged more than 100 points per game. His successful teams excelled due to their work on the defensive side of the ball.
To make matter worse, McMillan has been an ineffective coach in the playoffs. In 12 seasons, he made five trips to the playoffs and only one trip past the first round. His Western Conference Semifinals appearance with the Sonics in 2005 is the highlight of his postseason success.
Honestly, an argument could be made that Vogel is a better head coach than McMillan. Vogel had more success with less talent than McMillan did with more talent.
With stars like Ray Allen, Brandon Roy, or LaMarcus Aldridge, McMillan only made the playoffs five times in 12 seasons. Meanwhile, Vogel made the playoffs five times in six seasons with less talent. This season, Vogel made the playoffs with Paul George as his only consistent offensive threat.
To be fair, McMillan might have learned from his past mistakes. He may have developed a new offensive system while being an assistant for the Pacers. Hopefully, McMillan has an offensive scheme that Bird thinks can score a lot of points. Otherwise, McMillan’s promotion makes no sense.
Next: Indiana Pacers: What Is Larry Bird Thinking?
The Indiana Pacers averaged 102.2 points per game during the regular season and 93.7 points per game in the playoffs. In addition to postseason success, Bird will use points to evaluate McMillan’s progress as the Pacers’ head coach. Unfortunately, history suggests McMillan will struggle to deliver desired results.