Pacers president Bird unsure of Vogel's future
Indiana coach Frank Vogel’s future with the team is uncertain after the Pacers’ playoff exit Sunday.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Pacers president Larry Bird told The Indianapolis Star on Monday.
Bird said his priority is more offense, particularly in the playoffs.
“We need to score more points,” he told the Star. “If Frank comes back, what can we do to get better offense? It’s on all of us.
“Frank’s a great guy. He’s going to be fine no matter what happens. If he’s back, he’ll be fine here. If he’s not, he’s not. We’ll see.”
Bird gave no timeline for a decision on Vogel’s fate and said he needs to first speak with Pacers owner Herb Simon.
“What I don’t want to do is leave Frank hanging. There’s other jobs out there he could get,” Bird told the Star.
Bird cited the Pacers’ 89-84 Game 7 loss to the Toronto Raptors as he discussed Indiana’s need for more offense.
“I thought we were going to win that game last night,” he told the newspaper. “If you’d told me we’d score 84 points. … You can’t go very far in the playoffs if you don’t score. When I tell people this, it’s not because I think I know it all — it’s because I experienced it as a player.”
The Pacers averaged 102.2 points per game in the regular season, which was 17th in the NBA. They averaged 93.7 per game in the postseason, which put them 12th out of 16 teams.
Vogel took over as Pacers coach in 2011 and has posted a 250-181 record with a 31-30 postseason mark. He previously was an assistant with the Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics.
