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BwareDWare94
Where were you when the world stopped turning?
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THIS has to top them all:
So apparently being the sole reason that the Pacers have even been in title contention talks these past three years is on his way out if this team underachieves once, just once, in his tenure.
You've got to be kidding me. Not only has Vogul shown tremendous ability to draft very very raw talents (Hibbert, George, Stephenson--all 3 are guys who may not have developed in others' hands), he's established a style of play within his team that is conducive to winning and if it weren't for the Big 3 coming together in Miami, it's very likely that the Pacers would have had at least 1, if not 2 Finals appearances in the last two seasons.
The trouble in Indiana right now is within the 15 man roster. Lance Stephenson's ego has gotten massive and he's apparently been getting under teammates' nerves for most of the season. It's clear that he's become a team cancer and maybe this trade for Evan Turner is indicative of the Pacers not wanting to lose too much when they let him go.
Hibbert is really struggling, and to me it looks like he might have just gotten a bit too big for his own good. Yes, he was a twig when he came out, but he made a pretty massive jump from last year to this year and it just doesn't look like he can literally carry his own weight. He's slower, has less ups, and is clearly not the same player, physically.
Paul George is shooting too much, especially in iso. Indiana's not an iso team. Just move the damn ball.
George Hill, one of the biggest team players in the league, is clearly out of his element due to Lance and George now demanding so much of the shot clock with possession of the ball and it's completely disrupting what made the Pacers somewhat decent offensively, in the first place.
To blame this all on Vogul, and threaten to take his job when he's the only reason this team has progressed the way they have over the last 4 years, is asinine. Larry Bird needs to remove his head from his ass, immediately.
Frank Vogel 'coaching for his job'
Updated: April 23, 2014, 12:04 PM ET
By Marc Stein | ESPN.com
Pacers In Trouble?
Michael Rapaport joins Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless to debate how much trouble Roy Hibbert and the Pacers are in.Tags: NBA, First Take, Michael Rapaport, Stephen A. Smith, Skip Bayless, Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks, Roy Hibbert, Lance Stephenson, Frank Vogel, Paul George
NEXT VIDEO
One playoff win has not eased the mounting pressure on Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel.
Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com that Vogel, despite a 56-win season that secured the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, is "coaching for his job" in the wake of a prolonged slide that has stretched into its third month.
Following Indiana's 101-85 triumph over Atlanta in Game 2 of the teams' first-round playoff series, sources told ESPN.com that coming back to win the series against the Hawks would not automatically ensure Vogel's safety. After a 40-11 start, the Pacers went just 16-15 the rest of the way before a humbling loss in the series opener to the eighth-seeded Hawks.
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Pat Lovell/USA TODAY SportsSources say Frank Vogel is on the hot seat in Indiana.
The decision on whether to retain Vogel at season's end ultimately rests with Pacers president Larry Bird, sources said, but frustration throughout the organization has been mounting thanks to a nosedive that began in February with a loss in Orlando just before the All-Star break and has shown few signs of abating.
Expectations were raised not only externally but internally after in-season moves Bird made to acquire Evan Turner from Philadelphia and addAndrew Bynum for bench depth on top of last summer's additions of Luis Scolaand C.J. Watson. All of Bird's moves, sources said, were made with the intent to get the team at least one step further and back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000, when Bird was the coach.
Team sources on Wednesday confirmed a Yahoo! Sports report that Turner and Lance Stephenson got into a practice-floor fight on the eve of Game 1 against Atlanta. But sources told ESPN.com it wasn't the first time in recent weeks that Stephenson has clashed with a teammate.
Sources said that Stephenson and guard George Hill had to be separated on the bench during a 26-point home loss to San Antonio on March 31. And when Roy Hibbert made his well-chronicled complaints to NBA.com in late March about "some selfish dudes in here," sources say he was essentially referring to Stephenson, who ranks as one of the league's most improved players this season as he approaches free agency in July and is well-known to be a Bird favorite.
Vogel and his staff coached the Eastern Conference All-Stars in February on the strength of Indiana's fantastic start, but questions about his job security began to bubble in coaching circles in March after Bird told The Indianapolis Star that he's been disappointed at times with the team's approach this season.
"A lot of times, we don't take the fight to [the opponent]," Bird told the newspaper. "A lot of times we sit back and wait and see how it goes. And that was the case even when we were winning a lot of games early in the season. We've got to be mentally prepared to really go after the teams we're playing against. We can't have the mindset it's just another game; it's a very important game. All of them are.
"I'm sort of going to Frank's side because he's had so much success by staying positive. We do have to stay the course. But I also think he's got to start going after guys when they're not doing what they're supposed to do. And stay on them, whether you've got to take them out of the game when they're not doing what they're supposed to do, or limit their minutes. I will say, he hasn't done that enough."
During the last week of the regular season, though, Bird told local ABC affiliate WRTV-6 that "I back Frank 100 percent."
Vogel received a two-year contract extension during the 2012-13 campaign that has him under contract through next season. Yet it should be noted that Vogel received the extension while Bird was away from the Pacers on a one-year sabbatical.
ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard reports that sources with knowledge of the Pacers' locker room dynamic have been insisting for months that Indiana would miss the presence of assistant coach Brian Shaw, who left the club last summer to become the Denver Nuggets' head man.
Broussard reports that, with Vogel known for being "completely positive" in his approach to dealing with players, Shaw often played the role of "bad cop" and helped keep the Pacers' potentially volatile locker room from imploding. Shaw's absence didn't appear to be an issue early this season, but some insiders believe it has been felt during the Pacers' splintering over the past few months.
So apparently being the sole reason that the Pacers have even been in title contention talks these past three years is on his way out if this team underachieves once, just once, in his tenure.
You've got to be kidding me. Not only has Vogul shown tremendous ability to draft very very raw talents (Hibbert, George, Stephenson--all 3 are guys who may not have developed in others' hands), he's established a style of play within his team that is conducive to winning and if it weren't for the Big 3 coming together in Miami, it's very likely that the Pacers would have had at least 1, if not 2 Finals appearances in the last two seasons.
The trouble in Indiana right now is within the 15 man roster. Lance Stephenson's ego has gotten massive and he's apparently been getting under teammates' nerves for most of the season. It's clear that he's become a team cancer and maybe this trade for Evan Turner is indicative of the Pacers not wanting to lose too much when they let him go.
Hibbert is really struggling, and to me it looks like he might have just gotten a bit too big for his own good. Yes, he was a twig when he came out, but he made a pretty massive jump from last year to this year and it just doesn't look like he can literally carry his own weight. He's slower, has less ups, and is clearly not the same player, physically.
Paul George is shooting too much, especially in iso. Indiana's not an iso team. Just move the damn ball.
George Hill, one of the biggest team players in the league, is clearly out of his element due to Lance and George now demanding so much of the shot clock with possession of the ball and it's completely disrupting what made the Pacers somewhat decent offensively, in the first place.
To blame this all on Vogul, and threaten to take his job when he's the only reason this team has progressed the way they have over the last 4 years, is asinine. Larry Bird needs to remove his head from his ass, immediately.
