Not too many people know who Frank Vogel is. The only things we do know is that he has been alongside Jim O’Brien since the mid-90s when they were both assistant coaching under Rick Pitino, he watches a lot of game tape and … that’s about all we do know about the new Pacers interim coach who will lead an NBA team into battle for the first time ever tonight.
The below video doesn’t tell us a whole lot more, but we will certainly be learning plenty in the following days as Vogel won’t have an easy first week on the job. The team plays four games between tonight and Sunday. (Toronto tonight, @Cleveland on Wednesday, Portland on Friday and @New Jersey on Sunday.)
And here’s the new coach’s official introduction to the media. (via Indy Star)
Pacers Crate is back and, on Episode #2, Bruno, Mark and Chris chat about the big win over the Knicks, reminisce about more successful times in preparation Conseco Fieldhouse’s upcoming 10th Anniversary and give some insights into the team’s upcoming games against the Wizards (tonight) and the Warriors (next Wednesday).
I’m a fan of the show so far and hope they keep it up all throughout the year.
I’m not sure if this is a one-time joke or if this thing will be called “Pacers Crate” all season, but Conrad Brunner (writer at Pacers.com), Chris Denari (TV play-by-play guy) and Mark Boyle (radio “voice of the Pacers”) recently got together to do a 7-minute video chat on their thoughts about the season.
I’ll let them explain their joke:
We’d call this a roundtable, but we didn’t have one.
So when Chris Denari of Pacers TV, Mark Boyle of Pacers Radio and Conrad Brunner of Pacers.com sit down each week to talk hoops — and anything else that pops into their heads — they’ll do it around a crate.
Hence, the name of our newest video feature, which features the views across the team’s full media spectrum. Enjoy.
The most interesting thing I found was Mark’s characterization of the Eastern conference “tiers.” He sees Tier 1 as Boston, Orlando and Cleveland, Tier 2 as Atlanta and Washington, and Tier 3 as everyone else. I basically agree with him on that, although I would probably say there is also a Tier 2.5 in there for Chicago, Philly and Miami. His list leaves three playoff spots available to the rest of the conference while mine leaves zero. Considering how bad the team has looked in its first to games, even mentioning the word “playoffs” at this point seems laughable, but it does help to remember that Milwaukee, New York, New Jersey and such are pretty bad, too.
