The hiring of Kevin Pritchard, who received a one-year contract and the title “director of player personnel,” seemingly puts a very definite countdown on the days remaining for Larry Bird in Indiana’s front office. Would a guy with a resume like Pritch really join the front office of a team just to be third in command?
Well, according to the executives already on staff, he has.
Bird, who played alongside both Pritchard and soon-to-be associate head coach Brian Shaw (until he was traded) on the 1991-92 Celtics, has stated adamantly that Pritch is not being brought in to replace Larry as the Pacers top exec.
Reports Mike Wells in the Indianapolis Star:
Bird and Morway recently spent several days having candid discussions with Pritchard about the direction the team is headed and how he could be a positive addition for them.
Bird said Friday that they are not bringing Pritchard in as his future replacement.
“That’s not the case at all,” Bird said. “I’ve known Kevin for a number of years and we’re in the position to improve, and his knowledge will help us.”
Bird makes his stance pretty clear here. But just because the stated, public plan is not to give Pritch a one-year apprenticeship under Larry before giving him the keys to the franchise, it doesn’t mean that won’t be the eventual outcome.
Kevin’s reputation has been sullied somewhat around the league given his fallout with Paul Allen in Portland. Some have called him arrogant, self-congratulatory and “green at managing people.” So perhaps he is just viewing this as a good opportunity to get back on an NBA team’s payroll and re-prove that he can still do what he does best, evaluate talent, better than most. He goes back very far with Bird, so Indiana, his home state, gives him a great chance to do just that.
We see former NBA head coaches take assistant roles all the time as they wait for new jobs to open. Dwane Casey and, quite likely, Lawrence Frank have both done exactly that of late. It’s not out of the question that Pritch is doing the same thing.
But it does seem hard to believe that Pritchard would stick around Indy for any longer than one year in anything but a lead decision-making position.
Either way, this would seem to put David Morway in an odd position.
There are now three chefs in the kitchen and all three will likely have some divergent views on how the franchise should spend the salary cap room Bird and owner Herb Simon have spent years patiently waiting for. How much weight will Pritchard’s “advice” have on the final decisions?
I’m not going to speculate what Morway is thinking right now about the direction of the team and his future in it, but here he is speaking on the hire. (via Pacers.com)
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Here Comes the Season. And Roster Moves
by Jared Wade on December 1, 2011 at 10:42 am · 5 comments
The NBA is back. And the Pacers are about to shake up their roster somehow.
Whether that means signing the likes of Marc Gasol, Nene, David West, Jamal Crawford or using the luxury of cap space to make a trade, it is certain that something interesting involving the Pacers WILL GO DOWN in the next few weeks. In fact, the Pacers are so far below the salary cap that they figure to be involved in almost every rumor we hear about (see: Rondo, Rajon) regardless of the likelihood of any deal materializing. Due to the fact that the new CBA is expected to retain the same silly salary-matching restrictions for trades involving any team over the cap, Indiana is in the enviable position to help facilitate any major deal as a third party.
There are many course of action the team could take. Word from Mike Wells of the Indy Star, and others, is that the team is interested in Nene but doesn’t want to overpay (which some team almost certainly will) but squeamish on David West given the fact that he is 31 and recently removed from ACL surgery and the Pacers won’t be real Eastern Conference Finals contenders for at least another few years. (Although some people think the West injury risk trope is overblown.) Additionally, Wells has reported that the “Pacers are more likely to make trades then spend a lot of money on free agents,” because they don’t want to overspend.
Of course, there are also question marks regarding the guys already on the roster. Who starts at point: incumbent Darren Collison or NBA champion George Hill? Can Tyler Hansbrough be a starting power forward in this league if team head honcho Larry Bird doesn’t acquire a more-proven big man? Will the Pacers use their “amnesty” (a clause in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that will allow each team to dump one player’s salary from being included on their cap) on Dahntay Jones?
Lastly, what will the schedule look like? We know that teams will have between one and three back-to-back-to-back playing nights — among other logistically complicated/grueling scenarios — on their itinerary this season. Will the Pacers be favored or worse off compared to their peers?
As we enter this stretch of the unknown, there are many more questions than certainties. But the only question that truly matters — will Indiana play basketball this year? — does have a definitive answer: yes. So until something bad happens, just be happy the team is back.
Additionally, Bird and GM David Morway are holding a press conference in a bout 20 minutes. So perhaps they will have a few more answers for us.
Related Topics: David Morway, David West, Larry Bird, Nene
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