By Jordan Long
The Indiana Pacers hired their new Head Coach, Nate Bjorkgren. He agreed to a multi-year contract with the team. The financial terms of the deal weren’t announced.
The Pacers’ head coaching job had been open since they fired Nate McMillan on August 26th, 2020. This was after giving McMillan a contract extension. McMillan coached the Pacers from 2016 to this year. His regular season record was an impressive 183-136, a winning percentage of .574. The Pacers made the postseason every year under him. Looking at that, McMillan deserved a chance to stay with the Pacers.
What cost him his job was the lack of playoff success. The Pacers lost in the 1st-round with him and were swept the last two seasons. The Pacers wanted a coach who could help this team make a deeper postseason run.
There were a few coaches they could have hired who had playoff success. These included Mike D’Antoni, Doc Rivers, and Alvin Gentry. Rivers wasn’t available since he went to Philadelphia. That left D’Antoni and Gentry. Both proved able to coach a team past the 1st-round. The Pacers decided the best man for the job is Bjorkgren.
According to ESPN, Bjorkgren said, “I am honored to take on the role as head coach of the Indiana Pacers. This is something I have prepared for during my career. I want to thank Kevin, Chad (Buchanan), Kelly (Krauskopf), Larry Bird, Donnie Walsh, and Herb and Steve Simon for this opportunity. I also want to thank Nick Nurse for giving me my first professional coaching job 14 years ago. I’m looking forward to working with this great team to achieve our goal as NBA Champions.”
Bjorkgren is a surprise hire. He doesn’t have NBA Head Coaching experience. Bjorkgren coached in the NBA G-League and won the title with Santa Cruz in 2013. He had been an assistant coach in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns which lasted from 2015 to 2018. The last two years he was with the Raptors under Nick Nurse. The Raptors won the NBA Championship in 2019.
The Pacers are hoping Bjorkgren can coach the team to a deep playoff run. They haven’t made it past the 1st-round since 2014 when they were beaten by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. The last time the Pacers advanced to the NBA Finals was in 2000 but they lost to the L.A. Lakers. Bjorkgren has his work cut out for him. The Pacers management has been patient with Head Coaches but if it is a few years of 1st-round playoff exits, the Pacers will go back to the drawing board.
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