Coach Reggie?

Great players rarely make great coaches.

Tom Thibodeau. That’s who the Pacers should try and hire. The team needs D.

Reggie’s gone on record saying he’s not going to coach. He’s instead given his endorsement to one of his best friends and former Pacer Mark Jackson. Which I feel is the direction we should go.

If he did come back to the coach in the NBA (which I find very, very unlikely), he would probably pull a Larry Bird and want to coach somewhere other than where he made his legacy as a player. Maybe the Clippers or something in California closer to home. I don’t see him ever officially “working” with the Pacers on a professional level ever again.

Consider Avery Johnson! He knows the game and is a Lou Holtz-esque motivator (minush the speesh impediment). His Dallas team was had a balanced offense and defense. When he rolled with the Admiral in San Antonio, he prided himself on his quickness and hustle.

Though I believe the Pacers are in need of defensive improvement, they would be better off bringing in a coach who preaches balance instead of heavy on one end or the other.

This is a common problem. People look for headlines. If a big name comes to the Pacers to run the team, then it gets headlines and potentially sells more tickets. It’s happened a lot both in basketball and outside of basketball. It’s what happens when you listen to the dreaded good-idea fairy.
A few names come to mind: Magic Johnson, Charlie Weis, John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Isiah Thomas, Kelvin Sampson, Larry Bird (I feel Larry inherited a good team, but he could have been a good coach. Who knows). These coaches are hired on the notion that bringing in big names with history will get a kick start for ticket sales or restore hope to a team stuck in the doldrums. In most cases, it’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
A Laker fan hearing about Magic Johnson coming to coach sounds great. Magic had no clue what the hell he was doing. That ended in disaster. A Notre Dame fan goes apeshit when he/she reads that a former alum with three Super Bowl rings is going to coach the team. Charlie Weis never knew how to run a college program and he never learned. That ended in disaster. A Pacer fan hears that the franchise is going to hire a former NBA player (with Indiana ties no less) when another player-turned-coach with Indiana ties is leaving. Sounds like a good idea. Isiah Thomas is infamous for being a cancer to any basketball organization he doesn’t play for. He brought one of the most powerful franchises in basketball to it’s knees and the Knicks are STILL recovering. The CBA went tits-up under his rule. Thanks to Larry Bird, he only mildly screwed up the Pacers (Not too shabby Zeke).
I’m not saying Reggie would be a bad coach. He could be a great coach. But in this day and age, it’s tough to find a coach who can tame a bunch of pre-madonna-whiny-ass bitches who suit up in a uniform (MAKE PLAYERS GET A COLLEGE DEGREE!). Too many players are undisciplined, and too many players can ruin a great coaches career.
Just remember this: we fans are at a disadvantage because we do NOT know exactly what is going on behind the scenes. But I’m afraid IF we knew, we would be outside Reggie Miller fieldhouse picketing right now. But one thing is for sure, the systems broken and it needs fixing. How we do that? … I’ll get back with you.