David Morway Offers His Take On Pacers' Offseason, His Future

by Tom Lewis on May 2, 2011 10:33 PM EDT in Indiana Pacers News

Lost last night in the Osama Bin Laden news was an appearance by Indiana Pacers general manager, David Morway on WTHR's Sports Jam. Fortunately his appearance is available on YouTube (seriously, subscribe to Magic Rat's YouTube channel).

Suddenly, it seems like it is every man for himself at the Fieldhouse. While news broke yesterday about the Pacers looking outside of the organization for possible leaders, leaving Morway's tenure with the Pacers in tenuous shape even if Larry Bird returns, Morway made sure his voice was heard on the situation.

During his two segments on the show, Morway made his case for not just remaining as GM but also being ready to assume Bird's role as president of basketball operation if Bird did not return. At one point he appeared to give the indication that Bird's return was doubtful, although he was answering questions about his status so that context should be taken into consideration.

Morway also painted a positive picture for the state of the Pacers moving forward which included a familiar description of Lance Stephenson's potential and a Stanko Barac mention. Stanko mentions are rare from the Pacers but Morway described him as the best center outside the NBA in the world.

Mowary didn't seem as relaxed and smooth as he usually does in these interview situation. Instead he seemed a bit on edge, as if he was ready to fight for his job. Although, I guess that fight has already started.

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Yikes

This is getting really interesting. I’ll bet Morway’s agitation had a lot to do with Indiana’s phone call to Lindsey. I’m starting to feel as though Herb Simon’s countless media assurances that he was in sync with Larry Bird’s every thought, deed and action were a bit hollow. That, or Larry’s public call-out of Herb’s potential spending habits (or lack thereof) has Herb brooding and searching far and wide for a replacement.

With all the financial flexibility coming, I don’t necessarily know if there’s a downside either way (staying status quo, or making wholesale front-office changes), but from a fan’s perspective it would be tragic to see all this drama and potential change stunted by a lockout.

by Glenn A. on May 2, 2011 10:59 PM EDT reply actions

How did he call out Herb Simon? I don’t get it.

by hoosier3060 on May 4, 2011 9:10 PM EDT up reply actions

I get a little worried when I think about new managment with the Pacers

This team is just starting to come together and I’d hate to see someone come in and make any major changes.Let’s say they hire a guy who wants to trade Paul George and Tyler Hansbrough for Al Jefferson and a first rounder.It’s just a scrary thought if Larry doesn’t return.

by gut19 on May 2, 2011 11:08 PM EDT reply actions

The prospect of Pritchard terrifies me

I don’t think anyone can argue that he did well overall in Portland (HOW well you could), but I could easily see him coming and wanting to “put his stamp” on the team and revamp the whole damn thing. People also forget he had zillionaire Paul Allen opening his pocketbook letting him by picks whenever he wanted that made a lot of what he did possible. Can’t see Herb dropping 3 million bucks on a whim.

For all the hype he gets, Portland was supposed to be winning titles by now. You can blame it on knees, but Roy and Oden both had plenty of red flags leading up to the draft he chose to overlook.

KEEP COACH FRANK

by IndyPacers on May 3, 2011 7:32 PM EDT up reply actions

if some new gm trades paul george away,

i will be all kinds of pissed. i almost don’t care who we get in return.

Harper's on Miller, McKey, gets in to Miller for the win and...

Hail to the Orange.
Hail to the Blue.
Hail Alma Mater,
Ever so true.
We love no other,
So let our motto be
Victory, Illinois, Varsity.

Chief Illiniwek lives

by wonillionaire on May 4, 2011 3:54 AM EDT up reply actions

No one's untouchable

NO ONE. We’re not coming off a Conference Finals or something.

Just all depends in what’s coming back obviously. I’m half drunk and not going through the trade machine to make these work, but say it’s PG + salary (Posey/Dahntay/whoever/non-core is what I mean) for Josh Smith, Iguodala, my wet dream of Horford, that’s a shoot the GM in the head move?

PG’s got assloads of potential, and has shown glimpses. At the very bare minimum I think he’s got a long NBA career as a niche defensive role player if he NEVER improves. But again, no one’s untouchable for the right offer, and that doesn’t mean some pie in the sky Lebron/Kobe/Howard type stuff either.

KEEP COACH FRANK

by IndyPacers on May 4, 2011 4:17 AM EDT up reply actions

what keeps us moving forwards?

We have a lot of good quality components but yet we have to aim to get better.
If anyone is going out the door i’d be ok with it being Morway. Nothing personal i just haven’t seen him being the difference maker. Bringing in Kevin Pritchard would be ideal as far as i can see it.

by bibb on May 2, 2011 11:49 PM EDT reply actions

I love what Bird said about Lance.

It’s not a secret I like this guy. I agree with Larry about the leadership thing, I honestly could understand why Lance wouldn’t particularly respect some of the other players given the efforts they showed a great deal of the year. I agree with the maturity issues, Lance needs to make better decisions to avoid trouble. I felt Larry’s question regarding be able to spend money was reasonable. Is Stanko really the best center oustide the NBA? Can we get him to come here this summer? Can Lance stay out of trouble? These are questions I ask myself.

Thug Life. It's a Pacers thing, you wouldn't get it.

by infinityzero.systemerror on May 3, 2011 1:39 AM EDT reply actions

Stanko's not close to being the best C outside the NBA

Don’t get me wrong, he seems solid, capable of playing minutes, just think it’s Morway hyping him as an asset more than anything, don’t even think they plan on bringing him over really. If he were an NBA FA I don’t think we’d be clamoring to sign him or anything. I’m fine with bringing him over and see what he can do, just have really low expectations. I mean, can’t be worse than Solo right?

I just get the same feeling I did when Bird was talking about getting one of the best shooters in the game and we end up with Kareem Rush and Diener.

KEEP COACH FRANK

by IndyPacers on May 3, 2011 2:00 AM EDT up reply actions

ugh diener...

shutters

by dbcb on May 3, 2011 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions

Hey I actually liked Diener, seriously

Offensively anyway. He was a great game manager and shooter. He just couldn’t defend anyone or do anything of his own with the ball. I still remember him having something like a 3/1 A/TO in his time here. But yeah, after all the talk about getting a shooter, winding up with Diener was a tad disappointing to say the least. I don’t know where he is now but I bet he really could have a successful Euroleague career if he wanted.

KEEP COACH FRANK

by IndyPacers on May 3, 2011 7:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Gotta wonder who's running the show over there.

Who, if anyone, authorized Morris’ call to Lindsey? How much pull does Morris have with basketball operations? What are Bird’s intentions and is Simon aware of them? Does Simon plan to play it close to the vest, financially? Where does all this jockying for position leave Morway? Vogel? The roster? The whole situation seems completely screwed up.

When Mel Simon called the shots and Donnie Walsh ran the circus, this kind of crap would have never happened.

It almost seems as if Herb Simon is casting about for the least expensive way to go forward. I really hope, after such an exciting season, management doesn’t retreat into a money saving bunker mentality.

by Manfred James on May 3, 2011 9:17 AM EDT reply actions

Herb needs to get his *hit together and make some decisions.

by Drakul on May 3, 2011 9:40 AM EDT reply actions

Anyone else really happy the Bulls lost?

Their fans behavior at game 4 really made me want to see them lose. I feel bad for anyone who tried taking their family to that game. Anytime I went to the bathroom or concession stand I thought a fight was going to break out.

by donnyfher on May 3, 2011 12:53 PM EDT reply actions

yes. couldn't be happier.

chicago has some of the most obnoxious fans in all of american sports.

Harper's on Miller, McKey, gets in to Miller for the win and...

Hail to the Orange.
Hail to the Blue.
Hail Alma Mater,
Ever so true.
We love no other,
So let our motto be
Victory, Illinois, Varsity.

Chief Illiniwek lives

by wonillionaire on May 3, 2011 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Yep. Chicago, Boston, Philly, and New York (particularly Jets)

by TrueBlue87 on May 3, 2011 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Not to mention them trolling these boards to call Foster dirty and then using the exact same excuses we used to defend Foster to defend Noah after game 5. Sorry to double post.

by donnyfher on May 3, 2011 12:54 PM EDT reply actions

I think somewhere in the chain of command

Morway rubs someone the wrong way. It’d also help if I had any clue what Morway actually does, I always sort of thought it was him handling the contract side of things and Larry working phones and having final say. No idea how accurate that is.

I don’t think checking anyone else out says anything about Simon wanting Bird back. Bird wants to come back, Simon says OK, that’s my opinion. Bases are just being covered in case he doesn’t.

I also just can’t get this cynical thought out of the back of my mind that all these contracts being up at the same time aren’t coincidental and Mr. Simon prefers Larry back for a year and Vogel back for a short cheap deal, and not to blow his wad in FA this season to make this an extremely attractive franchise for someone to buy. If Bird comes back on a handshake agreement and Vogel on something like a 2 year deal I think that’s exactly what’s happening.

KEEP COACH FRANK

by IndyPacers on May 3, 2011 7:38 PM EDT reply actions