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Chris Szagola/Associated Press

It's a whole lot easier to list the teams that should be clamoring to hire recently ousted Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel than it is to come up with superior replacements for his vacated position.

And that says a lot about Vogel's chops.

Team president Larry Bird declined to renew Vogel's contract anyway, per a team release: "I want to thank Frank for his time in Indiana," said Bird. "We know he'll be successful down the road and end up getting a job, but for us, I just feel it's time to move in a different direction."

Pushing the second-seeded Toronto Raptors to a seventh game and coaching 61 postseason contests (31 wins) in six years weren't enough. Fielding a consistently terrific defense wasn't enough. Gamely embracing the transition from the lumbering past to the uptempo future (and then, when pace and space didn't work, switching back on the fly) wasn't enough.

Bird determined the Pacers needed a change. Given Vogel's success and credentials, nobody—not even Bird—can be certain that change will constitute an improvement.

We'll make our best guesses at which candidates could help the Pacers get better.