Kevin Pritchard on Pacers adding Paul George: 'We're different now'

Indiana Pacers General Manager Kevin Pritchard joined ESPN 1070 talk show host Dan Dakich on Tuesday.

The two discussed the upcoming offseason, falling to Cleveland in the playoffs and potential trades for ... Paul George? Here are some highlights from their interview:

Dakich asks Pritchard if he's excited for a chance at Executive of the Year

"No bologna," he said. "The thing about that award, is it's really about everyone else. If the coaches don't develop them ... you have no chance at that. It's literally less about that person and more about everyone else in the organization."

That's a hell of an answer.

"Well, it's true. Nate did a hell of a job with Victor and Bojan ... It's a nice answer, but it really is the truth."

Is there really a free agent or a trade guy that has made an impact not named Chris Paul?

"I would say Victor and Domantas had more of an impact on what we do than, maybe even Chris (Paul). ... I can't think of any human being that could change an organization, not only from his playing, but from what he's about, than Victor."

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"We feel like we hit the jackpot. No offense to Paul George, he's having success and he's going to go wherever he wants this offseason ...

"We were in the room and were looking around and Oklahoma City said, 'OK, we'll do this. We'll do Victor (Oladipo) and Domantas (Sabonis).' ... I thought, 'How can we turn this down?'"

Would you go after Paul George?

"I would want to know first that he would fit us. We're different now, Dan. One of the things we're about, we don't care about big names, we don't care about big personalities we don't care about big brands. What we care about is being humble ...

"Anybody that fits in, yeah we're interested ... I can't talk on specific players. But if they don't fit that, I'm not interested. It's that simple.

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"When we look at trades, free agency and the draft, we want those kind of guys. The guys willing to do the little stuff. Everybody is talented in this league ... we think our biggest talent was we played the right way."

I can't get your answer there, Kevin. Is that a yes or a no?

"I can't talk about a specific player. That would be a very, very big fine. I'm OK answering it, but you have to pay the fine." (Laughs)

Is there anybody who's on a no-trade list? Are you limited, or are you open?

"I think at the beginning of every time at this point of the year, you say to yourself, you know, 'What is a huge goal that could happen? What are our big plans, and can they happen?' We think big, but the challenge is, if we lose a lot of our pieces to go big ... are you better off with a couple major players, or are you better off with a really good group of players that don't make the $30 million. That make the $10 or $12 million.

"We overpaid, probably, in terms of what that player is getting (with Darren Collison and Bojan Bogdanovic). But we also have team options on them. So if it didn't work last year, we had a lot of flexibility. Darren was phenomenal. Bojan, he went out there and defended some of the top players. Nobody guards LeBron, let's be honest, but he made it tough on them.

"Yeah, we'll be aggressive. I'm not afraid to do that. ... You have to figure out what player is worth going all-in on. We sort of went all-in on Victor, because we had to give up Paul, but that worked out for us."

Would you ask Victor or Domantas (or whoever), would you talk to them before you go and sign a guy?

"Yeah, I mean look, Victor has earned the right, to me, to say, 'That guy is a fit with me.' ... He's earned that right, not because he's a great player, but he'll have a great thought on anybody we look at. I text Victor. Over the summer, we'll have a lot of calls ... to me, he has earned that right.

"You know this, the locker room knows a lot more than anybody in management and coaching. You can't give them too much control. ... He has input, but at the end of the day I make that decision. We make that decision as an organization.

"We did that at the trade deadline (talked to Victor). We looked at two or three deals. Two of them were just OK. But one of them, we really looked at. We went to Victor ... he said some things, and we (kind of decided to leave it on the table)."

Toronto's lack of success (against Cleveland in the second round) ... does it make you feel you're closer? Or is it just like, 'Hey, we've got to move on?'

"It's funny. I took Thursday and Friday off and we came back in this week. It was after Cleveland swept Toronto. I looked at my guys, and I said, 'We beat a team that swept another team.' Does it affect our decisions, moving forward?

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"I think it's only human nature that it does. ... We just took a punch from Cleveland, with LeBron playing at the highest level I've ever seen him play."

Pritchard also joined the Kent Sterling Show, where he was asked about the futures of Lance Stephenson and Thad Young in Indy.

“His leadership was really needed this year and he embraced it," Pritchard said of Young. "He didn’t talk a lot in the locker room, but when he did it was powerful.

“Thad was amazing,” Pritchard said. “We hope he comes back.”

Stephenson has a team option for next season, but Prichard didn’t say if they were going to pick that year up.

“Can’t commit either way right now. There is no doubt that he is important to us. He’s a Pacer.”

You can find IndyStar sports producer Dakota Crawford on Twitter: @DakotaCrawford_.