Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Larry Bird and Kevin Pritchard, two men going in opposite directions, met at the bottom of the stairs. Bird, the resigning president of the Indiana Pacers, was stepping down. Pritchard, the man replacing him, was about to walk up.

What was waiting at the top of those stairs? The podium was waiting. The microphone. The TV cameras. The questions.

The responsibility.

“Good luck,” Bird told him quietly, saying it in almost a sing-song tone – Good lu-uuck – and giving Pritchard a big smile. And then Bird was gone, disappearing out a back door, leaving the stage to his replacement.

“Wow,” Pritchard said as he sat on the only chair at the podium, the chair just relinquished by Bird. “The seat already feels hot.”

Well, yes.

The Indiana Pacers are at a crossroads, and if this thing ends badly, Pritchard will be the one covered in tread marks – his franchise, his job, his career demolished by the departure of All-Star Paul George.

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That’s one realistic scenario. What happens next with Paul George is anyone’s guess, but you don’t have to see the glass as half-empty to envision George shattering the Pacers by leaving. He could go this offseason in a trade, allowing the Pacers to recoup some of the value they’d be trading away. He could go at the trade deadline for even less value. Or he could go as a free agent after the 2017-18 season, leaving the Pacers with nothing but an empty glass.

George also could sign a five-year extension, committing himself to the Pacers through 2023. That, too, is a realistic option.

Ultimately the choice will be all Paul George, and it could have very little to do with the Pacers. He could decide to leave simply because he wants to be home in Los Angeles, either with the up-and-coming Lakers or the possibly retooling Clippers. It’s possible the Pacers’ success over the next 12 months, in the draft and free agency and then on the court in 2017-18, would have no impact on his decision. If he wants to go home, he wants to go home. Nothing the Pacers can do.

It’s also possible he wants to return to the Pacers, wants to sign a contract here for one year and $70 million more than he can sign anywhere else (if he makes one of the three All-NBA teams this season or next, triggering the super-max extension possibility).

Which brings us back to the man behind the microphone, the new man up there. Kevin Pritchard fields his first question as tPacers president. It’s about Paul George.

“I did exit interviews last week,” Pritchard said. “Paul and I talked, I don’t know, 45 minutes to an hour. We talked about a lot of things, and in every scenario he wanted to be here. He kept coming back to one statement that hits me hard, and we all know: He wants to win.”

Pritchard continued:

“The message was: He wants to win.”

Now he’s looking around the room. What he’s about to say, it’s important.

“The Pacers (also) want to win,” Pritchard said. “We’re on the same page.”

But the book is convoluted, a choose-your-own-adventure with so many options. For example:

Pritchard acknowledged "it's up to me to put a team around him." That would include a draft pick, yes, but also would include retaining point guard Jeff Teague and convincing a difference-making free agent (or two) to choose the Pacers this offseason.

But …

Teague is a free agent who will command borderline max-contract offers on the open market. Would he choose his hometown Pacers over everyone else if Paul George’s future remains a question mark? Would any free agent with multiple good options pick the Pacers without assurances that George will be here beyond next season?

While Pritchard could say nothing of substance about the futures of George or Teague, there was much to learn Monday about the Pacers and their new personnel boss.

One, owner Herb Simon has given Pritchard a bigger budget than he ever gave Bird, who joked: “After looking at next year’s budget, I almost want to stay.”

Two, Bird and Pritchard agreed Monday that the Pacers will become more active on the trade market with Pritchard in charge.

Three, when Pritchard was asked about second-year center Myles Turner – “a stretch-five,” Pritchard called him – he segued immediately into a dissertation on the Pacers needing overall to be more physical, tougher, better on the boards.

And finally: Pritchard’s favorite player as a kid was Billy Keller, the former Mr. Basketball from Washington who starred at Purdue. Keller was playing for the ABA Pacers when Pritchard – then growing up in Noblesville – sneaked down to floor level to meet him. When Pritchard shot on the hoop at his house, he pretended to be Keller.

Doyel: Larry Bird leaves the Paul George problem to someone else

Play time ended long ago. What faces Pritchard now is a grown-up job, complicated and slippery, and the guy who used to be in charge has just left the building. Now it’s Pritchard sitting in that chair for the first time since he ran the Trail Blazers from 2007-10.

“I’ve been in this role before,” Pritchard said, alone at the podium. “Sometimes it’s OK being the No. 2 guy.”

He was joking, but underneath the beads of perspiration on his forehead, Kevin Pritchard didn’t crack a smile.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atfacebook.com/gregg.doyel.