Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

It’s not on the next coach to fix the Indiana Pacers. It’s on Larry Bird, who made the mistakes that need fixing.

Listen – Larry Bird is not infallible. OK? He’s my forever shooter, one of the best players I ever saw, a story I’ve written here. Indiana All-Star from French Lick. National player of the year at Indiana State. First person in NBA history to win MVP (1984, ’85 and ‘86), Coach of the Year (’98) and Executive of the Year (2012).

But he’s not perfect.

Exhibit A: Revamping the 2015-16 roster to play smaller, a move predicated on Paul George accepting a move to power forward – a move George rejected after the revamping was complete. Oops?

Exhibit B: The Pacers’ point guard.

Show me that guy. No, don’t show me the smallish guards on roster, guys who look like point guards. Show me the guys – show me the guy – who plays like a point guard.

You can’t. The Pacers didn’t have one. Not most of the season, anyway. Not until Bird signed Ty Lawson in March, and while he battled injuries and was a disaster against Toronto in the playoffs – Cory Joseph just scored on him again – Lawson was instructive. He was a living, breathing, playmaking monument to the glaring hole on the Pacers’ roster.

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It’s on Bird to fill that hole this offseason, to give the Pacers’ next coach a better chance than he gave Frank Vogel.

And here’s how he can do it.

Get Mike Conley.

This has nothing to do with Conley being a son of Indianapolis. He’s from Lawrence North, but he could be from the North Pole and still be the best player Larry Bird can acquire this offseason.

There are better players available, of course. Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant. LeBron James, if James opts out of his contract at Cleveland. Perhaps Andre Drummond of Detroit. But Durant and James aren’t coming to Indianapolis – who knows what Drummond, a restricted free agent, would do? – and besides, Conley would fill a need Bird hasn’t addressed in years.

Actually, Conley would fill a need Bird has never addressed, at least not in this, his second go-around as the Pacers’ head of personnel.

The Pacers’ last good point guard was Jamaal Tinsley, who hasn’t played here since 2008. Their last really good point guard was Mark Jackson, who posted five of the franchise’s top 10 assist seasons. Jackson has been gone since 2000, though he could be back in a few weeks; Jackson, the point guard on all three of Bird’s teams as Pacers coach, is surely on Bird’s coaching radar now.

The Pacers have had point guards since Tinsley. Just not very good ones. Darren Collison, T.J. Ford and Earl Watson were point guards in various shades of meh. On the current roster, George Hill and Monta Ellis are probably above average players and definitely point guard-sized, but they’re shooting guards. So is Rodney Stuckey.

The Pacers reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and ’14 not because they had a great point guard, but because they had a great defense. They didn’t have a good point guard, or even a bad one. They didn’t have one. Those Pacers teams had three players – Paul George, Lance Stephenson and George Hill – who covered for the lack of a pure point, and it worked because the Pacers’ defense, leadership and coach were that good.

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The defense has taken a step back. So has the leadership. The coach is gone, and who replaces him is a mystery – though Bird dropped two hints Thursday.

One, asked if he would limit his search to candidates with previous head-coaching experience, he said no – and then volunteered that he wouldn’t limit himself to former NBA players, either. Makes you wonder if up-tempo specialists David Blatt and Mike D’Antoni are on his list.

Two, asked how many candidates he’d like to consider, Bird said he didn’t have a specific number in mind before mentioning one name: Pacers assistant Nate McMillan, the former coach in Seattle and Portland.

“Not one time have I asked him: Do you ever want to be a coach again?” Bird said. “I thought Nate handled himself as well as anyone I’ve ever seen (transition from) head coach (to) assistant.”

Are Blatt, D’Antoni and McMillan priority candidates for Bird? How about Mark Jackson? Don’t know. But this much is clear:

His priority free agent target has to be Mike Conley, coming off a 15.3-point, 6.1-assist season at Memphis that is in line with his career averages. Two other top-level talents are Rajon Rondo and Deron Williams, but both come with coach-killing baggage. Not the ideal way for the Pacers’ next coach, whoever it is, to start.

Other targets for Bird to consider in free agency could be shooting guard Eric Gordon of North Central (15.2 ppg this past season, but injury prone) and should be stretch-four forwards Marvin Williams (11.7 ppg and 6.4 rpg; 40.2 percent on 3-pointers) and Ryan Anderson (17.0 ppg and 6.0 rpg; 36.6 percent on 3-pointers). Pair one of them with center Myles Turner in the up-tempo offense Bird seeks.

Pacers links: Fans should be 'furious' with move

The Pacers are not historically a prime landing spot for free agents, but Bird likes his odds this offseason.

“We know through the grapevine there’s some players that would like to come here and play,” he said Thursday. “There’s talk out there, and you hear. We’ll see what happens. A lot of time it’s fluff.”

Time for Bird to winnow the wheat from the fluff – and to get Paul George a point guard.

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