Pacers secret: 'The New Nate' McMillan is a big reason for their surprising season

Nate McMillan does not crave the spotlight, which is good. Because it usually shines on somebody else.

The Indiana Pacers have reached the All-Star break as one of the NBA’s most surprising teams. Yet, when Pacers president Kevin Pritchard held his midseason news conference, McMillan’s name was not mentioned for 25 minutes. Nobody asked a question about McMillan. Scouts and equipment managers were mentioned, but not the Pacers’ head coach.

Before Pritchard left the room, he was pulled aside by a reporter, and asked why he thought McMillan’s name never came up.

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“I’m surprised,” said Pritchard. “Nate’s been brilliant. Our offensive and defensive strategies this year have been terrific. Without Nate, we don’t have this. We’re not talking about this. He’s overachieved, and more importantly, he’s put our players in a position where every single night they can succeed.

“Nate is such a low-key guy. We kind of have an organization where if you’re not over yourself, you’re going to get over yourself. You don’t see a lot of articles about us. Nate likes that. There have been times when Nate and I have worked together in the past where that might not have been the case, but right now, we want to do our jobs, do the best we can, and let the team enjoy their successes. It’s all about the players.”

It’s largely about the players. But it’s also about McMillan.

He changed the Pacers’ offense dramatically from last season, incorporating an up-tempo, quick ball movement attack that has given Victor Oladipo the freedom to become an All-Star. Five of the Pacers’ top nine players were not with the team last year. But at least four new Pacers are having their best all-round seasons – Oladipo, Sabonis, Darren Collison and Bojan Bogdanovic. McMillan clearly defined their roles early, which has helped the Pacers look like a team that has been together for years.

Here are some other facts that support Pritchard’s remarks about McMillan. The Pacers (33-25) have been solid in late-game situations, winning their last four games decided by five points or fewer. And the Pacers are better now than they were six weeks ago. On Jan. 3, they were 19-19. Since then, they are 14-6.

In October, you could not find anyone outside the Pacers organization who thought they would be eight games above .500 at the All-Star break. Doesn’t the Pacers head coach deserve a little more credit?

When that question was posed to McMillan, he paused. He seemed almost uncomfortable answering it.

“I don’t care,” said McMillan. “The players are working their butts off. My coaches work their butts off. We’re all working our butts off to create a culture with this new group.

“Being the man, having people talk about me? Sure, it’s nice when people talk good about you, but that doesn’t motivate me.”

So what does?

“Winning,” said McMillan. “Guys playing the game the right way. Putting a group of guys out there that your fan base respects. Seeing your hard work pay off.

“Those things for me, have always been the most important things. You respect this game. You respect the organization. We’ve become that group that plays the right way. It’s been good to work with these guys this year. We really haven’t had any issues. They work hard. They play hard.”

McMillan also drives them hard, but his methods have changed over the years. He earned the nickname “Sarge” because of his no-nonsense approach when he coached the Portland Trail Blazers (2005-12). While he has not exactly mellowed at age 53, McMillan has made concessions. The Pacers have held fewer game-day shoot-arounds this season to conserve energy for games. McMillan has also learned to pick his spots when showing anger, whether dealing with players or with referees.

“That’s the new Nate,” said McMillan, laughing. “I used to coach every possession, yell every possession. I’ve learned to allow these guys to play. Back in Portland, I was down on defense talking more than they were. I felt like I was in the game with them. Now I try to let them figure it out. With the young group we have now, you can’t bark at them all the time. They’ll tune you out. They want to figure it out, and you have to let them sometimes just figure it out. And for my health, it wasn’t good to take the approach I took before. I had to calm myself down.”

Sabonis knew nothing about McMillan’s personality or coaching style before he was traded to the Pacers. Through 58 games under McMillan, Sabonis is a believer.

“Coach is the main reason we’re playing like this,” said Sabonis. “He brings us that confidence. Ever since I got here, he’s been putting confidence in me and other players. He wants us to play loose, have fun, and defense is a priority. He’s always got our back.

“Everybody has their own way of coaching. He tells us exactly what we need to hear. He’s not going to sugarcoat or anything. He’s going to tell us straight to our face. That helps us a lot.”

In Portland, McMillan’s teams played a methodical, half-court game. But the Pacers opened this season by dropping 144 points on the Brooklyn Nets, setting the tone for a playing style that has been both successful and fun to watch. After the Pacers traded Paul George for Oladipo and Sabonis, McMillan decided that forcing the pace and created more open court opportunities for Oladipo gave the Pacers their best chance to win.

“Victor is the reason we play up tempo,” said McMillan. “He’s the guy who’s pushing it, making us capable of playing that style of basketball. When I arrived here (as an assistant coach in 2013), the Pacers were calling their style smash-mouth basketball, when David West and George Hill and Roy Hibbert, Danny Granger were here. They loved grinding it out, being physical, playing halfcourt. We’ve changed.

“Paul can play fast, but Paul is probably better in a halfcourt situation. We tried to play small last year at times, having C. J. Miles play power forward. But this year, we’re more suited to playing the way we’re playing. Everybody talks about playing fast, but you have to have the ingredients.”

That lesson was reinforced for McMillan when he was fired as Portland’s head coach during the 2011-12 season. The Trail Blazers were only three games under .500 (20-23) at the time, but McMillan admitted he did not feel the team was playing as well, or as unselfishly, as it should have been.

“The team wasn’t playing right,” said McMillan. “They weren’t together. I don’t want to be in a situation like that. They were going to rebuild the team, and they knew I didn’t want to be part of another rebuild. I got caught in a storm, and I just had to ride it out and see where it tossed me. It tossed me out of Portland.”

McMillan joined the Pacers as an assistant coach under his close friend Frank Vogel in 2013, and for three seasons, McMillan thoroughly enjoyed that role. However, after the 2015-16 season, the Pacers did not renew Vogel’s contract as head coach. McMillan was offered the job by Larry Bird, who was then the team’s president. Suddenly, McMillan was a head coach again.

“You’re going to say no to Larry Bird?,” said McMillan, explaining his thought process.

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After hiring McMillan, Bird said he had admired McMillan from afar for a long time. Current Pacers assistant coach Popeye Jones understood what Bird meant.

“I think he is very underrated,” said Jones of McMillan. “Not knowing Nate and starting to work with him and being in meetings, I started to understand how smart he was. I was amazed he didn’t have a head job. People may have forgotten about him after Portland. That’s how the league works. Out of sight, out of mind kind of deal.”

McMillan has another year left on his contract after this season, and he clearly enjoys coaching this current group of players. But when asked how long he would like to be a head coach, McMillan was non-committal. Not that McMillan is looking for leverage. He doesn’t operate that way. Not that McMillan’s passion is waning. It has never been stronger.

But the come-from-behind wins, gut-wrenching losses, long hours and restless nights all take their toll. McMillan puts so much into each day, each game, that he never seriously thinks about the next season until the current season ends. He has always been that way, and said he would take the same approach following this season.

“Every year, I’ll look at myself, and I’ll decide if I’m coming back or not,” said McMillan. “If I feel like I can’t do the job, then I’m not going to be there. Not that I got so much money. I’m not saying it like that. I just won’t do a job if I don’t think I can get it done, or if I’m not getting it done. Get somebody else in there, if that’s the case.

“I don’t assume anything. I don’t assume because I got another year on my contract, I’m going to be there that year. I have to work for it and earn it. Coming into this year, people were talking about what we weren’t going to be. I never approach any year like a honeymoon year for me. Like we can drop some games. Like you get a pass for this season. I don’t approach it that way. I’m going to give the best I’ve got.

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“I’ve got one more year left on my deal. There’s going to be sometime during the summer, when I’m going to talk to myself and say, ‘Do I want to do it again next year?’ When I make that decision, I want to be all in. I don’t want to be coming back for a payday. My plan is to come back next year, but when I make that decision, I have to know that I’ll be giving it everything I’ve got to improve this team. I like the direction this organization is going. I like this group of players. I think we’re building something here.”

The Pacers will return from the All-Star break focused on securing a playoff spot. McMillan has been to the playoffs six times as a head coach in Seattle, Portland and Indiana, but only once has his team advanced past the first round. Should the Pacers advance to the postseason, they will likely be first-round underdogs, and McMillan knows it will take another level of basketball for the Pacers to achieve playoff success – this season and beyond.

“You’re going to have to be able to play a possession game in the playoffs,” said McMillan. ”Once you get into the playoffs, everything slows down. That’s something we continue to work on.”

In the meantime, McMillan will keep coaching, tuning out what he calls the “outside noise.” He says he doesn’t spend time on social media. He’s not sure what his popularity level is among Pacers fans, compared to last season, when the Pacers did not play up to expectations.

However, know this about McMillan. He will do everything he can to help the Pacers keep winning. And he will not worry about who gets the credit.

Follow IndyStar sportswriter Clifton Brown on Twitter @CliftonGBrown

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