Nate Taylor

IndyStar

For 28 minutes Monday, Larry Bird’s endorsement of newly-promoted Indiana Pacers coach Nate McMillan was bold, loud and clear. McMillan shared his thoughts and excitement for his third chance to lead an NBA team. What appeared to be one of McMillan’s top priorities next season is to get the Pacers to play at maximum effort while also holding them accountable.

Bird, after a brief coaching search that lasted just over a week, said he believed McMillan was the best candidate to accomplish such goals after not renewing Frank Vogel’s contract.

McMillan and Bird said plenty during their news conference at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Here are the top eight quotes from McMillan and Bird on Monday with analysis on the impact they might have on the franchise moving forward:

No. 1

McMillan: “There is a lot of old school in me. I won’t lose all of that. I do understand that you do have to adapt to this generation of players, they call them the millennials, as far as how you communicate with them, prepare them. That’s something that we started talking about when I was with USA Basketball, Coach K and his staff.”

Analysis: It will be interesting to see how McMillan handles his players after developing relationships with them as the top assistant under former coach Frank Vogel. McMillan, much like all NBA coaches, will have to walk the tightrope of being a disciplinarian and a positive motivator. If McMillan can alter his offensive strategy and keep his players listening to him, the Pacers could find success next season.

No. 2

Bird: “I respect people’s opinion, but I don’t have to agree with them. I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t get up in the morning and get on the internet and read what’s going on around the world. There’s a lot of people that ... every time their name is mentioned it pops up and they read about themselves, whether it’s good or bad. My job here is to do the best that I possibly can to put the best team and win as many games I possibly can with the Pacers. That’s what I’ll do until I won’t be doing it anymore. I believe in Nate and I’ve admired him from afar for a long time. I like the job he did in Portland. I like his demeanor. I like the old school and I like the players to be held accountable. I like structure. I like a lot of things that Nate brings to the table. Not saying that Frank didn’t have them, but I’ve always admired Nate from afar and that’s one of the reasons why it didn’t take me long to make my decision about him.”

Analysis: Larry Bird does not care what people think. Hate this decision or love it, Bird has put his faith in McMillan.

No. 3

Bird: “(Kevin Pritchard) just told me about Nate and I wanted to confirm some of the things that I thought. We had many discussions about him, but when it comes down to the final say, obviously I have the final say in what we’re going to do. But it’s good to have someone you can bounce ideas off and to get someone else’s input, especially with Nate, really the ins and outs since he spent a lot of time with Nate. He told me the pros and some of the cons and the positives outweighed the negatives by a wide margin.”

Analysis: Since it was reported Saturday that Bird was finalizing a three-year contract with McMillan, many felt general manager Kevin Pritchard had to have an impact on this hiring. Turns out that assumption was correct. Pritchard was McMillan’s general manager with the Trail Blazers and the two continue to believe in one another. Pritchard helped boost McMillan’s chances to coach the Pacers last week by speaking highly of him.

No. 4

McMillan: “We’re going to respect the game and we’re going to respect our opponents. We’re going to respect that name on the front of the jersey. All of that is really important. What I mean by respect the game, is that you mentally and physically prepare yourself to go out and play hard every single night. Every single night. Once you come back and you start the season, you’re totally committed to doing things you need to do to perform on that court out there. The fan base, I totally understand that the Colts are a great football team. They are my adopted football team, but I know Hoosiers love basketball, and I know how important that is to this community. I remember coming here and playing in Market Square and how that crowd was when Reggie (Miller) and those guys were there. One thing that I took notice of, I think it was (Game 3) here, we had half the arena, it was Toronto. I was like, ‘No, that's not suppose to happen.’ I want this fan base to get Bankers Life Fieldhouse rocking and rolling. I want this team to be a team that the state is proud of. I know we will have an impact on how people get up and go to work in the morning, whether they feel good or bad. That weight on our shoulders, I want us to understand that, so that every night we come out, we are giving our all. We’re trying to take this team to the next level and I’ve experienced that the last three years and that is my goal moving forward.”

Analysis: There you have it, Pacers fans. That is what you can expect from McMillan’s Pacers when the season begins next season. He also took a small shot at the fans for letting the Raptors fans invade the Fieldhouse for the first-round playoff series this season. If McMillan wins, he should not have that problem.

No. 5

McMillan: “I’m looking at Myles (Turner) and I see a very similar team to the team I had in Portland. Myles is very similar, and I’ve said it to Larry and Kevin, to LaMarcus Aldridge. They both came from the same university. That kid’s work habit is amazing and he puts in his time. I think he will one day be an All Star in this league and I just get so excited with his growth. I thought he and Paul during the playoffs went to another level. That kid can continue to improve. I feel as those his best position is a five, but he showed his ability to work and try to play the four. You have that ability if you want to go big, similar to what San Antonio was doing with LaMarcus and Tim (Duncan). You can do that and he worked hard to play that four position, but I think his strength will be at the five position. Defensively, he made some strides to improve throughout the year and offensively I think it’d be a nightmare for a five to defend his ability to move out the perimeter to shoot the ball.”

Analysis: McMillan loves Turner in the same way Bird does. Now the question becomes can McMillan turn Turner into the next Aldridge?

No. 6

Bird: “This job is more than just the offense or defense. It’s a little bit of everything. Nate touched on it a while ago about communicating with his players. I think communication is one of the most important things. Every player wants to know where they stand at all times, why they're not playing or why they get taken out of games at certain times. I think Nate’s ability to handle all of that, he’s proved it in Portland and he’s proved it in Seattle that he can do that. There’s more that goes into it than just throwing the ball up in the air. It’s preparation, it’s playing hard, it’s playing together. You’re not always going to play well, but you can always give the effort. I think Nate will get that out of them.”

Analysis: This appears to be exactly what Bird told McMillan once he agreed to hire him. Let’s see if McMillan can execute such orders better than Vogel did under Bird.

Reaction: Pacers hire Nate McMillan

No. 7

McMillan: “We will look at what we do in free agency and our draft pick. It’s hard to say what you’re going to do right now because we do have some key free agents that we have to make some decisions on. That’s going to dictate as far as how we play next season."

Analysis: This appears to be semantics. The Pacers will likely be an up-tempo spread team on offense unless something drastic happens in free agency. McMillan, of course, has never had an NBA team that played fast and was one of the top leaders in pace.

No. 8

Bird: “We’ve talked about this for a number of years. What we have here is we have a budget and we stay within our budget and if we have an opportunity to get a point guard, we’ll probably look at it. Running around and saying you should get this guy or get that guy, it’s a little harder than you think it is. Obviously, I would like to have a real point guard. I felt comfortable when Ty Lawson was here making plays and getting up and down the court. But this summer is going to be full of surprises, I think, because of the new cap and players moving around. I think there will be a lot of trades and I think guys will be moving teams. It’s all new for all of us in this business, but to sit here and tell you I’m going to get a point guard, I really don’t know yet. There’s some out there that I really like. But Monta (Ellis) and George Hill and Joe Young – I think Joe is going to improve this summer and help us out – but we have some needs and we have some players we really like and we hopefully we’ll go out there and get them.”

Analysis: Breaking news: Larry Bird wants a true point guard. Let’s see if he gets a quality one in free agency.

Call Star reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

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