Indiana Pacers
This whole season has been a complete disaster for the Indiana Pacers and it seems like nothing has gone right for them not only this year, but over the last few years! After losing in the first-round of the playoffs for five consecutive years, the Pacers moved on from Nate McMillan as their head coach and hired Nate Bjorkgren.
Now, McMillan is coaching the Atlanta Hawks, one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now, and Nate Bjorkgren is coaching a struggling Indiana Pacers team that has a lot of drama surrounding them.
Throughout the season, those covering the Pacers have been questioning Bjorkgren’s questionable coaching methods of some late-game substitutions and keeping some of his best players on the bench in big moments, but recently, there seems to be some major things going on within this organization behind closed doors.
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According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, a coaching change could potentially be coming in Indiana this offseason after just one season. Nate Bjorkgren’s future is up-in-the-air at this point due to some issues that have been reported between the coaching staff and the players.
Apparently, there have been issues between the players and coaching staff all season long with the Pacers and recently, we caught a glimpse of some of the drama happening within this organization.
The other night, the Pacers took on the Sacramento Kings at home and ultimately lost the game, but it was what happened in the third quarter of the game that has drawn national attention. Pacers’ center Goga Bitadze gave up a layup to Kings’ forward Maruice Harkless in the third quarter, much to the displeasure of assistant coach Greg Foster.
READ MORE: NBA Rumors: Mike D’Antoni likely to be next Pacers head coach if Nate Bjorkgren is fired
Bitadze and Foster exchanged some words during a timeout and Greg Foster had to be held back by Bitadze’s teammates and some other members of the Pacers’ coaching staff from confronting the center as he was visibly irate and furious.
This was not a good look for the Pacers whatsoever and as a result, Foster was suspended for a game and Bitadze was fined for the altercation. Now, some rumors are surfacing about T.J. Warren and the potential that he may want out of Indiana, so there is a lot going on within this organization that has been kept quiet over the last few months.
It would not come as a shock to see a new head coach take over next season in Indiana and this roster could look very different moving forward depending on who actually wants to stay and who actually wants to leave.