Nate McMillan to coach Pacers

Sources: Nate McMillan signs three-year deal to coach Pacers

Nate McMillan signed a three-year contract to become head coach of the Indiana Pacers, league sources told The Vertical.

There are no options in the deal, sources said.

Indiana introduced McMillan at a news conference on Monday in Indianapolis.

For the past three years, McMillan had been the top assistant to Frank Vogel. This will be McMillan’s third head-coaching job in the NBA, after stops with Portland and Seattle.

Not that Nate McMillan is a bad choice - just arguably not a fantastic one either - but it's kind of funny that they promoted from within, given how Larry Bird was talking about the need for a fresh voice upon letting Frank Vogel go. As an assistant, McMillan likely hasn't worn out his welcome the same way Vogel (supposedly) did as the head coach, but he has been around for three years, and was Vogel's top lieutenant. I guess it remains to be seen how fresh his leadership will be on the sidelines.

He was a good coach for Portland and he has a good defensive record buy he's not know for pushing the ball and playing with pace in his offences which is what I thought the Pacers wanted to do more of.