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Frank Vogel: 'Inaccurate' to say he begged Larry Bird for his job

I JUST WANTED CLOSURE! (Getty Images)
I JUST WANTED CLOSURE! (Getty Images)

Larry Bird’s role in the Scott Skiles-for-Frank Vogel switch out in Orlando just got a little less weirder. And, thankfully, a little more tactful.

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The Magic hired Vogel last week in a move that was confirmed with his press conference on Monday. He replaced Skiles, who shockingly quit as Magic coach earlier in the month with several years remaining on his contract.

That move wasn’t nearly as shocking as Indiana’s decision not to offer Vogel a new contract (read: fire him on a technicality) after the Pacers’ impressive but ultimately losing effort in its first round series against Toronto.

In the press announcing the team’s decision, Pacer coach Larry Bird offered this bit of unsolicited background information:

“We talked for probably a half hour on the phone. He was trying to talk me out of this decision.”

And the subsequent tweets …

Now here is Vogel’s three-week old reaction, while appearing on ESPN Indianapolis’ Dan Dakich Show on Tuesday, via the Indianapolis Star:

"I was OK with that. Larry's going to speak his mind. A lot of people talked to me about it who didn't like that and it's probably an inaccurate perception that I was begging him to stay. ... I fully respect Larry and the process. He knew it was going to be an unpopular move but he did what he had to do.

"I felt like we were on the verge of some big things. We stood toe-to-toe with a 56-win team. I told my team after the series that were poised ... I felt like I was going to be able to do that with this group. That was my only mention to Larry."

So, no begging. No fireworks and no soap operas. Those things aren’t even legal in Indiana on Tuesdays.

Frank Vogel had to know that Larry Bird was not his biggest fan, as 2015-16 moved along. Vogel was hired by former Pacer coach Jim O’Brien to act as an assistant coach when Bird was just one member of a rather strong committee running the Pacers, and Bird (by then the unquestioned leader of the Indiana front office) had no choice but to keep Vogel on as head coach following his sterling turn as interim head coach following O’Brien’s firing in 2010-11.

Bird wanted the Pacers to play small and fast in 2015-16 with the returning Paul George working at power forward. Vogel led the Pacers back to the playoffs and that seven-game showing against the 56-win Toronto Raptors this season, but the increase in pace (from 19th in the NBA to 11th) and a return to All-Star form from the previously injured George (who moved back to small forward after a month) did nothing to improve the team’s offense: Indiana dipped from 23rd to 25th this season on that end.

This difference of opinion, mixed with the expiration of Vogel’s head coaching deal, gave Bird the excuse he needed to find his own guy – which turned out to be respected former Seattle and Portland head coach Nate McMillan, who worked on Vogel’s bench this season and last.

As much as he knew that he might not be long for Indiana, Vogel also knew that he was going to be coveted by several NBA teams as their next head coach following his impressive run with Indiana – a run that included significant playoff runs in every season but this and last year with George out with injury.

That knowledge would seem to lend credibility to the idea that Vogel wouldn’t be begging for his job at a time when jobs in New York, Sacramento, Houston, and Memphis were still available (Skiles wouldn’t quit the Magic until a week after Bird’s press conference in Indianapolis).

This leads to what wasn’t reported much at the time (and this is not a shot at the reporters quoted above, not in the slightest, this doesn't fit in a tweet). The context of Bird’s full quote about his last conversation with Vogel:

“He was trying to talk me out of this decision. Frank loves it here, his family loves it and he kept bringing it up about can we sit down and delay the news conference and start all over again. He’s going to be missed. He’s a good guy, he’s good for our community.”

Yes, Frank Vogel knew would act as a candidate for a series of intriguing jobs, including possibly a shot at the Knicks for the New Jersey native. He kind of dug it in Indiana, though, and wanted a chance to turn the corner on the mini-rebuild that his team worked through in the wake of its collapse during the latter stages of 2013-14, and Paul George’s career and franchise-altering injury that followed.

Larry Bird moves on. (Getty Images)
Larry Bird moves on. (Getty Images)

In another part of Vogel’s recent radio tour, this time on Mike and Mike in the Morning, Vogel brought up again how Bird just felt that it was time for a change. Via Tom Lewis at Indy Cornrows:

"He (Bird) did say at a certain point in time, changing the voice of a head coach is good for an organization, and he felt like this was the right time for the Pacers. It's natural, not anything really indicting of me or the job I did but that he has always felt like that type of change can be good for a franchise."

Bird is notorious for his belief that coaches should only hang around for three years, and that a team tunes a head coach out following that sort of term: Bird himself quit after three seasons as Pacer coach in 2000 as soon as his team finished up its run to the NBA Finals.

Larry let go of O’Brien after three and a half years and the famed Rick Carlisle after four – probably a spell too late, in Bird’s estimation. Vogel lasted for nearly half a season as interim head coach and five full seasons as head coach with the Pacers, and the expiration of his contract clearly wrapped things up in a tidy bow for Bird. New coach Nate McMillan, you’ll notice, signed a three-year deal with Indiana.

Vogel should flourish with the Orlando Magic in defensive ways that the outmoded Scott Skiles could not. The Pacers (though McMillan curiously ran a super-slow-yet-super-effective offense in Portland and especially Seattle) should be just fine, and most of this will be forgotten by the time 2016-17 hits.

We hope. Please let it be forgotten. I beg all of you.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!