Nate Bjorkgren Was Fired.
After one season as the Indiana Pacers’ head coach, Nate Bjorkgren was fired on Wednesday. In 2020-21, Bjorkgren, 45, led the team to a 34-38 record. Indiana was eliminated from the playoffs after a thrashing at the hands of the Washington Wizards in the play-in tournament.
“The 2020-21 season was not what any of us expected, and our on-ice results certainly did not meet the expectations of our fans and organisation.” Kevin Pitchard, the Pacers’ president of basketball operations, said in a statement. “We’ve decided that now is the time to take a different path, and I’d like to thank Nate for his efforts as our team’s leader on behalf of the Simon family and the entire Pacers organisation.”
“While we don’t have a set timeline for our search, we will work quickly to find candidates who will strengthen our team and organisation.”
The Coach And His Strained Relationships.
Throughout the season, reports surfaced that Bjorkgren has strained relationships with his players and other members of the organisation. Things came to a head last month when assistant coach Greg Foster and centre Goga Bitadze got into a heated argument in the middle of a game. Which resulted in a suspension for the former and a fine for the latter.
Under him, the Pacers finished tenth, despite the fact that he was meant to be the polar antithesis of McMillan. However, Bjorkgren irritated too many people in the organisation, particularly his players, by employing defensive strategies that were too aggressive for their personnel.
The Pacers never won more than three games in a row and were defeated in season series by East rivals such as the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, and Chicago Bulls.
Bjorkgren replaced Nate McMillan as the Pacers’ head coach, who was fired in August after four seasons with the team. Bjorkgren previously was an assistant coach with the Phoenix suns(2015-17) and Toronto Raptors (2018-20)
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