5 potential replacements for Nate Bjorkgren as Pacers head coach

Everybody knows what comes with a Mike D’Antoni-led team, good and bad

When it comes to looking for a seasoned head coach, Mike D’Antoni would have the most experience of anybody realistically up for the job. He has been the head coach of five different NBA teams before (Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets). While his Suns and Rockets stints were successful, the other three were total disasters.

D’Antoni parted ways with Houston after last season. He serves as Steve Nash’s top assistant in his first foray as a head coach leading the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets are the presumptive favorite to win the 2021 NBA Finals with all their offensive firepower. Not only is he working alongside Nash, but his former Rockets star James Harden has Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to play off of as well.

If D’Antoni were to leave a great situation where it looks like he is having a lot of fun in Brooklyn for the Pacers, Indiana would be back in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Domantas Sabonis would take the next step up in his game, as well as any cast of characters in the Pacers backcourt. However, D’Antoni is 70-years-old and his teams play no defense at all. There is also a ceiling.

Indiana may be okay with D’Antoni’s definite ceiling as a head coach, which is getting to a conference finals with an incredibly offensive-minded team that takes a lot of jumpshots. However, hiring D’Antoni at this point feels like a short-term solution to an ongoing problem in Indianapolis. If the Pacers are feeling Houston, okay, but be prepared for it to be Lakers or Knicks.