INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers will trade guard Brandon Rush to the Golden State Warriors for forward Louis Amundson.

The Bay Area News Group first reported the deal. Mark Bartelstein, the agent for both players, confirmed the move on Sunday.

“This is a great fit for both guys,” Bartelstein said.

Rush averaged 8.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in three seasons for the Pacers.

The Pacers considered him a part of the core group of young players, but the team eventually added enough talent at his position to make him expendable. Bartelstein said Pacers president Larry Bird and general manager David Morway worked to find an ideal setting for Rush once Paul George emerged as a starter and the team added guard George Hill in a draft-night trade.

“The Pacers have been talking about this for quite a while,” Bartelstein said. “I really appreciate Larry and David for trying to find a good home for Brandon. They’re loaded at the position. Brandon is a really talented guy who needs to play.”

Rush showed great potential at times, but also found trouble. He was suspended for the first five games last season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

Amundson has averaged 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in five seasons, primarily with Philadelphia, Phoenix and Golden State. He shoots 52 percent from the field for his career.

“The Pacers probably needed another big,” Bartelstein said. “Louis is a high-energy guy that gets you extra possessions. He’s a great athlete, a really good NBA player.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Darren Collison understands better than anyone what adding David West could mean for the Indiana Pacers. Two years ago, Collison was West’s point guard in New Orleans while Chris Paul recovered from an injury. With West as his top scoring option, Collison averaged 18.8 points and 9.1 assists in 37 starts as a rookie. West averaged 19 points and 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists that season, one of the best of his career. The combination was so good that it launched Collison’s career and helped him land as the starting point guard for the Pacers the next year. Now that they are reunited, Collison expects the Pacers to improve immediately. “We struggled in late-game situations last year,” Collison said. “I don’t think they’re going to be much of a problem this year, adding him on the team.” Collison also is excited about the draft-night addition of guard George Hill. “He can shoot the ball and he can bring the ball up while I run the court too,” Collison said. With those options added to Indiana’s young core of Danny Granger, Paul George, Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert, Collison is looking forward to the season. “It’s great,” he said. “As a point guard, you want to have as many options as you can, and you never want to be limited in the options you have on the team. I think with this team, we’re very versatile.” Collison said West will help the Pacers as a scorer, distributor and leader. “He can be a closer for us, but he can also make sure that we’re in the right positions at all times,” Collison said. “His ability to pass out of the post and be a good passer, period, is definitely a key that can help us as well.” West, back after having ACL surgery on his left knee late last season, practiced with the Pacers on Tuesday. “We threw him in there last night on the fly,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “I taught him our entire offense in about seven minutes, which is the beauty of having a simple offensive playbook.” West said he doesn’t expect to play in Friday’s preseason opener against Chicago, but he expects to be ready for the start of the season. Vogel said West’s knee looked fine in practice, but he needs to get into game shape. “He’s going to take a little time,” Vogel said. “His knee is very strong, but because he was a free agent, he hasn’t been doing a lot of full court playing, so it’s going to take a little time to get him up to speed with his conditioning level, up to speed with all the nuances of our offensive and defensive package. Once he’s really ready to go, he’s going to really help us.” Vogel said West’s approach to the game should help the entire team. “He plays the style of play that we are trying to implement. He fits in with our identity of physicality, playing through the post, crashing the glass, attacking the basket.” Hill can play the point guard and shooting guard spots. He doesn’t mind if Hill takes some minutes at the point, along with A.J. Price. “You’ve got to think, it’s a 66-game season,” he said. “If a guy gets hurt, you’ve got another guy coming off the bench that’s very talented. It’s actually good problems to have.” Collison worked on becoming more versatile himself in the offseason. The ultra-quick Collison primarily is known as a slasher and distributor. “I definitely tried to work on my 3-point shot, tried to extend my range out more so teams will have to not only respect my drive, but you have to respect my shot too.” Collison said the team has the right approach, even with all the new pieces and the expectations that come with them. “I think you’re going to see a young and scrappy team,” he said. “I think we understand that nothing has come easy. Just because we made it to the playoffs last year doesn’t mean we’re going to make it to the playoffs this year. We’re going to fight for every game that comes our way.”

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Darren Collison understands better than anyone what adding David West could mean for the Indiana Pacers.

Two years ago, Collison was West’s point guard in New Orleans while Chris Paul recovered from an injury. With West as his top scoring option, Collison averaged 18.8 points and 9.1 assists in 37 starts as a rookie. West averaged 19 points and 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists that season, one of the best of his career.

The combination was so good that it launched Collison’s career and helped him land as the starting point guard for the Pacers the next year. Now that they are reunited, Collison expects the Pacers to improve immediately.

“We struggled in late-game situations last year,” Collison said. “I don’t think they’re going to be much of a problem this year, adding him on the team.”

Collison also is excited about the draft-night addition of guard George Hill.

“He can shoot the ball and he can bring the ball up while I run the court too,” Collison said.

With those options added to Indiana’s young core of Danny Granger, Paul George, Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert, Collison is looking forward to the season.

“It’s great,” he said. “As a point guard, you want to have as many options as you can, and you never want to be limited in the options you have on the team. I think with this team, we’re very
versatile.”

Collison said West will help the Pacers as a scorer, distributor and leader.

“He can be a closer for us, but he can also make sure that we’re in the right positions at all times,” Collison said. “His ability to pass out of the post and be a good passer, period, is definitely a key that can help us as well.”

West, back after having ACL surgery on his left knee late last season, practiced with the Pacers on Tuesday.

“We threw him in there last night on the fly,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “I taught him our entire offense in about seven minutes, which is the beauty of having a simple offensive
playbook.”

West said he doesn’t expect to play in Friday’s preseason opener against Chicago, but he expects to be ready for the start of the season. Vogel said West’s knee looked fine in practice, but he needs to get into game shape.

“He’s going to take a little time,” Vogel said. “His knee is very strong, but because he was a free agent, he hasn’t been doing a lot of full court playing, so it’s going to take a little time to
get him up to speed with his conditioning level, up to speed with all the nuances of our offensive and defensive package. Once he’s really ready to go, he’s going to really help us.”

Vogel said West’s approach to the game should help the entire team.

“He plays the style of play that we are trying to implement. He fits in with our identity of physicality, playing through the post, crashing the glass, attacking the basket.”

Hill can play the point guard and shooting guard spots. He doesn’t mind if Hill takes some minutes at the point, along with A.J. Price.

“You’ve got to think, it’s a 66-game season,” he said. “If a guy gets hurt, you’ve got another guy coming off the bench that’s very talented. It’s actually good problems to have.”

Collison worked on becoming more versatile himself in the offseason. The ultra-quick Collison primarily is known as a slasher and distributor.

“I definitely tried to work on my 3-point shot, tried to extend my range out more so teams will have to not only respect my drive, but you have to respect my shot too.”

Collison said the team has the right approach, even with all the new pieces and the expectations that come with them.

“I think you’re going to see a young and scrappy team,” he said. “I think we understand that nothing has come easy. Just because we made it to the playoffs last year doesn’t mean we’re
going to make it to the playoffs this year. We’re going to fight for every game that comes our way.”

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

By Cliff Brunt, Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS — Darren Collison understands better than anyone what adding David West could mean for the Indiana Pacers.

Two years ago, Collison was West’s point guard in New Orleans while Chris Paul recovered from an injury. With West as his top scoring option, Collison averaged 18.8 points and 9.1 assists in 37 starts as a rookie. West averaged 19 points and 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists that season, one of the best of his career.

The combination was so good that it launched Collison’s career and helped him land as the starting point guard for the Pacers the next year. Now that they are reunited, Collison expects the Pacers to improve immediately.

“We struggled in late-game situations last year,” Collison said. “I don’t think they’re going to be much of a problem this year, adding him on the team.”

Collison also is excited about the draft-night addition of guard George Hill.

“He can shoot the ball and he can bring the ball up while I run the court too,” Collison said.

With those options added to Indiana’s young core of Danny Granger, Paul George, Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert, Collison is looking forward to the season.

“It’s great,” he said. “As a point guard, you want to have as many options as you can, and you never want to be limited in the options you have on the team. I think with this team, we’re very versatile.”

Collison said West will help the Pacers as a scorer, distributor and leader.

“He can be a closer for us, but he can also make sure that we’re in the right positions at all times,” Collison said. “His ability to pass out of the post and be a good passer, period, is definitely a key that can help us as well.”

West, back after having ACL surgery on his left knee late last season, practiced with the Pacers on Tuesday.

“We threw him in there last night on the fly,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “I taught him our entire offense in about seven minutes, which is the beauty of having a simple offensive playbook.”

West said he doesn’t expect to play in Friday’s preseason opener against Chicago, but he expects to be ready for the start of the season. Vogel said West’s knee looked fine in practice, but he needs to get into game shape.

“He’s going to take a little time,” Vogel said. “His knee is very strong, but because he was a free agent, he hasn’t been doing a lot of full court playing, so it’s going to take a little time to get him up to speed with his conditioning level, up to speed with all the nuances of our offensive and defensive package. Once he’s really ready to go, he’s going to really help us.”

Vogel said West’s approach to the game should help the entire team.

INDIANAPOLIS -

The Indiana Pacers announced Tuesday they have signed veteran free agent and two-time NBA All-Star David West to a contract. Per club policy, terms of the contract were not released.

West, 6-9, 240, is an eight-year veteran who had played his entire NBA career with the New Orleans Hornets. He has career averages of 16.4 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game.

“It’s great for the Indiana Pacers to have a class, quality person that David is join our team,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “We know what he has accomplished on the court, but it’s the other intangibles he brings that will make us stronger off the court as well as on the court.”

“This is a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to finding my role with this team,” said West, who played collegiately at Xavier, earning two national player of the year awards as a senior. “”I feel I can add to this group and once I find my place, I’ll help this ballclub the best I can.”

West played in two All-Star games in 2008 and ’09. Those two seasons, he averaged 20.6 ppg and 8.9 rpg and 21 ppg and 8.5 rpg, respectively.

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird plans to spend a lot of time on the phone with executives from other teams in the coming days.

“We’ve got a lot of cap space and we’ve gotten a lot more calls,” he said. “It’s interesting. It’s just begun, but we figure in the next week or so, it’s going to be pretty active.”

Bird said he can afford to be extra careful because Indiana will be in a strong negotiating position again next year.

“It might be a slower process than our fans want it to be,” he said.

Bird says he wants to add pieces to a solid young core that features Danny Granger, Darren Collison, Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough, Paul George and newcomer George Hill. Of that group, only the 28-year-old Granger is older than 26. The Pacers for years have targeted a top scoring option to go with Granger and an elite power forward.

As players began to arrive back at their teams’ facilities across the league Thursday, Bird wouldn’t address the team’s rumored interest in Boston point guard Rajon Rondo and Utah forward Paul Millsap.

“Over the course of the next two or three weeks, you’re going to hear a lot of rumors, and there’s going to be a lot of things out there that’s going to have us right in the middle of a lot of it,” Bird said. “I wouldn’t believe any of it. We’ve talked to teams about players. We don’t like to talk about any other team’s players.”

General manager David Morway said the Pacers will be good, even if they don’t make a move.

“We don’t feel like we are in a position where we have to add a player,” he said. “We’ve got very good players right now at every position on this basketball team. We want to continue to add to this team, but we want to do it with diligence and with prudence.”

The Pacers made the playoffs last season and lost to the Chicago Bulls 4-1. Bird wouldn’t make a prediction about this season.

“You don’t know what to expect because of injuries and different things,” he said. “I know we’re a better basketball team than we were last year when we started, and I think we’re going to be even better after we get through this process.”

The process will be unique because there’s no preseason and the players have been working out on their own.

“It makes it a little bit more difficult, but we spent the summer preparing,” Morway said. “I think we have a good game plan, and we’re going to stay disciplined.”

Once the team is assembled, it will need to adjust to a new coaching staff. Frank Vogel had his interim tag removed in the offseason, and he hired Brian Shaw and Jim Boylen as assistants to go with holdover Dan Burke.

“I think they’re excellent,” Bird said. “I think Frank did a great job of going out and getting some guys that’s been on championship teams. They’re all on the same page. They’re excited about the team. They want to go to work.”

Bird said he’s happy there will be a season, not only for the Pacers organization, but for the local businesses that depend on the team.

“I can tell you there’s a lot of people out of work here,” he said. “I think it’s huge for downtown, and it’s big in a lot of other ways. I like to watch our players compete. I like what I do. But I also know that outside of this building, there’s a lot of people hurting because we’re not playing.”

Bird said he can afford to be extra careful because Indiana will be in a strong negotiating position again next year.

“It might be a slower process than our fans want it to be,” he said.

Bird says he wants to add pieces to a solid young core that features Danny Granger, Darren Collison, Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough, Paul George and newcomer George Hill. Of that group, only the 28-year-old Granger is older than 26. The Pacers for years have targeted a top scoring option to go with Granger and an elite power forward.

As players began to arrive back at their teams’ facilities across the league Thursday, Bird wouldn’t address the team’s rumored interest in Boston point guard Rajon Rondo and Utah forward Paul Millsap.

“Over the course of the next two or three weeks, you’re going to hear a lot of rumors, and there’s going to be a lot of things out there that’s going to have us right in the middle of a lot of it,” Bird said. “I wouldn’t believe any of it. We’ve talked to teams about players. We don’t like to talk about any other team’s players.”

General manager David Morway said the Pacers will be good, even if they don’t make a move.

“We don’t feel like we are in a position where we have to add a player,” he said. “We’ve got very good players right now at every position on this basketball team. We want to continue to add to this team, but we want to do it with diligence and with prudence.”

The Pacers made the playoffs last season and lost to the Chicago Bulls 4-1. Bird wouldn’t make a prediction about this season.

“You don’t know what to expect because of injuries and different things,” he said. “I know we’re a better basketball team than we were last year when we started, and I think we’re going to be even better after we get through this process.”

The process will be unique because there’s no preseason and the players have been working out on their own.

“It makes it a little bit more difficult, but we spent the summer preparing,” Morway said. “I think we have a good game plan, and we’re going to stay disciplined.”

Once the team is assembled, it will need to adjust to a new coaching staff. Frank Vogel had his interim tag removed in the offseason, and he hired Brian Shaw and Jim Boylen as assistants to go with holdover Dan Burke.

“I think they’re excellent,” Bird said. “I think Frank did a great job of going out and getting some guys that’s been on championship teams. They’re all on the same page. They’re excited about the team. They want to go to work.”

Bird said he’s happy there will be a season, not only for the Pacers organization, but for the local businesses that depend on the team.

“I can tell you there’s a lot of people out of work here,” he said. “I think it’s huge for downtown, and it’s big in a lot of other ways. I like to watch our players compete. I like what I do. But I also know that outside of this building, there’s a lot of people hurting because we’re not playing.”

__

Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cliffbruntap

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The NBA may be locked out, and Conseco Fieldhouse may be dark and cold, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Indiana Pacers will be absent from the Hoosier landscape this winter. Even if the team never gets on the court for a real, live professional basketball game during the entire duration of what would have been the 2011-12 season, the Pacers will still make their presence felt for at least a few young fans this December and January. The team announced on November 2 that it will hold four different youth camps in and around Indianapolis during the coldest months of the winter. Although it appears that most of the tutelage will come from former Pacers, including all-time local favorite Darnell Hillman, the lack of current players doesn’t detract too much from this effort to stay active in the community. I think the Pacers need all of the goodwill they can muster right now, and it never hurts to host fun and educational activities for the area’s youth.

The camps, which will be held in Indianapolis, Greenwood and Brownsburg, will cater to boys and girls from the ages of 7-16 and will consist of three one-day session and one three-day session. The longer camp will naturally be the most involved of the four get-togethers, and will be held in Fishers in the daytime hours during the week between Christmas and the New Year. The camps will feature a variety of formats and activities, including family play, mini tournaments and skills competitions. Participants will receive Blue and Gold memorabilia in addition to the chance to work with members of the Pacers organization.

While a youth camp may not excite the hardcore Pacers fans among us, it is still a creative and constructive way for the franchise to engage the local community while the lockout rages on. Particularly with the lull in local sports activity that typically accompanies the dead of winter, any little boost that the Pacers can garner will be welcomed. This team, and the entire NBA, needs all of the good vibes it can get.

Adam Hughes was raised, and still lives, in rural Indiana. He has been a Pacers fan since the early 1980s and has witnessed the rise and fall of a great NBA franchise. He follows the current club closely and is anxious for the lockout to end so the Pacers can begin their next ascent.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – In the midst of the NBA lockout, Frank Vogel is busier than ever.

The Indiana Pacers’ new coach is spending much of his time getting to know his new assistant coaches, Brian Shaw and Jim Boylen, and figuring out how to blend their skills with those of holdover Dan Burke.

“Specifically because we have new assistants, we’re meeting more than we normally would, discussing game plans, getting on the same page with terminology, our approach toward our team and just picking the brains of my new assistants,” Vogel said.

Shaw comes to the Pacers after being an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers since 2004. He was part of five championship teams with the Lakers, three as a player and two as a coach. Boylen was head coach at the University of Utah from 2007 to 2011. In the NBA, he earned two championship rings as an assistant for the Houston Rockets before stints as an assistant at Golden State and Milwaukee. Vogel said Shaw is focusing on familiarizing himself with the Eastern Conference, while Boylen is reacquainting himself with the NBA.

Though Shaw is the lead assistant, the staff will share responsibilities.

“We’re going to get away from the compartmentalized approach,” Vogel said. “Everybody’s going to do everything. They are strong in all areas.”

Vogel is excited because of the mentorship his new assistants have received — Shaw worked under Phil Jackson, while Boylen worked under Rudy Tomjanovich in Houston in the 1990s. Most of all, he likes their rings.

“That’s where we’re going,” Vogel said. “That’s where the Pacers are going, and that’s what we wanted to bring in in terms of beefing up the experience of our coaching staff.”

The excitement level about the Pacers remains high. For example, while walking from Conseco Fieldhouse to a downtown Indianapolis restaurant, a group of construction workers stopped Vogel and asked him to sign their hard hats.

“To be embraced the way I have by this community, I really don’t have any words for it,” he said.

After years of apathy, fans are starting to embrace the team again, in part because of its potential. The team has young talent and playoff experience, and will have significant salary cap space when the labor situation gets sorted out. Danny Granger, at 28, is the oldest starter. Roy Hibbert has played just three years, point guard Darren Collison and forward Tyler Hansbrough were second-year players, and Paul George was a rookie. The team added local star George Hill in a draft-night trade.

Vogel took over for Jim O’Brien at the middle of last season. Early in his tenure as interim coach, Vogel said Eastern Conference powers Boston, Miami and Orlando wouldn’t want to play the Pacers when — not if — they made the playoffs. He introduced “smashmouth” ball, an approach that focused on attacking the basket. He moved Hansbrough and George into the starting lineup and committed to Hibbert as a centerpiece. The Pacers went 20-18 to close the regular season and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

Part of his desire to get started is the residue from the playoff loss to Chicago. Indiana lost the series 4-1 despite having a legitimate chance to win four of the games.

“Everyone says how good we did against the Bulls, and I just don’t see it that way,” Vogel said. “I just feel like we should have won that series and we should have gone deep in the playoffs. I really believe we’ve only scratched the surface of what we’re going to accomplish as a team.”

His confidence in the group he has fuels him as he prepares.

“I want to be ready,” he said. “Whenever we get started, we’re going to be ready. I can’t wait to get started. I’m chomping at the bit.”
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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cliffbruntap

INDIANAPOLIS — In the midst of the NBA lockout, Frank Vogel is busier than ever.

The Indiana Pacers’ new coach is spending much of his time getting to know his new assistant coaches, Brian Shaw and Jim Boylen, and figuring out how to blend their skills with those of holdover Dan Burke.

“Specifically because we have new assistants, we’re meeting more than we normally would, discussing game plans, getting on the same page with terminology, our approach toward our team and just picking the brains of my new assistants,” Vogel said.

Shaw comes to the Pacers after being an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers since 2004. He was part of five championship teams with the Lakers, three as a player and two as a coach. Boylen was head coach at the University of Utah from 2007 to 2011. In the NBA, he earned two championship rings as an assistant for the Houston Rockets before stints as an assistant at Golden State and Milwaukee. Vogel said Shaw is focusing on familiarizing himself with the Eastern Conference, while Boylen is reacquainting himself with the NBA.

Though Shaw is the lead assistant, the staff will share responsibilities.

“We’re going to get away from the compartmentalized approach,” Vogel said. “Everybody’s going to do everything. They are strong in all areas.”

Vogel is excited because of the mentorship his new assistants have received — Shaw worked under Phil Jackson, while Boylen worked under Rudy Tomjanovich in Houston in the 1990s. Most of all, he likes their rings.

“That’s where we’re going,” Vogel said. “That’s where the Pacers are going, and that’s what we wanted to bring in in terms of beefing up the experience of our coaching staff.”

The excitement level about the Pacers remains high. For example, while walking from Conseco Fieldhouse to a downtown Indianapolis restaurant, a group of construction workers stopped Vogel and asked him to sign their hard hats.

“To be embraced the way I have by this community, I really don’t have any words for it,” he said.

After years of apathy, fans are starting to embrace the team again, in part because of its potential. The team has young talent and playoff experience, and will have significant salary cap space when the labor situation gets sorted out. Danny Granger, at 28, is the oldest starter. Roy Hibbert has played just three years, point guard Darren Collison and forward Tyler Hansbrough were second-year players, and Paul George was a rookie. The team added local star George Hill in a draft-night trade.

Vogel took over for Jim O’Brien at the middle of last season. Early in his tenure as interim coach, Vogel said Eastern Conference powers Boston, Miami and Orlando wouldn’t want to play the Pacers when — not if — they made the playoffs. He introduced “smashmouth” ball, an approach that focused on attacking the basket. He moved Hansbrough and George into the starting lineup and committed to Hibbert as a centerpiece. The Pacers went 20-18 to close the regular season and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

Part of his desire to get started is the residue from the playoff loss to Chicago. Indiana lost the series 4-1 despite having a legitimate chance to win four of the games.

“Everyone says how good we did against the Bulls, and I just don’t see it that way,” Vogel said. “I just feel like we should have won that series and we should have gone deep in the playoffs. I really believe we’ve only scratched the surface of what we’re going to accomplish as a team.”

His confidence in the group he has fuels him as he prepares.

“I want to be ready,” he said. “Whenever we get started, we’re going to be ready. I can’t wait to get started. I’m chomping at the bit.”

The Indiana Pacers added Jim Boylen on Monday to the team’s staff. He will serve as an assistant to coach Frank Vogel.

Boylen was fired by the University of Utah in March after compiling a 69-60 record during four seasons. The Utes were just 13-18 in the 2010-11 campaign and 6-10 in the Mountain West Conference.

Utah’s season ended with a blowout loss to San Diego State in the MWC tournament quarterfinals, and the underperforming Utes — who will play in the Pac-12 Conference next season — struggled with attendance throughout the year.

In June, Boylen was a candidate for an assistant coaching job with the Los Angeles Lakers. He will now join former Lakers assistant Brian Shaw with the Pacers.

Indiana was 37-45 last season and was eliminated by Chicago, 4-1, in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Pacers fired coach Jim O’Brien midway through the season, with Vogel taking over as interim coach. He was officially named Indiana’s coach June 6.

The Pacers have added Vogel, Shaw and former Portland Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard in the past two weeks.

Shaw will serve as associate head coach, while Pritchard is the team’s director of player personnel.

Frank Vogel will remain coach of the
Indiana Pacers after leading the team to its first National
Basketball Association playoff berth in five years in an interim
role last season.

Vogel, 38, impressed the team with his work last year and
his goals for the future, Pacers President Larry Bird said today
in a press conference from Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Vogel led the team to a 20-18 record after taking over for Jim O’Brien, who was fired on Jan. 30.

“It was a huge step last year, but we’re building
something bigger here,” Vogel said. “This is the new Pacers.
We shoot for the moon, we dream big, and then we work our tails
off to reach those dreams.”

The Pacers qualified for the playoff in all but one year
from 1989 to 2006, and have played in just one playoff series in
the five seasons since, compiling a 176-234 regular-season
record in that span. The team lost in the first round of this
year’s Eastern Conference playoffs to the top-seeded Chicago
Bulls.

Vogel was a scout for the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington
Wizards before joining the Pacers in 2007 as an assistant to
O’Brien.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Eben Novy-Williams in New York at
[email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
[email protected]

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Pacers are sticking with the coach who got them to the playoffs.

A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Indiana will make interim coach Frank Vogel the team’s permanent head coach.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the move had not been made official yet by the team.

The Indiana Pacers did announce they had a news conference with Vogel scheduled for Wednesday. He will be joined by Larry Bird, the Pacers’ president of basketball operations.

Bird called Vogel the favorite to get the job from the beginning of the search after the Pacers finished strong last season and made the playoffs.

Indiana was interested in Mike Brown, but the former Pacers assistant and Cleveland head coach took the top job with the Lakers.

Vogel took over for Jim O’Brien in the middle of last season and the team finished the year 20-18. The Pacers made the playoffs for the first time since 2006, losing in five games to top-seeded Chicago.

Early in his tenure, Vogel said Eastern Conference powers Boston, Miami and Orlando wouldn’t want to play the Pacers when — not if — they made the playoffs. He introduced “smashmouth” ball, an approach that focused on attacking the basket instead of O’Brien’s perimeter-oriented game.

He moved Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George into the starting lineup and helped restore center Roy Hibbert’s confidence.

The team has plenty of young talent, playoff experience and significant salary cap space, should the labor situation get sorted out.

Danny Granger, at 28, is the oldest starter. Hibbert just finished his third year, point guard Darren Collison and Hansbrough were second-year players and George was a rookie. All five are under contract for next season.

“I’ll be happy if Frank gets picked,” Hibbert said recently. “I’ve been with him since I was a rookie, so I hope he gets it.”

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