After one full season under Nate Bjorkgren, the Indiana Pacers have decided to head in a new direction.
The Indiana Pacers have fired head coach Nate Bjorkgren, per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/E9Gslyc00P
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 9, 2021
The Pacers organization has been successful as of late; making the playoffs five straight seasons.
However, that streak ended in the one season with Bjorkgren at the helm.
This season was very rocky for this organization.
There were multiple reports stating how Bjorkgren struggled with the locker room.
We heard other rumblings of players refusing to play for him going forward.
Now the Pacers are back in the same position they were last offseason; looking for a head coach.
There are a lot of candidates out there for them to consider.
Here are the best three options for the Pacers head coaching job.
3. Brian Shaw
An under-the-radar candidate for any head coaching vacancy is Brian Shaw.
Shaw has had head coaching experience before, but it was not a successful tenure.
He was the head coach for the Denver Nuggets for two seasons and finished with a 56-85 record.
However, he deserves a second chance.
He has a history with the Pacers organization as he was the associate head coach for them back in 2011-2013.
Shaw has played and coached under an all-time coach in Phil Jackson.
A second chance should be given to someone like Shaw.
2. Kenny Atkinson
The next candidate is someone who maybe didn’t get a fair shake in his previous job.
That man is Kenny Atkinson.
Atkinson was the man in charge with the Brooklyn Nets in their rebuilding years.
That rebuilding project led to a playoff appearance in 2019.
He looked like he was the man for the job and would be for a very long time.
However, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving came along and shifted the mind-frame within the organization.
A fun young team turned into a more serious franchise.
Atkinson resigned toward the end of the following season, which was unfair to a lot of people.
He did a great job with an organization that was stuck at the bottom.
Now he is an assistant under Tyronn Lue with the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Pacers job is not as similar to the Nets job he took several years ago, but it is close enough.
Atkinson would be a great hire to develop their guys and develop a winning culture in Indiana.
1. Terry Stotts
Terry Stotts was recently just let go from his head coaching job with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Trail Blazers and Terry Stotts have mutually agreed to part ways, per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/yOJy7q6TJ0
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 5, 2021
This was not because of being a bad coach.
In fact, Stotts was extremely successful with the Trail Blazers.
In his nine years with that franchise, he made the playoffs eight straight seasons.
There was even one Conference Finals appearance.
However, the Trail Blazers never made it farther than that.
This Pacers organization should want someone like Stotts.
They have not been past the first round since 2014.
This move can lead to advancing in the playoffs once again.
Stotts is a very good coach, who deserves to be a head coach in this league one way or another.
NEXT: Are Indiana Pacers Stuck Being An Average Team?