The Indiana Pacers have been noncommittal over whether Frank Vogel will return next season. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are still searching for their next head coach. Could there be mutual interest?
As Marc Berman of the New York Post notes, Vogel and Knicks president of basketball operations Phil Jackson have some history together. Vogel was an advanced scout for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2005-2006 season, though he says he only met Jackson once at a shootaround. In a 2013 interview, Vogel praised Jackson while talking about then-Pacers assistant Brian Shaw.
“From the standpoint of studying the NBA game, I was always a big fan of Phil Jackson and his approach,” Vogel said at the time. “Obviously, he had great players, but there were a lot of coaches with great players that didn’t win at the level he did. That was a big reason why I hired Brian Shaw. He was as close to Phil as anyone could be, and I thought I could rely on that experience, and it’s been awesome.”
To make matters more interesting, Berman spoke to a source close to Vogel who said there “could be intrigue in coaching the Knicks,” as Vogel grew up in New Jersey and some of his family members attend all of the Knicks’ home games.
But wait, there’s more. After a tough loss to the Pacers two years ago, Carmelo Anthony praised Vogel for making halftime adjustments that then-Knicks coach Mike Woodson couldn’t handle. Berman also reports that Knicks owner James Dolan was impressed with Vogel and felt he out-coached Woodson during New York’s six-game seminfinal playoff loss to Indiana in 2013 — the last time the Knicks made the postseason.
Vogel’s contract is expiring, and the Pacers have yet to throw any support behind him publicly. While there have been rumors that Jackson has already made up his mind about who his next head coach will be, he could wind up reconsidering if Vogel suddenly becomes available.
