Brad Stevens has a great relationship with Frank Vogel.
Just over 12 hours ago, Pacers President Larry Bird announced Thursday morning that the Pacers would move on from Frank Vogel after five and a half seasons and would start a search immediately for the 15th head coach in franchise history.
In the meantime, several coaches have reached out to Vogel, including Raptors coach Dwane Casey. Brad Stevens is one of his closer friends in the league. A few days after Stevens was hired in 2013 to be the Celtics head coach, the two got together to talk about the league over dinner while in Orlando for Summer League.
[Click here to read my story from Orlando with comments form Stevens]
On Friday, Stevens was a guest on SiriusXM NBA Radio. He was asked about Vogel by Jared Greenberg and Antonio Daniels, and here’s what he said:
“Well I think Frank is great. I’ve always said that everybody has to make their own decisions for their organization. But what’s very clear, not only being around him and being a friend of his, but also coaching against him and competing against him, is he’s one of the best.
“Everything will work out great for him because of the way, not only his knowledge and his ability to coach, but just the kind of person he is. He is such a down to earth, regular guy, and fun to be around. He’s not a guy that asks for a lot of attention. I think the world of him.
“I’m also really skewed towards him because part of the time that we spent together when I was living in Indianapolis, when we lived about a couple miles away, we used to go to the same park.
“So like, we used to go and our kids would play on the same swing sets. I know not only as coach but as a dad and as a person, and he’s exceptional. Things will work out well for him. It’s unfortunate that that’s the way it ended in Indy but he did a great job in his six years.”
See Also: Vogel praised the Celtics for hiring Stevens in July, 2013
Stevens just completed his third season in Boston and strangely, he is now the sixth-longest tenured coach in the NBA. Gregg Popovich (20), Rick Carlisle (8), and Erik Spoelstra (8) are the top three. Vogel, having completed his sixth season, was fourth.
“That’s a little bit crazy,” Stevens added.
[Brad Stevens no longer the youngest active NBA head coach]
[Frank Vogel releases statement on his time with the Pacers]