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Tony East: Rick Carlisle, Jenny Boucek, Lloyd Pierce, Chad Buchanan, Ted Wu, and Kevin Pritchard all here for Pacers-Cavs. Much of the rest of the staff, too.
“I took a head coaching job and I learned a lot,” Pierce told Andscape. “I want to be able to prove to myself. More than anything, I want to propel an organization to where we are right now, the NBA Finals. Every competitor struggles with the day they were let go. And so, everything you do moving forward is first self-awareness, and then second it’s do what you need to do to get back in that seat and prove everybody wrong, and more importantly prove it to yourself. “And I’m definitely more about proving myself, and so I’m not stressing over it. But I definitely feel like I deserve an opportunity to get back in that seat again.”
What have these years with the Pacers meant for your development as a coach? Lloyd Pierce: As a leader, someone that’s been in a leadership position, your biggest challenge is finding ways that you’re constantly evolving and improving. So, I had three years as a decision maker in Atlanta, and then I came and joined someone that’s had a wealth of experience and knowledge in Rick. And you get to see together how to build something, using my knowledge, relying on his expertise, experience and knowledge, and then turning a program around step-by-step, not skipping steps and knowing that we got our ownership and management team that’s going to allow us to do it primarily because of Rick’s experience.
What has Carlisle done for you, and what have you done for Carlisle? Lloyd Pierce: Well, I think Rick believes in me. I think he believes in all of our staff. He’s allowed all of us to coach our specific areas and really have a strong presence and voice. We did an exercise a few years ago where we took a word and used it to describe ourselves. He said, ‘I think I’m very resourceful.’ And for me to see him operate as a very resourceful person has been very beneficial. Whether it’s reaching out to [the media], reaching out to an agent with regards to one of our players and trying to help echo the same messaging, or like he did the other day, taking the grandest stage for the Indiana Pacers and making sure he gave a sincere thank you to Ernie Johnson and TNT in their final broadcast call. He’s very resourceful in what to say and how to say it, and when to say it and who to speak to in appropriate times. And our players understand that he’s always thinking ahead. He’s always thinking of advantages and that’s the job. The job isn’t the X’s and O’s. He lets us do a lot of that. But he is great about managing the situations, the moments, the players, the opportunity, and that’s how you earn trust and belief of everyone.
When the United States lost its first two exhibition games against Nigeria and Australia, the panic alarms started blaring. Everyone was questioning whether the team was going to collapse. Was this going to be Popovich's greatest embarrassment as a coach? But, of course, he righted the ship. "He doubled down on how hard he wanted to coach them," Pierce said. "It started with KD, Draymond [Green], all the way down, Dame [Damian Lillard]. He had appropriate fear all along because he knew we weren't invincible." The superstars allowed Popovich to scream at them. They wanted Pop to be Pop. They welcomed it.
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Considering his background, the gold medal from the Tokyo Games meant the world to him. "I think we were all excited to win a gold medal and coach the Olympics, but, more importantly, I think we all wanted to win it for Pop," Pierce said. Which begs the question: Why does this man inspire everyone so much? Why do players and coaches want to win for him? When I asked Pierce, he answered my question with one of his own. "How is someone able to be so demanding yet so loving?" Pierce said.
A more thorough process is expected this time. The Suns could very well have potential candidates on current playoff teams like assistants Chris Quinn with the Miami Heat, Jeff Van Gundy with the Los Angeles Clippers, Jerry Stackhouse of the Golden State Warriors, Lloyd Pierce of the Indiana Pacers and Johnnie Bryant of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Scott Agness: Several Pacers have familiarity with veteran Alex Len. Lloyd Pierce, who works with the bigs, coached him in Atlanta. And Len was with Haliburton in Sacramento. This gives the Pacers additional depth at center.
Scott Agness: Pacers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce hosting his second annual coat drive at Horizon House in downtown Indy today. Aaron Nesmith, Jarace Walker, Myles Turner, Bennedict Mathurin, Enrique Freeman, Rick Carlisle, Jim Boylen came by to support. pic.x.com/tIWI1QJSnI
Who was your favorite coach you played for? Robert Covington: Brett Brown. He made it more than just basketball. He taught us about life, taught us about different things. Just to help us go through that tough phase that we were in, in The Process years. He’s one of my favorite coaches. The things I learned from him and the coaching staff, my player development coach, Lloyd Pierce, will stay with me forever.
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Generally, flights are a good opportunity to grab players and watch film of their playing time to discuss what worked well and needs improvement, Carlisle explained. While on board this flight, Pierce discussed strategy with All-NBA star Tyrese Haliburton. “After a win, the players will come up to you on the flight,” Pierce told HoopsHype, laughing. “After a loss, you’ve got to track them down and send them a text message or go find them on the plane (laughs).” “Lloyd Pierce is a great leader, communicator, and problem solver who has a great feel for the game,” Carlisle told HoopsHype.
When the Pacers visited the Heat for two games in late November and early December, they checked in with the Miami-based James Johnson. They wanted to see what the veteran had been up to and how he's been doing. It was a lunch meeting, and Johnson shared that it was nice to see head coach Rick Carlsile, assistant coach Lloyd Pierce, and president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard. They discussed things from last season that went well and poorly for the Pacers. "It was just an honest conversation," Johnson told AllPacers. In the end, it was determined that bringing the 15-year pro back made sense for the blue and gold. He's now back with the franchise.
Scott Agness: Pacers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce is hosting a coat drive until 5:30pm at the Horizon House on E Washington St. Rick Carlisle, Aaron Nesmith and Zach Chu just arrived to support.
“I feel like he was brought in to be a development coach,” Young says of Pierce, “and I was trying to win… And those two things just don't work well with each other…” “I was playing hard, but I just feel like we didn't see eye-to-eye, and I just feel like he didn't believe in me as much as much as the organization did at times, and we kind of just bumped heads. And to be honest, I have so much love for him…”
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