Fieldhouse Files: Scott Agness on the Indiana Pacers

At No. 18, the Pacers drafted T.J. Leaf out of UCLA. He was born in Tel Aviv, Israel while his father played professionally basketball. Leaf, who played just one year of college basketball, met with the Pacers Draft Combine in Chicago and then came to Indianapolis for a workout on May 23. Leaf’s father, Brad, attended Lawrence North High School and he has roots in Indianapolis and Evansville. See...

Brian Windhorst is one of the best NBA reporters. He first started in the business with the Akron Beacon Journal, and as a young reporter he was assigned to go check out a stud basketball player with great potential. It turned out, it was LeBron James, who attended the very same high school Windhorst attended: St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio. Windhorst is now a led NBA reporter for ESPN and hi...

You see Sage Steele all the time on ESPN … on NBA coverage, on SportsCenter, on SportsCenter On the Road. She’s a self-proclaimed military brat, moving around frequently as a child. She eventually graduated from Carmel High School and Indiana University, and would later work at WISH-TV in Indianapolis before ultimately ended up at The Worldwide Leader. She remains a Pacers fan, and she’s raising h...

C.J. Miles will decline his player option and is set to become a free agent on July 1, the Pacers’ versatile forward confirmed to VigilantSports.com on Tuesday. This move was entirely expected considering he was set to pull in $4.772 million for the final year of a four-year deal he signed in 2014 worth $18 million. The news was first reported by Ben Gibson of 8points9seconds.com. “If it does come...

Indy officially put in a bid for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game last week. On Monday, April 24 — deadline day for 2020 and 2021 bids to be sent in — Larry Bird and Rick Fuson, Pacers Sports & Entertainment President, delivered Indy’s plans to the NBA Headquarters in downtown Manhattan. And, of course, they did it in style. As in Bird riding five blocks in a specially-designed IndyCar. Talk about makin...

Kevin Pritchard was officially promoted to President of Basketball Operations of the Indiana Pacers Monday. The move was made after Larry Bird decided to slide into a part-time advisory role. “I want to thank Herb, Larry and Donnie (Walsh) for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Pritchard, who had been the team’s general manager since 2012. “As someone who grew up in Indiana, I’ve alway...

Larry Bird officially stepped down on Monday as the Pacers’ President of Basketball Operations, a title he has held since 2003. “I felt it was time to step away in a full-time capacity,” Bird said. “This has nothing to do with my health or our team. I’m 60 years old and I want to do other things away from basketball. I will do some scouting for the Pacers, NBA, college, international, do some appe...

As many may have been looking ahead to the weekend or talking about the first night of the 2017 NFL Draft, news broke at 12:29 pm ET that Larry Bird had decided to step away from his duties as the Pacers President of Basketball Operations. General Manager Kevin Pritchard, who first joined the franchise in 2011, will now take on those responsibilities, a league source confirmed to VigilantSports.co...

Four days after the Pacers’ season came to an end, Sunday afternoon in a Game 4 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, head coach Nate McMillan spoke with reporters about his first season has head coach here. McMillan answered questions for 25 minutes, with questions ranging from team identity, leadership, and what went wrong during the 2016-17, to their needs going into next year and what exactly indiv...

So much for retirement, right? For Tamika Catchings, she only has one speed: GO! Since playing in the final game of her professional basketball career, the four-time Olympian has kept a full plate. Did you expect anything different? She has traveled with her husband, Parnell. She served as a game analyst for women’s college basketball on the SEC Network. She took over as the owner of her favorite...

The Pacers trail the Cleveland 3-0 in their best-of-seven first-round series, but it’s been close. C.J. Miles potential game-winning jumper just missed as time expired in Game 1; Game 2 was decided by six points; and in Game 3, the Pacers led by 25 points at intermission — and loss. It was the greatest halftime deficit overcome in a win by the Cavaliers, 119-114. Three Pacers losses to the LeBron...

“My love for this city and this organization has not wavered.” That’s Jermaine O’Neal, the former Pacer who was back in Indianapolis Sunday to be part of the Indiana Pacers’ celebration of the 2000s decades. O’Neal played for seven teams, but he was at his best in Indianapolis where he finished third in the NBA MVP voting in 2004 in a season he led the team to the conference finals, and he was a s...

After four seasons with the Pacers, center Ian Mahinmi moved on to the Washington Wizards last July. He signed a four-year, $64 million deal that pays him $16 million annually. As the Pacers rebuilt their roster and Mahinmi, among others, went elsewhere, it’s been really special to see those guys (and their significant other) remain close. Recently, George Hill’s fiancé, Sam, C.J. Miles’ wife, Lau...

Solomon Hill was always a likable guy, going back from his first conference call after being taken at 23rd by the Pacers in the 2013 NBA Draft. He played three years with the team, and then left in free agency after the team elected to decline their fourth-year team option on his rookie deal after sub-par play. In July, 2016, he signed with New Orleans for $48 million over four years. As the leagu...

Eddie White has traveled across the world and worked for multiple professional sports teams. He’s currently the Director of Corporate Communications for the Indiana Pacers, and the host of Pacers Overtime on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis. White was part of the team’s traveling party to London as the franchise played in its first regular-season game outside of the United States on Jan. 12. They face...

Katie Douglas is a homegrown talent, playing basketball at all levels right here in her home state of Indiana. First at Perry Meridian High School. Then she won a National Championship at Purdue (1999), and a WNBA Championship (2012) with the Indiana Fever. She retired from the WNBA in 2014, playing for three teams over 14 seasons. Her body had had enough. She has since found a new passion as a bu...

Brody Stephens, diagnosed in 2010 with acute myeloid leukemia, is a fighter. The New Palestine native is just eight years old but he’s had to battle like no kid should ever have. While at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, Brody was visited by Andrew Luck and Jack Doyle of the Colts, Steph Curry and coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors – which made his wish come true. And, Glenn Ro...

Aaron Eamer was in his Las Vegas hotel tuned to a random NBA game in 2004. Eamer, a native of Bristol, England, was just visiting but he loved the game and decided he would become a fan of whichever team won. Indiana Pacers 90, New Jersey Nets 80 The Pacers won, and gained a fan for life in the process. Though he lives 4,000 miles away, Eamer calls the Pacers his favorite team — of any sport — wil...

Brooke Olzendam previously was the sideline reporter and host for Pacers games airing on FOX Sports Indiana. Her final season in Indianapolis was with the 2013-14 bunch that reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive year. She’s doing well, out west and closer to home. And, after two years as a reporter and host on Comcast SportsNet, the Portland Trail Blazers hired her last...

Jason Smeathers is a basketball trainer with Rob Blackwell over at St. Vincent Sports Performance. They train professionals (both NBA and overseas guys), they train some still in college, and they work with youngsters to prepare them for the years ahead. Smeathers is a local product, a graduate from Center Grove High School. He then went on to play one year IUPUI — with George Hill providing the a...

Clark Kellogg, though a Cleveland native, spent much of his adulthood working in Indianapolis. He was drafted by the Indiana Pacers out of Ohio State University with the eighth overall selection in the 1982 draft. After he averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds in his rookie season, he was named to the All-Rookie First Team. He played five seasons in the NBA, but he knee injuries during the final two...

With the Indiana Pacers’ 2016-17 season tipping off this week — at home, Oct. 26 against Dallas — it’s a good time to catch up with Todd Taylor, the Pacers’ Senior Vice President/Chief Sales & Marketing Officer. This is his sixth season with the franchise. Last year, he explained Hickory Nights, the process it took to make it happen, and what fans could expect. (Click here to listen to that podcas...

On the latest Vigilant Sports Pacers Podcast, I cover everything that has gone on at training camp. Head coach Nate McMillan is running his first training camp since 2011 — and the differences from last year to today have been evident from the beginning. Myles Turner and Paul George have missed time but there’s no reason to worry. There are, however, plenty of reasons to be excited about this team...

The job title changed for Nate McMillan on May 16th when Pacers President Larry Bird officially announced that McMillan would be the 15th head coach in franchise history. McMillan has a wealth of experience leading a team, a head coach for 930 (478-452) games over nearly 12 seasons for two different teams, and the 52-year-old brings an old-school approach. [VIDEO: McMillan on coaching additions, N...

Larry Bird, the Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations, is like most of us and is looking forward to another NBA season. The Pacers finished with a 45-37 record last season, good for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. After losing in seven games in Round 1 to the Toronto Raptors, Bird began making significant changes to the team beginning with the promotion of Nate McMillan to...