Although the Indiana Pacers had a lot of success as a member of the ABA from 1967-1976, winning 3 titles, things took a turn for the worse when they joined the NBA in 1976. They fielded players like Billy Knight and Don Buse. But they had limited success in their first thirteen seasons in the NBA. During that stretch Indiana made just two playoff appearances and finished with just three winning seasons. Management is to blame for most of the teams struggles. They traded their promising young players for old and out of their prime players. They traded Billy Knight and Don Buse in the 1978 season for Adrian Dantley, but traded him away after only a few months. They later traded a draft pick in the 1980s for a seldom used center, Tom Owens, and traded away Alex English for a past his prime George McGinnis.
It wasn't until 1987 when they drafted Reggie Miller did things start to turn around. They missed the playoffs in Miller's rookie season, but it allowed them to draft center Rik Smits. They were also able to swing a trade that landed them the Sixth Man of the Year in Detlef Schrempf. By the time they signed Larry Brown as their head coach in the 1993-94 season, they already had some valuable pieces in their quest to get back to the playoffs. They traded away Detlef Schrempf for Derrick McKey and Gerald Paddio. They were able to reach the conference finals and finally allowed Reggie Miller to showcase his late game heroics.
For the next few years, Miller led the team to the conference finals before losing to teams like the Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls. It wasn't until the 1998-1999 season that they finally got over the hump and made the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. They would go on to lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games and are still trying to get back to the Finals to this day.
The Greatest team in franchise history could arguably go to the 1998-1999 team that went to the finals, but the shortened season might dissuade some hard-core fans. Therefore I believe that the greatest team in Pacers history should go to the 1997-98 Pacers. Under head coach Larry Bird, the Pacers would have a 19 game turn around to finish with a record of 58-24. They would go on a magical playoff run breezing past the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks before losing to the Jordan-led Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals.
That team had a lot of heart and played with great determination and resolve. They may have failed to reach the Finals, but the fact that they pushed the Jordan-led Bulls to seven games makes them the greatest Indiana Pacers team of all time.
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