Indianapolis Star: The Pacers scouting department has three new members and has lost two. Joe Ash, veteran scout with the Houston Rockets and a longtime friend of Bird's, former Cleveland State coach Kevin Mackey and former Pacers scout and collegiate coach Ryan Carr have been added to the staff. Steve Yoder and York Larese are no longer with the team. Mel Daniels, Misho Ostarcevic, George Felton and Jimmy Powell remain on the staff. I saw this at RealGM. Somebody please remind me, was Joe working for us and stolen away? Or was he a casualty of the regime change, and just caught on with an old buddy?
Thanks OMR. How disillusioning. I find myself think highly of him, only because he signed with someone else.
Many people say Rudy and CD had no experience behind them. Not true. Joe Ash dates way back in NBA history. He was our man scouting man. If anyone ever asks you who on the Rockets has the most rings...well... we just lost him.+\
The Cowboys used to have a legendary scouting operation, too. By the time Landry was finally axed, years of mediocrity had worn out the legend. I'm sure Joe Ash deserves much credit for the great picks and acquisitions of yesteryear. But I'm not crying at the thought of losing what he's done for us lately.
Will, I think you are confusing Dennis Lindsey with Joe Ash. Lindsey heads up the draft scouting responsibilities. So you can blame Lindsey and CD for the draft. Ash was our primary advanced scout who had some draft scouting responsibilities...primarily overseas. But it is his NBA scouting and game preparation responsibilities that will be missed. Game preparation scouts with a lot of experience with different team have a lot of contacts who they share insider scouting with. It is a shame JVG couldn't get Joe Ash to stay onboard to share responsibilities with Greer. Now, Greer will have to hire much less experienced scouts. seems like a money issue to me, where JVG only has so much budget to work with. imo, when you have an advanced scout with three rings...you try to keep him then again, i have more respect for work of advanced scouts over a lot of coaches...so, i'm biased
As long as Ash takes that wonderful shooting drill that brought us Collier, Langhi, and Nachbar with him.....
That was not Ash's job. Anyhow, Larry Bird currently has an impeccable history of picking a staff, and he signed Joe Ash.
