NBA News: 2017 Rookie Of The Year Makes 'Great' Admission About New Pacers Head Coach

The Indiana Pacers are aiming for a better experience in the playoffs when they hired Rick Carlisle from the Dallas Mavericks.

After the Pacers fired Nate Bjorkgren amid locker room tension last season, they brought back Carlisle to coach a team composed of a core that features Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis, T.J. Warren, Caris LeVert and Malcolm Brogdon.

Brogdon appeared on the “The Woj Pod” hosted by renowned NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.

“I thought we got the best possible coach for us going into next season,” said Brogdon of the Carlisle hiring

“I think the front office did a good job in the selection of [Rick] Carlisle. He’s a winner at the highest level, championship status. He knows what he’s doing. He knows what style of play he wants to play and he knows how to get guys to play together," he added.

“He’s gonna provide us with stability and experience and the leadership that we need right now.”

Brogdon further elaborates that he and Carlisle have been talking to each other weekly as they both pick each other’s brains to figure out strategies, how the longtime mentor will coach the team, and finding out how to get the guys to respond to his coaching.

“For me as the leader on the team, it’s important to be able to communicate with him, for us to have an open and honest dialogue going into it and to prepare the other,” Brogdon said to Wojnarowski.

“This is a group effort. You have to be able to work with your coaches like how you work with your teammates.”

The former Rookie of the Year revealed that the Pacers got together in Los Angeles this offseason as a form of team bonding and to build their chemistry.

“We had a facility and it worked out really well. I think it’s going to be something that pays off at the end of the day and at the end of the season to look back and say ‘we started early, we started before everybody else did,’” he stated.

Brogdon recognizes that they are playing against big-market teams that can attract championship-caliber talent like the Los Angeles Lakers who can come in during training camp and make things look easy.

In response to that, Brogdon, Carlisle, and the rest of the Pacers have agreed to start training camp by September 13, two weeks earlier than what was originally planned, to get a head start on the competition.

The Pacers missed the 2021 Playoffs due to ill-timed injuries and a much-improved Eastern Conference.

Facing an uphill battle towards netting a playoff spot as the Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics all stand in their way, but if Brogdon is to be believed, the Pacers just may be able to shock everyone this season.