Versace Molds Pacers Into an Unbeaten Force

The telephone rang four times before it was answered by the usually impersonal click of a machine. But even the recorded voice of Dick Versace came to life and was absolutely bubbling with enthusiasm.

“Fire it up. Great. You’ve done it. You’ve found Versace -- Ver-say-ace or Ver-sock-ee or ... “ the message began. Then came the standard phone message commands, followed by another reminder of appreciation: “Wonderful. Wonderful. It’s just great you’ve reached us.”

Ebullient by nature, especially compared to the mostly dour lot of NBA coaches, Versace -- it’s pronounced Ver-sayse -- seems positively bubbling these days.

His team, the once-woeful Indiana Pacers, is the National Basketball Association’s only undefeated club, at 4-0, entering Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Forum.

This is the Pacers’ best start since the NBA-American Basketball Association merger in 1976. The Pacers did not score their first victory last season until their 10th game, their third victory not until Dec. 7. Already this season, they have beaten the Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat at home, and opened the season with a blowout victory at Atlanta against the Hawks.

Although some may wonder if the Pacers’ record somehow has been transposed, they have shown early signs of being a playoff contender in the Central Division, the league’s toughest by far. Two trades late last season, a free-agent signing over the summer and the defensive-oriented coaching of Versace have made the difference.

But Versace, speaking live now instead of on tape, believes it premature to brand the Pacers contenders. He modulates his voice and tries to stifle the enthusiasm, difficult for him.

“My job now is to keep a strong dose of reality,” Versace said. “There have been a lot of surprises so far. As the league tries to get its bearings, it’ll change. Of course, I didn’t expect to be unbeaten. It really is too early to be too excited about it.”

This coming from a man who has entertained such romantic visions as chucking it all and hanging around Parisian cafes, as Ernest Hemingway, his idol, did in the ‘20s.

Apparently, though, Versace is a realist about basketball. He calls questions about whether the Pacers can win the Central Division title “silly, silly talk,” and says the team’s only goal is to “greatly improve from last year.”

That should not be too difficult, given the Pacers’ dismal season.

They lost their first seven games under Jack Ramsay before he resigned, then lost the only two games directed by Mel Daniels, a very interim coach. George Irvine, an interim of longer duration, guided the Pacers to a 6-14 record before Versace was wooed away from Chuck Daly’s bench at Detroit. The Pacers finished the season 22-31 under Versace.

Rebuilding, this time with a state-of-the-art plan, began on the day Versace was hired, Jan. 5.

Five weeks later, the Pacers traded Wayman Tisdale, a high-scoring but moody small forward, to the Sacramento Kings for LaSalle Thompson, a low-scoring center but a defensive force in the low post.

A day after that trade, the Pacers dealt veteran power forward Herb Williams to Dallas for 6-foot-10 forward Detlef Schrempf, seemingly an underachiever with the Mavericks.

Then, in September, Pacer General Manager Donnie Walsh pulled off a modest coup by signing veteran forward Mike Sanders, a free agent who had started all 82 games for the Cavaliers last season.

Factor in the sudden development of Rik Smits, the 7-foot-4, second-year center from Holland; the potential 20-point output from each small forward Chuck Person and big guard Reggie Miller, and improved ballhandling by point guard Vern Fleming, and the Pacers have developed into a team with talent and depth.

At the time of the trades, giving up known talents such as Tisdale and Williams for Schrempf and Thompson seemed a gamble. There was more involved than just talent, though. Both Tisdale and Williams were unhappy in Indiana, and the Pacers weren’t too happy with them, either.

“It doesn’t really mean those guys we let go of weren’t good guys,” Versace said. “They were. Herb is a real nice man, and Wayman Tisdale is a peach. They are good players. It’s just that their particular skills and how they fit in on this team with the younger guys, it just didn’t mix.

“Sometimes, you just don’t get a good mix. You can have good musicians and, sometimes, they just don’t mix well. It didn’t have as much to do with personalities as much as it had to do with their particular basketball skills.

“In LaSalle Thompson, there’s a 255-pound man who will back down from nobody, who loves to set bone-crunching screens, who is not obsessed with scoring. He’ll get you 10 rebounds a night and play good post defense on power forwards and centers.

“In Detlef Schrempf, here’s a guy who can give a team flow, because he can pass the ball and handle it and shoot it, and a good defender. Then, you got Randy Wittman (a guard, also acquired in the Tisdale trade), who’s got savvy and experience and will give you 10 minutes of quality play. Those guys can help your mix.”

(Optional add end)

The acquisition of Sanders allowed Versace to rest Person occasionally, but also match up with opponents’ smaller lineups by using Sanders and Person in the same front line with the 6-10 Schrempf.

“Mike has been great, because I can use him as the (power forward), and keep Chuck on the floor,” Versace said. “Chuck is the guy I want to give a lot of minutes.”

Person, however, is no longer counted on to provide most of the scoring. Miller, three seasons removed from UCLA, is starting to thrive at big guard. He averaged 16 points last season and opened this season by scoring 36 against Atlanta and 31 against Cleveland.

In recent years, the Pacers had not always been satisfied with Fleming at point guard. They had tried to trade for a “true” ballhandler. Instead, Versace decided to work with what he had.

“He had a gap in his ballhandling, so I hired a ballhandling expert,” Versace said. “I brought him in last June. He taught Vern 36 ballhandling drills that Vern mastered over the summer. It dramatically closed the gap in his ballhandling. This is Vern’s sixth year in the league, and I think he’s made the turn now.”