Indiana Pacers: Paul George Should Listen To Larry Bird, Embrace Role Change

In today’s NBA, team executives like Larry Bird are an anomaly. Instead of performing the jobs they are qualified and paid to do, executives and owners often defer to star players to make important decisions.

Don’t believe me?

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Just look at Cleveland, where Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert welcomed LeBron James back with open arms only four years after publicly scorning him for leaving town.

One Finals appearance later, James is for all intents and purposes the team’s general manager, picking and choosing who he wants on the roster by refusing to re-sign until his demands are met. And Gilbert is bending over backwards, doing everything in his power to make sure James is happy.

I guess it’s true what they say, time — and winning — really does heal all wounds.

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But how is Bird different from everyone else? The answer is simple. Bird is a maverick — he doesn’t shy away from speaking his mind and ruffling feathers.

During his tenure as president of the Indiana Pacers, Bird has questioned head coach Frank Vogel’s aggressiveness, publicly slammed Roy Hibbert‘s role with the team, and most recently said that the team’s budding superstar player, Paul George, doesn’t make decisions about the team.

As the Pacers transition to a smaller lineup next season, Bird wants George to play power forward — a position that George has never played. Bird believes that the move will benefit George as he returns from injury. George isn’t so sure.

But Bird doesn’t care.

George told the media Saturday that he wasn’t “going to be logging 30 minutes at the power forward,” and that he was OK playing power forward for a couple of minutes each game. At the Pacers’ press conference on Tuesday, Bird was asked about George’s comments, to which he said George “doesn’t make the decisions around here.

“I just told how him I think he’ll embrace the opportunity,” Bird continued. “I know what it did to my career … . Coming off this injury he’s coming off, I think it’d be a good year to try it because he can guard some 3s but doesn’t have to do it all the time. Gives him a year to get stronger and healthier, and I believe it’ll be a plus for him and our team.”

Obviously, the two are on opposite ends of the spectrum on this topic. George is concerned about stepping into a new role, and rightfully so. But here is why George should trust Bird’s judgment.

Bird was once in George’s shoes. George should embrace moving to power forward, because he is in a unique position where he can learn from an all-time great who went through the same transition.

Like George, Bird started his Hall-of-Fame career as a small forward — he spent the first nine seasons of his career playing small forward before injury issues forced him to move to power forward.

Bird said the move to power forward helped open up the game for him on the offensive end, and he believes it will do the same for George.

George and Bird are similar in size — Both are 6’9″, Bird was five pounds heavier than George — and skill set, so Bird’s assumptions are supported with good evidence. Furthermore, George has the benefit of playing in the modern NBA, where small lineups and stretch fours are more prevalent than traditional power forwards.

However, Indiana’s division is full of forwards larger than George — Pau Gasol, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson — whom he will have to face on a regular basis. While he won’t be chasing wing players around the perimeter as much, he will have to guard bigger players, which is a concern for a player coming off a major leg injury.

Of course, the flip side of George guarding larger frontcourt players is that those players have to guard George on the other end, where he can use his athleticism and quickness to create matchup problems.

And that’s why Bird wants to make the change.

Will it work? Nobody will know until the season starts. It may turn into a huge success, or it may be a complete flop.

But one thing is for sure: Bird’s mind is made up, and nobody is going to change it.

Because Bird will do what he thinks is necessary to win.

Next: Will Smaller Lineup Work for Pacers?

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