NBA Power Rankings: All 30 Starting Shooting Guards

27.  C.J. Miles — Indiana Pacers

For some reason, the loss of Lance Stephenson has resonated poorly within the city of Indianapolis.  Perhaps, is it because Stephenson was the Pacers’ best player 30-40 percent of the time?

When Paul George wasn’t on his game and suffered a plague of a shooting slump, Stephenson had to use his play-making abilities to keep the team afloat and become the only stat-sheet stuffer on the roster.

Born Ready took his ear-blowing to the purple and teal, leaving the Pacers with holes at the shooting guard slot.  C.J. Miles was signed the day after Stephenson rejected the Indiana offer, and Rodney Stuckey was also picked up along the way.

With those two free agent additions, there’s two complete opposites.  Stuckey hasn’t ever been fond of receiving passes along the wing and corner for outside triples, while Miles is a bigger version of C.J. Watson — a 3-point specialist that can also slash and get into the paint.

Playing some point guard for Detroit last season, Stuckey ranked 69th among all in Defensive Real Plus-Minus (-3.24), a revolutionary measure that determines how much a single player’s contributions affect the lineup’s overall plus-minus.

For the Cavaliers in his ninth season, Miles finished 19th of all shooting guards in the same defensive category, with a Real Plus-Minus of +0.21.  Frank Vogel doesn’t play any games with defensive laziness or lack of effort, so Miles looks to get the nod if Indiana hopes to go anywhere.

In every form, Miles is the choice to go with in the starting lineup, because you gain something on both ends.  Who can forget the 34-point outing vs. Philadelphia in January, where Miles nailed 10 3-pointers and shot 61 percent from the field?  You couldn’t look at a single Pacer last season and expect an explosive shooting torch.

It’s exactly why it became so easy to guard Indiana and limit them to such a low-scoring season in general.  When their “shooters” and “scorers” had the rock, who was afraid or felt threatened of the outcome?  They would be given space, and opponents would live or die with the results.

Now, Miles changes the entire complexion of what we’ll see next season.  Indiana will be quicker than the 10th slowest team in the league in terms of Pace, since they’ll be getting shots up in a quicker medium and will likely encourage transition jumpers.

Hopefully the offense doesn’t jumpstart when the shot clock strikes 10 this time around.  Expect to see more flex offensive sets, more flare screens, and more points.  Not all will come due to Miles, but he can’t hurt the cause any worse than their sets last season.