Indiana Pacers Retool Around Paul George, Myles Turner
After losing in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, the Indiana Pacers retooled around Myles Turner and Paul George. How good can they be this season?
Where do the Indiana Pacers stack up in the Eastern Conference? Last season, the Pacers finished with a record of 45-37, good enough for seventh in the East. They fought hard in the first round, battling the Toronto Raptors to seven games and coming inches away from pulling out the series.
But they didn’t and the result was change. It started with Frank Vogel. After five seasons and two Eastern Conference Finals appearances, Vogel was canned.
But team president Larry Bird wasn’t done there. Shortly after naming assistant coach Nate McMillan as the team’s new head coach, Bird and his brain trust traded George Hill in a three-team deal with Atlanta and Utah, netting the Pacers Indianapolis-born point guard Jeff Teague.
Bird also showed a disinterest in the draft, shuttling the 20th overall pick over to Brooklyn for Thaddeus Young.
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The renovation of the roster continued in the coming months as out went Ian Mahinmi, Jordan Hill and Solomon Hill. Mahinmi and Jordan Hill were two critical pieces of the frontcourt, while Solomon Hill was gone due to a mistake.
The Pacers declined Hill’s fourth-year option early in the season, only to watch him net $50 million from the New Orleans Pelicans.
Indiana attempted to fix those holes with some new additions. The Pacers signed Al Jefferson for $30 million over three years, drafted Georges Niang, traded for Jeremy Evans from Dallas and signed Aaron Brooks for cheap.
So where are we with the Indiana Pacers? It’s Paul George, Myles Turner and everything else in between.
The middle of the roster will have questions, but at the top stands George. After missing most of the 2014-15 seasons with a broken leg, George rebounded with a uniform number change, an All-Star season (23.1 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 55 TS%) and doubled as an elite defender.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility to call George the second-best player in the Eastern Conference and one of the 10 best players in the league.
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Around him will be the combination of Teague and
Monta Ellis. Teague is an upgrade over Hill as a better creator and more dynamic offensive player. However, Hill was an excellent fit for what the Pacers did.
He never dominated possessions, served as an additional ball-handler, but not the lead creator, and was one of the better defensive point guards in the league. Teague will help the offense, but can he bring enough defense to cover Ellis?
Sharing the frontcourt with George are Young, Lavoy Allen, and C.J. Miles. Allen is a fine reserve, but Miles and Young are key assets here. In an era of stretch power forwards, Young has never eclipsed 33 percent from three.
However, he’s a fine mid-range shooter, an improving rebounder and a solid defender, capable of shading both small forward and power forward positions.
Meanwhile, Miles is a Swiss army knife, splitting time at both wing spots and even some power forward.
He’ll play some when Indiana shifts to some lineups that slide George at the power forward position, giving them some floor spacing — 36 percent on 6.7 attempts per game last season — and some additional defense.
Al Jefferson is a backup and the starter is Myles Turner, who will ultimately determine who high Indiana’s ceiling will be. As a freshman at Texas, Turner flashed two-way ability, capable of deterring and altering shots on one end and spacing the floor on the other.
As a rookie, Turner started slowly, but turned it on late, finishing with averages of 10.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks.
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In a year where rookies reigned supreme, Turner was overshadowed by the likes of
Karl-Anthony Towns,
Kristaps Porzingis, Justice Winslow and several others. However, he gave you a glimpse of a future starting center.
Offensively, Turner shot 68 percent at the rim, which is the norm for big centers. However, he flashed some mid-range shooting, knocking down 42 percent of his shots from 16 to 24 feet.
For that jumper, it’s the defense that will make Turner special. After a notice flaw in his running mechanics, Turner improved on his running style and it helps his defense. Per Nylon Calculus, Turner finished in the top 25 in points saved per 36, but allowed 50 percent shooting at the rim.
Mahinmi was the better of the two, but Turner flashed that he could one day be the lead rim protector for the Pacers and based on their offseason moves, it seems like Indiana thinks that time is now.
The Pacers have some things to work out with a handful of new players on the roster and a head coach on the bench.
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While McMillan is a whirlwind of a head coach, he’s someone who can help that Indiana roster and improve their offense — something Bird wanted from Vogel over the last three seasons. Still, the combination of George and Turner will determine how good this team can truly be.