Following a re-branding of the Pacers, the roster is littered with exciting wings that suggest a fast-paced, small-ball approach is on the horizon. Given the level of talent that the team possesses, the Pacers will be exciting to watch this season.
CHANGE IN PHILOSOPHY:
The sluggish, grind is gone. Roy Hibbert was traded. David West and Luis Scola left as free agents. The team brought in Monta Ellis. The Pacers drafted versatile big man Myles Turner and scoring machine Joe Young. Coach Frank Vogel spoke about the need to be faster and quicker. The offseason player movement appears to have accomplished these goals that put the pieces in place.
The Pacers averaged 95.5 possessions per 48 minutes last season. With the starters, Indiana should expect to set an up-tick in pace that will be accentuated by the bench. Paul George’s sample size was just 6 games last season, so I used his 2013-14 pace.
Pacers Projected Starters
Pace Last Season
Pace
George Hill 94.8
Monta Ellis 98.5
Paul George 95.0<
Jordan Hill 97.0
Ian Mahinmi 95.1
>2013-14 season
The Pacers had 41.9% of their points come off the bench last season, the highest percentage in the NBA, revealing great depth.
PAUL GEORGE’S HEALTH:
Paul George didn’t look like himself last season (his rate of shooting three-pointers was astronomical), but it was great to see him back on the court. The further he gets away from his leg injury, the better he’ll be. His ability to defend will allow the Pacers to use him at multiple positions this season. The Pacers have openly spoken about George playing the stretch-four. At 6-foot-9, he has the length to defend, which would then result in a mismatch on offense.
Other than a few minutes here and there, he has never had a steady dose of playing power forward in his career. Two years ago, George was an awful post player – 18.7% below the league median. He ranked 201st out of 224 qualifying players in post efficiency. But if George is healthy and can run off screens, isolate and be a spot-up floor spacer? Well, he was 21.2% more efficient running off screens, 16.0% more efficient in isolation and 29.5% more efficient on spot-ups than the league median in his last healthy season.
SMALL BALL:
Rookie Myles Turner allows this to come together. His 12.3% block percentage last season at Texas (9th in NCAA) and 86.3 defensive rating (11th) show that he has the ability to alter, change and block shots. He’ll cover up a lot of mistakes at the rim with a small lineup. Paul George can take on any power forward on the planet and his ability to shoot three-pointers will open up driving lanes for the ball handlers. Monta Ellis averaged 8.3 drives per game last season with the Mavericks, and should help the Pacers improve on attacking, as they ranked 24th in drives per game last season.
Pacers Projected Small Ball Lineup
Height
George Hill 6-3
Monta Ellis 6-3
Rodney Stuckey 6-5
Paul George 6-9
Myles Turner 6-11
Peter Newmann is an analyst and writer who spent 10 years at ESPN, 8 as the NBA senior researcher working 24/7 on the league. He wrote game notes for crews, articles for ESPN.com, analysis for studio shows, and regularly assisted reporters and writers. Follow him on Twitter, and check out his Web site, www.peternewmann.com.